AHL Announces Division Realignment, Playoff Format

(photo: theahl.com)

In what’s becoming an annual event, the American Hockey League once again had to realign their divisions as teams moved around. While the schedule will not be out until August, fans can now look to see if their teams have changed divisions and speculate about which opponents they will face. The divisions are as follows:

Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division (unchanged)
Manchester Monarchs
Portland Pirates
Providence Bruins
St. John’s IceCaps
Worcester Sharks

Northeast Division
Albany Devils
Bridgeport Sound Tigers
Hartford Wolfpack 
Springfield Falcons
Syracuse Crunch

East Division
Binghamton Senators
Hershey Bears
Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Norfolk Admirals
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Western Conference
North Division
Adirondack Flames
Hamilton Bulldogs
Rochester Americans
Toronto Marlies
Utica Comets

Midwest Division
Chicago Wolves
Grand Rapids Griffins
Lake Erie Monsters
Milwaukee Admirals
Rockford IceHogs

West Division
Charlotte Checkers
Iowa Wild
Oklahoma City Barons
San Antonio Rampage
Texas Stars

Changes from 2013-2014:

• The Adirondack Phantoms have relocated from Glens Falls, NY and will now be playing as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in PA. With the move, they are now in the East Division.
• The Abbotsford Heat will now be playing as the Adirondack Flames in Glens Falls. They will be in the North Division of the Western Conference.
• The Iowa Wild will move into the West Division from the Midwest Division to replace the spot vacated by the Heat.
• The Lake Erie Monsters will move to the Midwest Division from the North Division.
• The Syracuse Crunch will join the Northeast Division while they were in the East Division last season.

The playoff format has also been approved for next season. It will follow the same as it did in 2013-2014. The three division winners in each conference will be seeded 1-3. Then, the next five teams in the conference with the most points (regardless of division), will earn spots 4-8. The first seeded team will play the last seeded team in each conference, and so on.

Stay tuned for the announcement of the regular season schedule later this summer!