SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League opens its 91st season of play tonight, kicking off Opening Weekend presented by FloHockey with eight games on the Friday schedule.
All 32 clubs will play 72 games during a 2026-27 regular season that will run through April 11. From there, 23 teams will qualify for postseason play, with five rounds of playoffs leading to the crowning of the 2027 Calder Cup champion. The postseason field will include six of eight teams from the North Division, five of seven in both the Atlantic and Central Divisions, and seven of 10 in the Pacific.
This season marks the return of the AHL to Hamilton, Ont., as the Hamilton Hammers begin play at the newly renovated TD Coliseum. The Hammers, top affiliate of the New York Islanders, continue a tradition of AHL hockey in Hamilton that includes the Bulldogs (1996-2015) and the Canucks (1992-94).
During the 2025-26 season, 87.0 percent of all NHL players were graduates of the American Hockey League, including 2025-26 Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov and Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning; Norris Trophy recipient Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets; Stanley Cup champion Logan Stankoven of the Carolina Hurricanes; and 100-point scorers David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins and Martin Necas of the Colorado Avalanche. Last season, a total of 901 AHL alumni played in the National Hockey League including 334 who skated in both leagues last year alone.
There were also 274 former first- and second-round NHL draft picks who played in the AHL last season, including standouts such as Konsta Helenius, Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, Carter Yakemchuk, Trevor Connelly, Matvei Gridin, David Reinbacher, Bradly Nadeau, and 2026 Calder Cup champions Easton Cowan and Ben Danford.
In 2026-27, 22 of the NHL’s 32 head coaches were AHL bench bosses earlier in their careers, including 2025-26 Jack Adams Award winner Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Manny Malhotra takes over the bench for the Vancouver Canucks following two seasons at the helm of their AHL affiliate in Abbotsford, where he won a Calder Cup championship in 2025, and Ryan Craig is the new head coach of the Vegas Golden Knights after spending the last three years guiding the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights. Additionally, Trent Vogelhuber (Columbus), Mark Letestu (Vegas), Rocky Thompson (New York Islanders), Greg Cronin (St. Louis), Pascal Vincent (Seattle), Ryan Mougenel (Vancouver), Matt McIlvane (Boston) and 2026 Calder Cup champion John Gruden (Toronto) are all new assistant coaches in the NHL after serving as bench bosses in the AHL in 2025-26.
Around the league, 11 head coaching changes have been made since the end of last season, with 10 first-time AHL head coaches taking over teams.
Cleveland’s Nick Bootland, Iowa’s Stu Bickel, Laval’s Daniel Jacob, Providence’s Trent Whitfield and San Diego’s Dave Manson were assistant coaches in the AHL last season, while Henderson’s Joel Ward and Toronto’s Steve Sullivan were assistant in the NHL in 2025-26.
Colorado’s Jussi Ahokas won a Memorial Cup championship with Kitchener in the Ontario Hockey League last season. Hamilton’s Jay McKee led Brantford to the best record in the OHL in 2025-26. And Ryan Papaioannou takes over in Abbotsford after coaching Wheeling (ECHL) to a division title last season.
The only new head coach with previous AHL experience is Hartford’s Jay Leach, who won two division titles during his four seasons (2017-21) as head coach of the Providence Bruins. Leach had spent the last five years as an NHL assistant with Boston and Seattle.
Chicago’s Spiros Anastas, Springfield’s Steve Ott and Belleville’s Andrew Campbell, all in-season replacements with their respective teams in 2025-26, begin their first full seasons as AHL head coaches.
The Cleveland Monsters will host the 2027 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Rectifi. The AHL All-Star Skills Competition will take place on Sunday, February 7, followed by the AHL Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Ceremony on Monday, February 8 and the three-on-three, round-robin 2027 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 Yaroslav Askarov, Drake Batherson, Jordan Binnington, Michael Carcone, John Carlson, Brandt Clarke, Thatcher Demko, Lukas Dostal, Dalibor Dvorský, Ryker Evans, Thomas Harley, Joel Hofer, Jordan Kyrou, Jonathan Marchessault, Jacob Markstrom, J.T. Miller, Brandon Montour, Šimon Nemec, William Nylander, Kyle Palmieri, Mikko Rantanen, Isak Rosén, Matthew Savoie, Dylan Strome, Tyler Toffoli, Linus Ullmark, 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 $39.99 USD ($49.99 CAD) per month when billed monthly, or save 67 percent with a full-year subscription. And FloHockey includes access to not just every regular-season and Calder Cup Playoff contest for all 32 American Hockey League teams but also more than 30,000 hockey contests on FloHockey along with all other live event streams and replays across FloSports. FloHockey supports these events with a robust AHL content strategy that features 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), Threads (@TheAHL) and Bluesky (@theahl.com) remain great sources for breaking AHL news, special offers, behind-the-scenes insights and fan interaction. The AHL communications department also maintains a news feed on X (@AHLPR).
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 2026-27 AHL Guide & Record Book will 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.
