SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League opens its 89th season of play tonight, with eight games on the schedule to kick things off. All 32 clubs will play 72 games during a 2024-25 regular season that will run through April 20. From there, 23 teams will qualify for postseason play, with five rounds of playoffs leading to the crowning of the 2025 Calder Cup champion. The postseason field will include six of eight teams from the Atlantic Division, five of seven in both the North and Central Divisions, and seven of 10 in the Pacific. During the 2023-24 season, 87.0 percent of all NHL players were graduates of the American Hockey League, including Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets; Art Ross Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning; 54-goal scorer Zach Hyman of the Edmonton Oilers; and 100-point scorers David Pastrnak, Leon Draisaitl, Mikko Rantanen and J.T. Miller. Last season, a total of 890 AHL alumni played in the National Hockey League, including 349 who skated in both leagues last year alone. There were also 251 former first- and second-round NHL draft picks who played in the AHL last season, including standouts such as Shane Wright, David Jiricek, Marco Kasper, Jiri Kulich, Brad Lambert, Simon Edvinsson, Brandt Clarke, Dylan Guenther, Matt Coronato, Isak Rosen, Brennan Othmann, Jesper Wallstedt, Logan Mailloux, Yaroslav Askarov, Shakir Mukhamadullin, and Calder Cup champions Hendrix Lapierre, Ivan Miroshnichenko and Vincent Iorio. In 2024-25, 22 NHL teams are being led by former AHL head coaches, including Paul Maurice of the 2024 Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers and Kris Knoblauch of the Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers. Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper, New Jersey’s Sheldon Keefe, San Jose’s Ryan Warsofsky, Colorado’s Jared Bednar, Washington’s Spencer Carbery and Seattle’s Dan Bylsma are also among the current NHL coaches who spent time in the American Hockey League before making the jump. Around the AHL, eight head coaching changes have been made since the end of last season. Abbotsford’s Manny Malhotra, Chicago’s Cam Abbott, Hartford’s Grant Potulny, Rochester’s Mike Leone, Springfield’s Steve Konowalchuk and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Kirk MacDonald all make their debuts as AHL head coaches this fall. They are joined as newcomers by Derek Laxdal, who takes over for Dan Bylsma behind the bench for Coachella Valley, and Pascal Vincent, the new head coach of the Laval Rocket. The Coachella Valley Firebirds will host the 2025 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Spotlight 29 Casino at Acrisure Arena. The AHL All-Star Skills Competition will take place on Sunday, February 2, followed by the AHL Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Ceremony on Monday, February 3 and the three-on-three, round-robin 2025 AHL All-Star Challenge that evening. Since 1995, more than 94 percent of All-Star Classic participants have gone on to compete in the National Hockey League, including Cam Atkinson, Drake Batherson, Jordan Binnington, Oliver Bjorkstrand, John Carlson, Thatcher Demko, Lukas Dostal, Connor Hellebuyck, Tristan Jarry, Jordan Kyrou, Jonathan Marchessault, Jacob Markstrom, J.T. Miller, Brandon Montour, William Nylander, Kyle Palmieri, Mikko Rantanen, Logan Stankoven, Dylan Strome, Tyler Toffoli, Vitek Vanecek, Dustin Wolf and Mats Zuccarello. AHLTV on FloHockey (flohockey.tv) features live streaming of every AHL game in high definition on desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile devices, as well as through the FloSports app and connected devices such as Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Chromecast. FloHockey subscriptions are priced at $29.99 USD ($39.99 CAD) per month when billed monthly, or $150 USD ($203.88 CAD) for an annual subscription – a savings of 58 percent, and includes access to not just every regular-season and Calder Cup Playoff contest for all 32 American Hockey League teams but also more than 21,000 hockey contests on FloHockey along with all other live event streams and replays across FloSports. FloHockey will support these events with a robust AHL content strategy that will feature award-winning editorial and video content throughout the year. The AHL’s positioning in social media also continues to grow, and the league’s feeds on Instagram (theahl), Facebook (fb.com/theahl), X (@TheAHL) and Threads (@TheAHL) remain great sources for breaking AHL news, special offers, behind-the-scenes insights and fan interaction. The AHL communications department also maintains news feeds on X (@AHLPR) and Threads (@ahl_pr). The AHL’s digital properties are anchored by the league’s official website, theahl.com, which is fully compatible with desktop, mobile and tablet devices alike. In addition, the official AHL mobile app is available for free for iPhone and Android devices. The 2024-25 AHL Guide & Record Book is available for viewing and download at theahl.com/mediaguide. The AHL Rule Book can be found at theahl.com/rules. In operation since 1936, the American Hockey League serves as the top development league for the players, coaches, managers, executives, broadcasters and staff of all 32 National Hockey League teams. Nearly 90 percent of today’s NHL players are American Hockey League graduates, and more than 100 honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame spent time in the AHL in their careers. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments}; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’, ‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’); fbq(‘init’, ‘634980329980573’); fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
