The 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs are here, and the matchups are set. It’s this time in the American Hockey League season when the focus shifts to the bracket, which teams can go on a run, and which prospects can put themselves on the map for their NHL teams.
But before diving into all of that, this was also the final week of the regular season. It’s a good time to look at the teams that missed the playoffs and why they came up short. So, let’s do that.
The AHL allows 23 of the 32 teams to qualify for the playoffs. It’s something most fans are annoyed by, as it allows plenty of terrible teams to sneak in. So, it takes a lot to miss the playoffs, and that’s what these nine teams did.
The Hartford Wolf Pack finished the season with the worst record in the AHL, and their NHL affiliate, the New York Rangers, had the third-worst record in the league. It’s a reflection of an organizational failure where years of poor drafting and neglect of the farm system left them a mess.
Dive Deeper: Hartford’s Struggles Reflect New York Rangers Organizational Failure
This team's missing the playoffs comes with a mixed bag. On one hand, the team fell apart and went from third place in the Atlantic Division to out of the playoffs with only 10 wins in the final three months. That said, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms sent all of their top prospects to the NHL, and those young players helped the Philadelphia Flyers snap a six-year playoff drought. So, they’ll take pride in that (this also comes with the territory for some AHL teams who are hyper-focused on development).
The Belleville Senators were a mess from the start. In fairness, the Ottawa Senators depleted the farm system but they haven’t done a good job restocking it, and worse, they didn’t bring in reliable veterans to help, aside from Arthur Kaliyev, who made the AHL First Team. The Senators replaced their head coach midseason, and after finishing last in the North Division, they might be searching for another head coach this summer.
The Utica Comets made things interesting with a late-season push for a playoff spot but ultimately, they came up short. The big-picture issue with the Comets is that they lacked a good development plan under former New Jersey Devils GM Tom Fitzgerland. Maybe that changes with Sonny Mehta.
The Rockford IceHogs are a prime example of prospect malpractice. They pushed Artum Levshunov and Kevin Korchinski towards the NHL when they could have used more time learning the defense position in the AHL. The Chicago Blackhawks are rebuilding but their rebuild won’t hit its stride until they fix their farm system and development plan.
You can’t blame the AHL team for this one. Greg Cronin is a great coach and has a history of developing players. They are a prime example of what happens when an NHL team guts its prospect pool. It’s a risk the Minnesota Wild are willing to take as they are all-in with hopes of winning a Cup in the next two years.
For the first time in a long time, the Tucson Roadrunners didn’t have prospects on top of prospects. A lot of the young talent developed by this AHL team helped the Utah Mammoth make the playoffs. It’s a fair tradeoff.
Calgary has an issue identifying and developing forward talent. It’s an issue that plagues both the AHL and NHL teams. The Wranglers averaged only 2.81 goals per game, and aside from a few skill players in the top six, their offense let them down.
The Abbotsford Canucks, in many ways, embody the turnover that comes with the AHL. They won the Calder Cup title in 2025. Then, they lost multiple contributors in the offseason, including Calder Cup MVP Arturs Silovs in the net. On top of that, the Vancouver Canucks called up multiple prospects to give them time in the NHL in an otherwise lost season. The result was one of the worst records in the Pacific Division.
On the 32 Thoughts podcast, Elliotte Friedman mentioned the Nashville Predators, who cast a wide net for their GM search, interviewed Ryan Martin for the job. His name has been out there for months, and it’s fascinating to see him as the AHL GM everyone sees as poised for an NHL job.
Martin was the young up-and-coming GM with the Grand Rapids Griffins and the Detroit Red Wings. He built up a strong farm system that helped the Griffins win the Calder Cup in 2017 and provided the Red Wings with plenty of prospects in the process. He was seen as the analytical hockey mind who was made to lead a front office in the next generation, someone who wasn’t just a former player but a “moneyball” or “moneypuck” style GM.
The success carried over, at least at the start, when he joined the New York Rangers and ran their AHL team, the Wolf Pack. He was hired in 2021 and built a team that hadn’t made the playoffs since 2015, and not only got in twice but made it to the Atlantic Division Final and lost to the eventual Calder Cup champs.
The problem is that things went downhill from there for the Rangers and the Wolf Pack. They missed the playoffs last season, and this season, both teams were last in the Eastern Conference. The question is how much blame Martin deserves for the AHL team’s decline. The Rangers GM Chris Drury didn’t give him many prospects to work with, and the team is mismanaged up top. The blame falls on Martin when it comes to the rest of the roster. The inability to replace veterans like Alex Belzile, Benoit-Olivier Groulx, and Jake Leschyshyn left the team depleted of talent.
On top of that, his hiring of Grant Potulny as the Wolf Pack head coach has been a disappointment. It also brought to attention that Martin, for as bright a hockey mind as he is, isn’t good at hiring the right coaches or building a development staff. Kris Knoblauch was coaching the Wolf Pack when he was hired in 2021, and Steve Smith was already behind the bench. His first big hire wasn’t a good one, and GMs do more than drafting and assembling a roster.
Martin will get some looks, and he’s still one of the best minds in the AHL despite the rough stretch. That said, if a team wants to know they are hiring the next up-and-coming GM, they should wait until he’s proven he can turn around an AHL and not just build one into a contender.
Don Stevens called his final regular-season game on Sunday afternoon. Two things stand out about Stevens when talking to him. His knowledge of the league and its history is unlike any other. Plus, he’s confident about where the league is heading. He also admitted that the hockey coverage world has changed a lot over the years, especially since teams and media companies will give out internships but not full-time paying jobs (why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free).