SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League opens its historic 90th season of play tonight Opening weekend presented by FloHockey with eight games on the Friday schedule.
All 32 clubs will play 72 games during the 2025-2026 regular season, which runs through April 19. From there, 23 teams will qualify for postseason play, with five rounds of playoffs leading to the crowning of the 2026 Calder Cup champions. The postseason field will include six of the eight teams from the Atlantic Division, five of the seven in both the North and Central Divisions, and seven of the ten in the Pacific.
During the 2024-2025 season 87.0 percent of all NHL players were American Hockey League graduates, including the Vezina Trophy and Hart Trophy winners Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg jets; Winner of the Art Ross Trophy Nikita Kucherov of lightning in Tampa Bay; three-time Stanley Cup champion Carter Verhaeghe of the Florida Panthers; and top-10 scorers 2024-2025 Leon Draisaitl, David Pastrnak And Kyle Connor. Last season, a total of 891 AHL alumni played in the National Hockey League inclusive 330 who skated in both competitions last year alone.
There were too 245 former NHL draft picks from the first and second rounds who played in the AHL last season, including standouts like 2024-25 AHL Top Prospects Team members Dalibor Dvorski, Bradley Nadeau, Scott Morrow, Konsta Helenius And Logan Maillouxas well as Artyom Levshunov, David Reinbacher, Nate Danielson, Simon Nemec, David Jiříček, Kevin Korchinski, Marco Kasper, Matthew Savoie, Conor Geekie, Denton Mateychuk, Frank Nazar, Noah Ostlund, Joakim Kemell, Lian Bichsel, Liam Ohgren, Ivan Miroshnichenko, Owen Pickering, Filip Bystedt, Jiří Kulich, Maveric Lamoureux, Brad Lambert and Calder Cup champions Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Danila Klimovich, Aatu Raty And Jet Woo.
In 2025-2026, 21 of the NHL’s 32 head coaches were AHL bench bosses earlier in their careers. Marco Sturm takes over the bench of the Boston Bruins after three seasons at the helm of the Ontario Reign of the AHL, and Jeff Blashill becomes the sixth active NHL head coach to win the Calder Cup as he begins leading the Chicago Blackhawks.
There have been nine head coaching changes around the AHL since the end of last season.
Calgarys Brett SutterColorados Mark LetestuLehigh Valley Johannes SneeuwdenOntario Andreas HeerRockfords Jared Nightingale and Texas’ Toby Petersen will all try to duplicate what Abbotsford’s Manny Malhotra achieved in 2024-2025 – winning the Calder Cup in their first season as AHL head coach. They are joined as newcomers by Bridgeport’s Rocky ThompsonHersheys Dirk King and that of Iowa Greg Cronin.
The Rockford IceHogs will host the 2026 AHL All-Star Classic presented by BMO. The AHL All-Star Skills Competition will take place on Tuesday February 10followed by the AHL Hall of Fame Induction and awards ceremony Wednesday February 11 and the three-on-three, round-robin 2026 AHL All-Star Challenge that evening.
Since 1995, more than 94 percent of All-Star Classic participants have competed in the National Hockey League, including Drake Batherson, Jordan Binnington, Michael Carcone, John Carlson, Brandt Clarke, Thatcher Demko, Lucas got, Richer Evans, Thomas Harley, Connor Hellebuyck, Joel Hofer, Tristan Jarry, Jordan Kyrou, Jonathan Marchessault, Jacob Markstrom, JT Molenaar, Brandon Montour, William Nylander, Kyle Palmieri, Mikko Rantanen, Dylan Strome, Tyler Toffoli, Linus Ullmark, Vitek Vanecek, Dustin Wolf And Mats Zuccaello.
AHLTV on FloHockey (flohockey.tv) offers live streaming of every AHL game in high definition on desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile devices, as well as via the FloSports app and connected devices such as Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Chromecast.
FloHockey subscriptions cost $29.99 USD ($39.99 CAD) per month when billed monthly, or save 58 percent with a full annual subscription. And FloHockey not only provides access to every regular season and Calder Cup Playoff game for all 32 American Hockey League teams, but also to more than 21,000 hockey games on FloHockey, along with all other live event streams and replays on FloSports. FloHockey supports these events with a robust AHL content strategy with year-round award-winning editorial and video content.
The AHL’s social media positioning also continues to grow, and the league’s feeds on Instagram (theahl), Facebook(fb.com/theahl),@DeAHL), Discussions (@DeAHL) and Bluesky (@theahl.com) remain great sources for the latest AHL news, special offers, behind-the-scenes insights and fan interaction. AHL’s communications department also maintains news feeds on@AHLPR) and Bluesky (@ahlpr.bsky.social).
The AHL’s digital properties are anchored on the league’s official website, theahl.comwhich is fully compatible with both desktop, mobile and tablet devices. Additionally, the official AHL mobile app is available for free iPhone And Android devices.
The 2025-26 AHL Guide and Record Book can be viewed and downloaded in the coming days at theahl.com/mediaguide. The AHL rulebook can be found at theahl.com/rules.
In operation since 1936, the American Hockey League serves as the premier development league for the players, coaches, managers, executives, broadcasters and staff of all 32 National Hockey League teams. Nearly 90 percent of current NHL players are graduates of the American Hockey League, and more than 100 honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame have spent time in the AHL during their careers.
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