Changes: 2020-21 AHL season

Revision as of 09:37, 14 May 2021

This is the 2020-21 American Hockey League season. This is scheduled to be the league's 85th season.

Suspension of Play

The league released the following statement on March 12, 2020: With the health and safety of our players, officials, staff and fans of primary importance, the American Hockey League has announced the suspension of play until further notice, effective immediately, due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.

The AHL will continue to monitor developments and will provide updates on the 2019-20 season at the appropriate time.^[1]

On May 11, 2020 the league officially announced that the balance of the season would be cancelled.^[2]

No official word has been given as to the start date for the season as the National Hockey League delayed its' playoffs from early April to August with AHL players being used as replacement players for injured players.

The league would later announce a February 5th start date.

Calder Cup Playoffs Cancelled

On April 29th the league announced the cancellation of the 2021 Calder Cup Playoffs. Each team will have the chance to have their division conduct a playoff tournament.^[3]

Atlantic Division:No playoff; regular season champion awarded Emile Francis Trophy.
Canadian Division:No playoff; regular season champion awarded Frank Mathers Trophy.
Central Division:No playoff; regular season champion awarded Sam Pollock Trophy.
North Division:No playoff; regular season champion awarded F. G. "Teddy" Oke Trophy.
Pacific Division:Format TBD with champion awarded John D. Chick Trophy as playoff champion (usually awarded to regular season champion).

Membership Changes

In February of 2020 the owners of the Vegas Golden Knights purchased the San Antonio Rampage and announced the team would be relocated to the Las Vegas area for 2020-21. On May 28th the team was announced as being the Henderson Silver Knights. The team will be temporarily based out of the Orleans Arena in Summerlin, Nevada for the 2020-21 season and would then relocate to the Lifeguard Arena for the 2021-22 season pending completion of the new arena.

On January 4th the Charlotte Checkers, Milwaukee Admirals, and Springfield Thunderbirds were announced as having opted out of playing for the 2020-21 playing season due to restrictions on spectators for the season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also on January 4th the league announced four temporary relocations due to local restrictions involving the AHL team's home area or the NHL team's home area:

The Providence Bruins relocate to the New England Sports Center in Marlborough, Massachusetts.
The Binghamton Devils relocate to the RWJ Barnabas Health Hockey House and the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
The Ontario Reign relocate to the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, California.
The San Diego Gulls relocate to the FivePoint Arena at Great Park Ice in Irvine, California.
The Stockton Heat would temporarily relocate for the 2020-21 season to Calgary, Alberta playing out of the Scotiabank Saddledome to avoid quarantine restrictions with crossing the US-Canada border for call-ups and joined the Canadian Division.
The Laval Rocket moved their home games to the Bell Centre in Montreal for the season.
The Belleville Senators move their games to the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa for the season.
The San Jose Barracuda would start their season based out of Tucson, Arizona due to restrictions in their hometown San Jose, California.

On May 6th, 2021 the AHL Board of Governors approved the relocation of the Utica Comets to Abbotsford, British Columbia and the Binghamton Devils to Utica, New York where they will still be called the Utica Comets for the 2021-22 season.^[4]

On May 11, 2021 the Bridgeport Sound Tigers announced they would be renamed the Bridgeport Islanders for the 2021-22 season.^[5]

Teams

Standings

To be added upon completion of the regular season.

Calder Cup Playoffs

Original Playoff format

The top four teams in each division ranked by points qualify for the 2020 Calder Cup playoffs.

The 2021 Calder Cup playoffs features a divisional playoff format, leading to conference finals and ultimately the Calder Cup finals. The division semifinals are best-of-five series; all subsequent rounds are best-of-seven.

Divisional Playoffs

Updated Playoff Format

The Calder Cup Playoffs league wide were cancelled and the divisions were allowed to hold their own playoffs. The Pacific Division was the only division indicated they would like to hold a playoff.^[6]

Pacific Division

All seven teams qualify for the playoffs. The fourth place team plays the seventh place team and the fifth place team plays the sixth place team in a single game playoff. The two winners meet in another single game playoff. The winner earns the fourth seed. The first two rounds will be held at the FivePoint Arena in Irvine, California on May 18th and 19th. The first place team will host the winner of the previous 3 games and the second place team will host the third place team in a best-of-three division semifinal series. The semifinal winners will meet in a best-of-three series at the higher seeded team. The playoff winner will win the John D. Chick Trophy.

References

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 2020-21 AHL season. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).

