2017-18 AHL season

The 2017–18 AHL season was the 82nd season of the American Hockey League. The regular season begins in October 6, 2017 and ends in April 15, 2018. The 2018 Calder Cup playoffs follow the conclusion of the regular season.
==League changes==
The AHL's only alignment change was moving the Charlotte Checkers from the Central Division of the Western Conference to the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference, significantly decreasing their interdivisional travel and balancing the two conferences' members. Similar to the season scheduling in the previous season, the six California and Arizona based teams continued to have a 68-game season while the rest of the AHL teams play a 76-game season.
===Team and NHL affiliation changes===
The National Hockey League added the Vegas Golden Knights for the 2017–18 season. The Las Vegas management has confirmed that the organization would also have an AHL affiliate in their first season, although it was not stated whether the AHL team would be an expansion or relocation. The organization looked into adding an affiliate on the West Coast with the leading candidates being Salt Lake City, Reno, or Fresno. However, as the season went on, they looked into co-affiliations with a pre-existing AHL team since the new NHL team would likely not have a large amount of drafted talent to fully stock an AHL roster. In February 2017, AHL commissioner David Andrews later stated that it was "50-50 chance" of a 31st team for the 2017–18 season.
Other than the Golden Knights adding a team, there were also reports of the St. Louis Blues adding an expansion team in Kansas City in November 2016. This would later be denied by the announced potential owner in Kansas City, Lamar Hunt Jr., in a press release from his ECHL team in the area, the Missouri Mavericks, and further denied by AHL commissioner, David Andrews, after the January 2017 Board of Governors meeting. In May 2017, the 30 team alignment was confirmed and there would be no expansion for 2017–18. The Golden Knights signed a multi-year affiliation with the Chicago Wolves, replacing the Blues as their primary affiliate. The Blues also announced that they would continue to send players to the Wolves for that season.
The league confirmed after the 2017 Board of Governors meeting that it had made a commitment to an expansion applicant for a 31st team for the 2018–19 season.
Prior to the start of the 2017-18 season it was announced that the ECHL's Colorado Eagles would become the Colorado Avalanche's American Hockey League affiliate starting with the 2018-19 season becoming the league's 31st member to match the NHL's number of teams.  The Avalanche have been afffilated with the San Antonio Rampage.  The Rampage will become the affiliate of the St. Louis Blues who are the only NHL team without their own AHL affiliate for the 2017-18 season.http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/weekly-sports-league--franchise-report/n-5277215
====Relocations====
*The Albany Devils relocated to become the Binghamton Devils to replace the Binghamton Senators.
*The Binghamton Senators were purchased by their parent club, the Ottawa Senators, and relocating the team to Belleville, Ontario, as the Belleville Senators.
*The Montreal Canadiens' AHL franchise, then operating as the St. John's IceCaps, is announced as relocating to the Montreal suburb of Laval, Quebec, as the Laval Rocket. Danny Williams, owner of the IceCaps team but not a franchise holder, announced on the same day his intentions to find another AHL franchise to replace the Canadiens' owned franchise.
====Affiliation changes====
AHL team 	New affiliate 	Old affiliate
Chicago Wolves	Vegas Golden Knights	St. Louis Blues
Although the Blues would no longer be the Wolves' primary NHL affiliate, they would continue to send players to the Wolves as an unofficial affiliate.
