Springfield, Massachusetts …The American Hockey League kicks off its historic 90th season tonight Opening Weekend Presented by FloHockey There are eight games on Friday's schedule.
All 32 teams will play 72 games in the 2025-26 regular season, which will run through April 19. From that point on, 23 teams will qualify for the postseason, with five playoff rounds to crown the 2026 Calder Cup champion. Playoff teams will include six of the eight teams in the Atlantic Division, five of the seven teams in the North and Central Divisions, and seven of the 10 teams in the Pacific Division.
During the 2024-25 season, 87.0% All NHL players graduated from the American Hockey League, including Vezina Trophy and Hart Trophy winners Connor Helleback Winnipeg Jets; Art Ross Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov Tampa Bay Lightning; three-time Stanley Cup champions Carter Verhaeg Florida Panthers; and top 10 scorers for 2024-25 season Leon Draisaitl, David Pastrnak and Kyle Connor. last season, There are 891 AHL alumni in total Played in the National Hockey League, including 330 Someone who skated in two leagues last year alone.
besides 245 Top NHL First and Second Round Draft Picks Players who played in the AHL last season, including standouts such as members of the 2024-25 AHL Rookie of the Year Team Dalibor Dvorsky, Bradley Nadeau, Scott Morrow, Consta Helenius and Logan Meluxalso Artem Levshunov, David Leinbach, Nate Danielson, Simon Nemec, David Izicek, Kevin Korchinski, Marco Casper, Matthew Savoy, Connor Geek, Denton Matechuk, Frank Nazar, Noah Ostlund, Joakim Kemer, Bixell, Liam Ogren, Ivan Miroshnichenko, Owen Pickering, Philip Best, Jiri Kulic, Maverick Lamoureux, Brad Lambert and Calder Cup champion. Jonathan Lekrimaki, Danila Klimovich, Atul Rati and Huget.
In the 2025-26 season, 21 of the NHL's 32 head coaches have served as AHL bench bosses early in their careers. Marco Sturm After three seasons at the helm of the AHL's Ontario Reign, he took over as the backup for the Boston Bruins and Jeff Blashill He began leading the Chicago Blackhawks and became the sixth active NHL head coach to win the Calder Trophy.
The AHL has seen nine head coaching changes since the end of last season.
calgary Brett Suttercolorado Mark Lightstulehigh valley John Snowdenontario Andrew LordRockford's Jared Nightingale and texas Toby Peterson All will seek to replicate Abbotsford's Manny Malhotra Completed in 2024-25 – Won the Calder Trophy in his first season as an AHL head coach. They join the ranks of Bridgeport as newcomers Rocky Thompsonhershey Derek King and iowa Greg Cronin.
Rockford IceHogs will host BMO presents 2026 AHL All-Star Classic. AHL All-Star Skills Competition will be held Tuesday, February 10followed by the AHL Hall of Fame induction ceremony and awards ceremony Wednesday, February 11 and the night's three-on-three, round-robin 2026 AHL All-Star Challenge.
Since 1995, more than 94% of All-Star Classic participants have gone on to play in the National Hockey League, including Derek Basson, Jordan Binnington, Michael Carcone, John Carlson, Brent Clark, Thatcher Demko, Lucas Dostal, Riker Evans, Thomas Harley, Connor Helleback, Joel Hofer, Tristan Jarry, Jordan Kyrou, Jonathan Marchessault, Jacob Markstrom, JT Miller, Brandon Montour, William Nyland, Kyle Palmieri, Mikko Rantanen, Dylan Strome, Tyler Toffoli, Linus Ullmark, Vitek Vanecek, Dustin Wolf and Mats Zuccarello.
AHLTV on FloHockey (flohockey.tv) Stream every AHL game live in HD on desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile devices, as well as through the FloSports app and connected devices like Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Chromecast.
When billed monthly, a FloHockey subscription is $29.99 USD ($39.99 CAD) per month, which saves 58% on a full-year subscription. FloHockey not only provides access to every regular season and Calder Cup playoff game for all 32 American Hockey League teams, but also provides access to over 21,000 hockey games on FloHockey and all other live events and replays on FloSports. FloHockey supports these activities with a robust AHL content strategy that delivers award-winning editorial and video content year-round.
The AHL’s presence on social media is also growing, with the league’s Instagram feed (Ter), Facebook (fb.com/theahl), X (@TheAHL), thread (@TheAHL) and blue sky (@theahl.com) remains a vital source of AHL breaking news, special offers, behind-the-scenes insights and fan interaction. AHL Communications also maintains news feeds on X (@AHLPR) and blue sky (@ahlpr.bsky.social).
The AHL’s digital assets are based on the league’s official website. theahl.comfully compatible with desktop, mobile and tablet devices. Additionally, the AHL official mobile app is available for free iPhone and Android equipment.
The 2025-26 AHL Guidelines and Records Booklet will be available to view and download in the coming days: theahl.com/mediaguide. The AHL Rulebook can be found at: theahl.com/rules.
The American Hockey League has been in operation since 1936 and is the top developmental league for the players, coaches, managers, executives, broadcasters and staff of all 32 National Hockey League teams. Today, nearly 90 percent of NHL players are American Hockey League graduates, and more than 100 honorary members of the Hockey Hall of Fame spent their careers in the AHL.