[1] ttps://theahl.com/ahl-suspends-play

[2] ttps://theahl.com/ahl-cancels-remainder-of-season

[3] ttps://theahl.com/ahl-2021-playoffs-calendar

[4] ttps://theahl.com/board-of-governors-approves-franchise-relocations

[5] ttps://theahl.com/bridgeport-reboots-islanders

[6] ttps://theahl.com/ahl-2021-playoffs-calendar

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[6]

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 :*The [[Ontario Reign (AHL)|Ontario Reign]] relocate to the [[Toyota Sports Center]] in [[El Segundo, California]].
 :*The [[San Diego Gulls (AHL)|San Diego Gulls]] relocate to the [[FivePoint Arena at Great Park Ice]] in [[Irvine, California]].
+:*The [[Stockton Heat]] would temporarily relocate for the 2020-21 season to [[Calgary, Alberta]] playing out of the [[Scotiabank Saddledome]] to avoid quarantine restrictions with crossing the US-Canada border for call-ups and joined the Canadian Division.
+:*The [[Laval Rocket]] moved their home games to the [[Bell Centre]] in [[Montreal]] for the season.
+:*The [[Belleville Senators]] move their games to the [[Canadian Tire Centre]] in [[Ottawa]] for the season.
+:*The [[San Jose Barracuda]] would start their season based out of [[Tucson, Arizona]] due to restrictions in their hometown [[San Jose, California]].
-*The [[Stockton Heat]] would temporarily relocate for the 2020-21 season to [[Calgary, Alberta]] playing out of the [[Scotiabank Saddledome]] to avoid quarantine restrictions with crossing the US-Canada border for call-ups and joined the Canadian Division.
-*The [[Laval Rocket]] moved their home games to the [[Bell Centre]] for the season.
-*The [[Belleville Senators]] move their games to the [[Canadian Tire Centre]] for the season.
 *On May 6th, 2021 the AHL Board of Governors approved the relocation of the [[Utica Comets]] to [[Abbotsford, British Columbia]] and the [[Binghamton Devils]] to [[Utica, New York]] where they will still be called the [[Utica Comets]] for the 2021-22 season.<ref>https://theahl.com/board-of-governors-approves-franchise-relocations</ref>

Division	Team	City	Arena
Eastern Conference
Atlantic	Bridgeport Sound Tigers	Bridgeport, Connecticut	Webster Bank Arena
	Charlotte Checkers	Charlotte, North Carolina	Bojangles' Coliseum
	Hartford Wolf Pack	Hartford, Connecticut	XL Center
	Hershey Bears	Hershey, Pennsylvania	Giant Center
	Lehigh Valley Phantoms	Allentown, Pennsylvania	PPL Center
	Providence Bruins	Providence, Rhode Island	Dunkin' Donuts Center
	Springfield Thunderbirds	Springfield, Massachusetts	MassMutual Center
	Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins	Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania	Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza
North	Belleville Senators	Belleville, Ontario	Yardmen Arena
	Binghamton Devils	Binghamton, New York	Veterans Memorial Arena
	Cleveland Monsters	Cleveland, Ohio	Quicken Loans Arena
	Laval Rocket	Laval, Quebec	Place Bell
	Rochester Americans	Rochester, New York	Blue Cross Arena
	Syracuse Crunch	Syracuse, New York	Oncenter War Memorial Arena
	Toronto Marlies	Toronto, Ontario	Coca-Cola Coliseum
	Utica Comets	Utica, New York	Utica Memorial Auditorium
Western Conference
Central	Chicago Wolves	Rosemont, Illinois	Allstate Arena
	Grand Rapids Griffins	Grand Rapids, Michigan	Van Andel Arena
	Iowa Wild	Des Moines, Iowa	Wells Fargo Arena
	Manitoba Moose	Winnipeg, Manitoba	Bell MTS Place
	Milwaukee Admirals	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena
	Rockford IceHogs	Rockford, Illinois	BMO Harris Bank Center
	Texas Stars	Cedar Park, Texas	H-E-B Center at Cedar Park
Pacific	Bakersfield Condors	Bakersfield, California	Rabobank Arena
	Colorado Eagles	Loveland, Colorado	Budweiser Events Center
	Henderson Silver Knights	Summerlin, Nevada	Orleans Arena
	Ontario Reign	Ontario, California	Citizens Business Bank Arena
	San Diego Gulls	San Diego, California	Valley View Casino Center
	San Jose Barracuda	San Jose, California	SAP Center at San Jose
	Stockton Heat	Stockton, California	Stockton Arena
	Tucson Roadrunners	Tucson, Arizona	Tucson Convention Center