Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
Success in the Calder Cup Playoffs often brings about a challenging paradox for AHL teams.
When an AHL team does its job and does it well – by developing prospects, winning games, and perhaps even winning the Calder Cup – they often have to deal with the after-effects of that success. Players move up to the NHL parent team. Or other NHL organizations take notice.
Just ask last year’s league semifinalists: Abbotsford, Charlotte, Laval and Texas all took lengthy postseason journeys – piling up wins, accumulating invaluable experience and creating countless memories for their respective fan bases. But that springtime success can mean challenges come the following fall. New season, new faces, new team. It becomes time for a fresh group of players to fill spots on the AHL roster and develop the kinds of on- and off-ice chemistry that can eventually make them winners as well.
Let’s look at how the remaining quartet of teams from last June’s Calder Cup Playoffs are adjusting to their first month of play in the 2025-26 campaign. First up is the Eastern Conference, where Charlotte and Laval are trying to duplicate and build on last season’s considerable success.
In 2024-25, Charlotte pushed the two-time defending Calder Cup champions from Hershey hard all season, ultimately finishing just two points behind the Bears in the Atlantic Division. But the Checkers delivered their message in the postseason, sweeping the Bears in the division finals and then eliminating regular-season champion Laval in a four-game sweep in the Eastern Conference Finals – all while their parent club, the Florida Panthers, was on its way to a second straight Stanley Cup.
Head coach Geordie Kinnear and his coaching staff are back. So is stalwart defenseman Trevor Carrick, their newly named captain. But otherwise this is a decidedly new group that saw five of its top six regular-season scorers depart in the offseason, along with veteran goaltenders Kaapo Kähkönen and Ken Appleby.
So management has had to hustle to replace all of that talent and find new faces that can help to complement a core of returning players. Nolan Foote, Tyler Motte, Jack Studnicka and 2025 AHL All-Star Brian Pinho are among the new reinforcements on hand to continue what has been a winning tradition in Charlotte. Brett Chorske, Jack Devine, Ben Steeves and goaltender Cooper Black are all ready to take on increased roles.
In Laval, meanwhile, the Rocket finished first overall in the AHL last season, posting a 48-19-3-2 mark. It was the first time that a Montreal Canadiens full affiliate had won the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy as the AHL’s regular-season champion since 1991-92. They tied for the fewest goals allowed in the league, and Pascal Vincent claimed the league’s coach of the year honors.
That decisive loss to Charlotte in the conference finals ended their championship hopes early, but even disappointment can yield growth opportunities. Jacob Fowler got playoff experience to take into his rookie season. Oliver Kapanen, who saw playoff time with the Rocket, is now a Canadiens regular, and Owen Beck and Joshua Roy have already earned recalls this season.
A good young core still remains, led by Beck, Roy, Jared Davidson, Sean Farrell, Adam Engström, Filip Mešár, David Reinbacher, Luke Tuch and Florian Xhekaj. They are supported by veterans like Laurent Dauphin, Alex Belzile, Lucas Condotta, Tobie Bisson and Josiah Didier, and Montreal even added goaltender Kähkönen as an offseason signing as well.
A look at Abbotsford and Texas will follow next week.
On the American Hockey League beat for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.