» General

Where can I find contact information for your teams?

Click here for member club information

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How about a list of NHL affiliates?

Click here for a list of current National Hockey League affiliates for our member teams.

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How can I play or work in the AHL?

The AHL serves as the top development league for the National Hockey League, and the vast majority of players in the AHL have been chosen in the NHL Entry Draft and signed to an NHL contract. Occasionally, players are signed as free agents based on scouting information compiled by AHL teams and their parent clubs.

For further information, please contact our teams individually.

If you're interested in employment or internship opportunities with the AHL office, you can send a cover letter and resume to:

American Hockey League
One Monarch Place, Suite 2400
Springfield, MA 01144

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» Hockey Operations

What is the AHL's development rule?

In the AHL, player development is a top priority. Beginning in 2007-08, the AHL and the Professional Hockey Players' Association have established the following development rule:

Of the 17 skaters (not counting two goaltenders) that teams may dress for a regular-season game, at least 12 must be qualified as
"development players." Of those 12, 11 must have played in 260 or fewer professional games (including AHL, NHL, IHL and European elite leagues), and one must have played in 320 or fewer professional games.

All calculations for development status are based on regular-season totals as of the start of the season.


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How many teams qualify for the Calder Cup Playoffs?

In 2007-08, the AHL will have 16 teams participating in the postseason.

In each division, the fourth-place team will play the first-place team in the division semifinals, while the second-place team plays the third-place team.

There is one possible exception to the qualification rules in 2007-08: if the fifth-place team in the West Division finishes with more points than the fourth-place team in the North Division, it would cross over and compete in the North Division playoffs.

Division semifinal winners face off in the division finals. The winner of the East Division final plays the winner of the Atlantic Division final in the Eastern Conference final, while the winner of the North Division final plays the winner of the West Division final in the Western Conference final. Conference final winners meet in the Calder Cup Finals.

All series are in a best-of-seven format. Series schedules and formats are determined by the league and the participating teams based on travel considerations and arena availability. Where possible, teams located within 300 highway miles of each other play a 2-2-1-1-1 format, and teams located more than 300 highway miles apart play a 2-3-2 format.

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Who qualifies as an AHL rookie?

Players who enter the season with fewer than 25 games of professional experience in North America (NHL or AHL) or fewer than 100 games of experience in a European elite league qualify as AHL rookies for the purposes of the Dudley "Red" Garrett Award, the Rbk Hockey/AHL Rookie of the Month award and the AHL All-Rookie team.

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How does the AHL break ties?

In 2004-05, the American Hockey League re-introduced the shootout to break ties. If a game is tied after three periods, teams play a five-minute, sudden-death, four-on-four overtime period. If neither team scores, the game advances to a shootout, with each team getting five attempts. If the score remains tied, the shootout progresses to sudden-death rounds until a winner is determined.

Teams receive two points in the standings for a win (in regulation, overtime or a shootout) and one point for an overtime loss or shootout loss.

Standings are kept in a W-L-OTL-SOL format. Goaltenders' and coaches' records are kept as W-L-SOL, where overtime losses are counted in the "L" column.

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What do those abbreviations on your transactions page stand for?

SPC = Standard players' contract (also known as an "AHL contract")
PTO = Professional try-out contract
ATO = Amateur try-out contract

AHL players not signed to one of these three contracts are on NHL contracts and assigned to their respective AHL clubs by their parent team.

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Where do your officials come from?

AHL referees are hired by the National Hockey League as part of their officials development program. Inquiries regarding on-ice officiating should be directed to the NHL.

AHL off-ice officials are selected by each club. Contact your local team if you are interested in serving as an off-ice official.

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» Web site

I found a spelling/factual error in a story. What can I do?

We strive for 100 percent accuracy on theahl.com, so please drop us an e-mail if you see a typographical error or anything else of that nature in one of our news or feature stories.

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I found an error in your statistics/rosters/standings. What can I do?

If you think you've spotted an error on a team roster, or in a boxscore, or anywhere else on our statistics pages, please drop us an e-mail at info@theahl.com.

Roster information is inputted directly by our teams, and all statistics are derived from the real-time data that is inputted by our off-ice officials in each of our 27 arenas. But if anything seems amiss, we'll look into it.

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"Defensemen" is spelled wrong on your roster pages. Don't you have spell check?

Actually, defencemen is the proper spelling of the word in Canadian English. LeagueStat.com, our official real-time scoring and statistical provider, is based in Canada, and that's how they spell it.

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