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The 2016–17 AHL season was the 81st
season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...
of the
American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...
. The regular season began on October 14, 2016, and ended on April 15, 2017. The 2017 Calder Cup playoffs began on April 20, 2017.


Regular season

The AHL had a slight alignment shift with the addition of the Tucson Roadrunners to the one-year-old Pacific Division, bringing the division member total up to eight. It also created an unbalanced conference alignment with the Western Conference having 16 members and the Eastern Conference containing 14 members. Similar to the season scheduling in the previous season, the five California based teams, plus the new Tucson team, continue to play a 68-game season while the rest of the AHL teams play a 76-game season. The AHL also changed the usage of home and away jerseys for the season. Before the Christmas break, home teams wear light jerseys and after the Christmas break, home teams wear dark jerseys. For the past several seasons, the visiting team wore light jerseys and the home team wore dark jerseys. Prior to the change in 2003, it was the opposite for many years.


Rule changes

The Board of Governors implemented some changes to further curb fighting in hockey. To prevent staged fights, any players involved in a fight prior to or immediately after a faceoff would be given a game misconduct which results in the player being ejected from the game. If a player accumulates ten fighting major penalties, the player would be suspended for one game following the tenth penalty and then suspended for one game after each subsequent fighting major penalty. If a player accumulates 14 fighting majors, the number of games suspended increases to two for each subsequent fighting major. Accumulated fighting majors do not include instances where the opposing player was assessed an instigator penalty.


Team changes


Relocations

*The
Springfield Falcons The Springfield Falcons were a ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) and played in Springfield, Massachusetts, at the MassMutual Center. In 2016, the Falcons' franchise was purchased by the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Arizona Co ...
franchise was purchased by the
National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
's
Arizona Coyotes The Arizona Coyotes are an inactive professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. They competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division (1996–1998, 2021–2024) and ...
and relocated to
Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
, becoming the Tucson Roadrunners. *The Portland Pirates franchise was purchased by Springfield Hockey, LLC. and relocated to
Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...
to become the Springfield Thunderbirds. The franchise replaced the recently relocated
Springfield Falcons The Springfield Falcons were a ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) and played in Springfield, Massachusetts, at the MassMutual Center. In 2016, the Falcons' franchise was purchased by the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Arizona Co ...
. The
Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Panthers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team initially played it ...
continue to serve as the franchise's NHL affiliate.


Renamed

*On August 9, 2016, the reigning Calder Cup champion Lake Erie Monsters rebranded to become the
Cleveland Monsters The Cleveland Monsters are a professional ice hockey team based in Cleveland. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Monsters play home games at Rocket Mortgage F ...
.


Playoff format

The 2017 playoff format retained a similar divisional format to the 2016 Calder Cup playoffs. The revised playoff format was finalized at the Annual Board of Governors meeting that took place July 2016. 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 2017 Calder Cup Playoffs. The 2017 playoffs removed the divisional fifth-place qualifier exception used by the NHL and the AHL in 2015–16. The 2017 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.


Final standings

Final standings
''indicates team clinched division and a playoff spot''
''indicates team clinched a playoff spot''
''indicates team was eliminated from playoff contention''


Eastern Conference


Western Conference


Statistical leaders


Leading skaters

The following players are sorted by points, then goals. Updated as of April 14, 2017. ''GP = Games played; G =
Goal A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to ...
s; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = P Plus–minus; PIM = Penalty minutes''


Leading goaltenders

The following goaltenders with a minimum 1500 minutes played lead the league in goals against average. Updated as of April 15, 2017. ''GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice (in minutes); SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; SO =
Shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...
s; GAA = Goals against average; SV% =
Save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various Goal (sports), goal-scoring sports that track Save (goaltender), saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse and association football, it is a sta ...
; W = Wins; L = Losses; OT =
Overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...
/ shootout loss''


Calder Cup playoffs


AHL awards


All-Star Teams

First All-Star Team * Troy Grosenick (G) – San Jose * T. J. Brennan (D) – Lehigh Valley * Matt Taormina (D) – Syracuse * Kenny Agostino (F) – Chicago * Taylor Beck (F) – Bakersfield/Hartford * Wade Megan (F) – Chicago Second All-Star Team * Zane McIntyre (G) – Providence * Tim Heed (D) – San Jose * David Warsofsky (D) – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton * Travis Boyd (F) – Hershey * Cory Conacher (F) – Syracuse * Chris Terry (F) – St. John's All-Rookie Team * Casey DeSmith (G) – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton * Devon Toews (D) – Bridgeport * Kyle Wood (D) – Tucson * Jake Guentzel (F) – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton * Mark Jankowski (F) – Stockton * Danny O'Regan (F) – San Jose


See also

* List of AHL seasons * 2016 in ice hockey * 2017 in ice hockey


References


External links


AHL official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:2016-17 AHL season American Hockey League seasons 2016–17 in American ice hockey by league 2016–17 in Canadian ice hockey by league