2016–17 AHL season
| 2016–17 AHL season | |
|---|---|
| League | American Hockey League |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Duration | October 14, 2016 - April 15, 2017 |
| Regular season | |
| Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy | Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins |
| Season MVP | Kenny Agostino (Chicago) |
| Top scorer | Kenny Agostino (Chicago) |
| Playoffs | |
| Calder Cup | |
The 2016–17 AHL season is the 81st season of the American Hockey League. The regular season began on October 14, 2016, and ended on April 15, 2017. The 2017 Calder Cup playoffs began on April 20, 2017, and are currently in progress.
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.
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.
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.
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