==Standings==
====Atlantic Division====
Team 	GP	W 	L 	OL	SL	GF 	GA 	Pts	%
Lehigh Valley Phantoms 	76	47	19	5 	5 	260	218	104	.684
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins	76	45	22	6 	3 	254	224	99 	.651
Charlotte Checkers 	76	46	26	1 	3 	264	213	96 	.632
Providence Bruins 	76	45	26	3 	2 	231	187	95 	.625
Bridgeport Sound Tigers 	76	36	32	5 	3 	207	216	80 	.526
Hartford Wolfpack 	76	34	33	6 	3 	208	252	77 	.507
Springfield Thunderbirds 	76	32	37	5 	2 	210	233	71 	.467
Hershey Bears 	76	30	37	4 	5 	202	251	69 	.454
====North Division====
Team 	GP	W 	L 	OL	SL	GF 	GA 	Pts	%
Toronto Marlies 	76	54	18	2 	2 	257	173	112	.737
Syracuse Crunch 	76	46	22	3 	5 	234	189	100	.658
Rochester Americans	76	37	22	11	6 	234	221	91 	.599
Utica Comets 	76	38	26	8 	4 	211	216	88 	.579
Belleville Senators	76	29	42	2 	3 	197	270	63 	.414
Binghamton Devils 	76	25	38	9 	4 	193	247	63 	.414
Laval Rocket 	76	24	42	7 	3 	206	281	58 	.382
====Central Division====
Team 	GP	W 	L 	OL	SL	GF 	GA 	Pts	%
Chicago Wolves 	76	42	23	7 	4 	245	209	95 	
.625
Grand Rapids Griffins	76	42	25	2 	7 	237	210	93 	.612
Manitoba Moose 	76	42	26	4 	4 	254	199	92 	
.605
Rockford IceHogs 	76	40	28	4 	4 	239	234	88 	.579
Iowa Wild 	76	33	27	10	6 	232	242	82 	.539
Milwaukee Admirals 	76	38	32	4 	2 	216	235	82 	.539
Cleveland Monsters 	76	25	41	7 	3 	190	258	60 	.395
====Pacific Division====
Team 	GP	W 	L 	OL	SL	GF 	GA 	Pts	%
Tucson Roadrunners 	68	42	20	5 	1 	214	173	90 	.662
Texas Stars 	76	38	24	8 	6 	223	231	90 	.592
Ontario Reign 	68	36	25	4 	3 	200	194	90 	.581
San Jose Barracuda 	68	34	26	4 	4 	186	198	76 	.559
San Diego Gulls 	68	36	28	3 	1 	202	197	76 	.559
Stockton Heat 	68	34	28	2 	4 	211	204	74 	.544
Bakersfield Condors	68	31	27	9 	1 	188	206	72 	.529
San Antonio Rampage	76	36	31	10	0 	198	219	78 	.526
==Calder Cup playoffs==
===Longest AHL Game Ever===
On May 9-10, 2018 the Lehigh Valley Phantoms defeated the Charlotte Checkers  2-1 in 5 overtimes, making it the longest game in the league's 82 year history.  Alex Krushelmyski scored the winning goal at 6:48 of the fifth overtime period.  The game ended at 1:09AM EDT on the 10th.  Lehigh Valley goaltender Alex Lyon finished with 94 saves on 95 shots including 79 straight to end the game, while Charlotte goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 51 of 53 shots.  The game beat the previous record by 3 minutes and 50 seconds  Ironically, the previous record also involved Philadelphia Flyers and Carolina Hurricanes affiliates which was set in 2008.
===Playoff format===
The 2018 Calder Cup playoffs format was retained from the divisional format of the 2017 Calder Cup playoffs. The playoff format was finalized at the Annual Board of Governors meeting that took place July 2017. During the regular season, teams receive two points for a win and one point for an overtime or shootout loss. The top four teams in each division ranked by points percentage (points earned divided by points available) qualify for the 2018 Calder Cup playoffs.  The division semifinals are best-of-five series; all subsequent rounds are best-of-seven.
===Atlantic Division Semifinals===
*Lehigh Valley Phantoms defeated Providence Bruins 3 games to 1
*Charlotte Checkers defeated Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 3 games to none
===North Division Semifinals===
*Toronto Marlies defeated Utica Comets  3 games to 2
*Syracuse Crunch defeated Rochester Americans 3 games to none
===Central Division Semifinals===
*Rockford IceHogs defeated Chicago Wolves 3 games to none
*Manitoba Moose defeated Grand Rapids Griffins 3 games to 2
===Pacific Division Semifinals===
*Tucson Roadrunners defeated San Jose Barracuda 3 games to 1
*Texas Stars defeated Ontario Reign 3 games to 1
===Atlantic Division Final===
*Lehigh Valley Phantoms defeated Charlotte Checkers 4 games to 1
===North Division Final===
*Toronto Marlies defeated Syracuse Crunch 4 games to 0
===Central Division Final===
*Rockford IceHogs defeated Manitoba Moose 4 games to none
===Pacific Division Final===
*Texas Stars defeated Tucson Roadrunners 4 games to 1
===Eastern Conference Final===
*Toronto Marlies defeated Lehigh Valley Phantoms 4 games to none
===Western Conference Final===
*Texas Stars defeated Rockford IceHogs 4 games to 2
===Calder Cup Final===
*Toronto Marlies defeated Texas Stars 4 games to 3
==References==
Category:2018 in hockey
Category:American Hockey League seasons