Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
Start rotating the dates.
Camps are open and the AHL regular season begins Oct. 2, the earliest start since 2009.
Highlights on the 1,152-game slate include new (old) city, flag raising, long-standing rivalries and some new interconference matchups.
Let’s break down some of these eye-catching dates.
Friday, October 2
The 91st season of AHL hockey begins Oct. 2 with eight games, including the debut of the Hamilton Hammers when they visit Belleville. The Hammers, the new AHL affiliate of the New York Islanders, are bringing the AHL back to Steeltown for the first time since the Bulldogs left in 2015. Prior to their home opener at the completely renovated TD Coliseum on Oct. 9, the Hammers dropped the first of their 10 games against a provincial rival.
Saturday, October 3
Hamilton’s opening weekend will also take them up the QEW to Toronto, where the Marlies will raise their second Calder Cup Championship to the Coca-Cola Coliseum rafters on Oct. 3. Longtime NHL forward. Steve Sullivan After a bench stint as Marlies head coach Jon Gruden earned the title Mother Maple Leafs in the offseason.
Friday, October 9
One of the AHL’s longest-running rivalries resumes on Oct. 9 when the Hartford Wolf Pack visit the Providence Bruins for the 264th regular season meeting between the two New England powerhouses. Providence enters its 35th season with a 110-point showing in 2025-26, and Hartford begins its 30th campaign with a former Bruins quarterback and coach as its new head coach. Jay Leach.
Also on Oct. 9, in addition to the Hamilton-Toronto showdown, Bakersfield visits Calgary in the AHL version of the Battle of Alberta and Rochester hosts Syracuse to kick off the 33rd year of the rivalry.
Saturday, October 10
It’s 2010 again in Chocolatetown as the Texas Stars make their first visit to the Giant Center since the teams faced off in the Calder Cup Finals during the Stars’ inaugural campaign.
This season’s AHL schedule includes 88 away games.
Saturday, November 7
1936 On November 7, the AHL, then known as the International-American Hockey League, played its first games. To commemorate the milestone, all 32 teams will be in action on the 90th anniversary of the league’s inception.
The league’s two historic cities will be represented when the Hershey Bears visit the Springfield Thunderbirds that evening. One of the T-birds’ predecessors, the Springfield Indians, was a charter member of the AHL, while the 13-time Calder Cup champion Bears joined the league in 1938.
Wednesday, November 18
Milwaukee begins an eastern swing with a stop in Wilkes-Barre on Nov. 18, site of the Admirals’ 2004 Calder Cup victory over the Penguins.
These clubs also boast two of the longest-standing partnerships; Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Pittsburgh have been affiliated since 1999, and Milwaukee joined the Nashville Predators in 1998 when they were still a member of the IHL.
Friday, November 20
Grand Rapids travels to Colorado for two games on Nov. 20, a matchup between two clubs that have made a habit of winning over the years. Last year’s Griffins won 51 games in the regular season, and Colorado followed that up by finishing second in the Pacific Division and reaching the Western Conference finals. The Blue Federal Credit Union Arena is one of the loudest buildings in the AHL, and Friday night’s matchup against an opponent like the Griffins should only amplify that.
Saturday, November 21
Chicago and Toronto battled it out for the Calder Trophy in June. The Wolves now return to TO for a pair of games beginning with a Saturday matinee on Nov. 21 at Scotiabank Arena, home of the Maple Leafs.
Sunday, November 22
Since starting in Laval, the Rocket have become one of the AHL’s biggest success stories on and off the ice. With this season being their 10th anniversary campaign, they are in for a few surprises. One of those will be a trip to the Bell Centre, one of hockey’s most iconic arenas and home of the parent Montreal Canadiens, to take on the Calgary Wranglers on Nov. 22. The matinee will also feature the team’s annual featured teddy bear.
Sunday, December 27
It’s going to be a quiet week in the AHL, with the schedule empty from December 22nd to December 26th. That changes dramatically on Dec. 27 with an 11-game slate that begins with the annual postseason showdown between Belleville and Toronto at Scotiabank Arena.
Thursday, December 31
The New Year’s Eve party is a Winnipeg hockey tradition. This year, the Manitoba Moose and Abbotsford Canucks are helping the AHL enter 2027 as part of a seven-game schedule.
Friday, January 8
It’s a bicoastal matchup as the Springfield Thunderbirds get a dose of California sunshine when they visit San Diego on January 8th. It will be the first meeting between the clubs in these two cities in 59 years, when the AHL’s Indians battled the Western Hockey League’s Wolves as part of an affiliated schedule between the two leagues.
Sunday, February 7th and Monday, February 8th
You have to go back to 1942 to find out the last time Cleveland hosted the AHL’s top stars, a World War II fundraiser for the American Red Cross and Canadian Red Cross. The 2027 AHL All-Star Classic brings the league’s showcase back to Northeast Ohio when hockey’s best young talent descends on Rocket Arena Feb. 7-8.
Friday, March 12
The Texas Stars’ six-game road trip in mid-March includes a visit to the Palm Desert on March 12 to take on the Coachella Valley Firebirds. The two teams don’t share a division, but they do share a lot of other things in what has become a competitive rivalry. Firebirds head coach Derek LaxdalHis first AHL head coaching job came with Texas and the Stars forward Cameron Hughes Went to Calder Cup Finals twice with Coachella Valley.
Sunday, April 4
The final regular season game for the Calgary Wranglers at the Scotiabank Saddledome is April 4 against the San Jose Barracuda. One of hockey’s most architecturally unique facilities, the Saddledome opened in 1983 and has hosted three Stanley Cup Finals, the 1985 NHL All-Star Game and the 2000 NHL Draft, in addition to the 1988 Winter Olympics. The Wranglers, along with their parent Flames, are slated to move into the newly constructed Scotia Place next fall.
With more than two decades in the American Hockey League, TheAHL.com feature writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was awarded the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for outstanding coverage of the league in 2015-16.
