AHL 2024 Offseason News
Summer flew by in a blink of an eye and the 2024-25 season is quickly approaching. Here is a quick snapshot of some important AHL news from the 2024 offseason.
Charlotte Checkers New Majority Owner
On July 15th, the AHL Board of Governors approved transfer of majority ownership of the Charlotte Checkers to Zawyer Sports and Entertainment. Previously, majority ownership of the franchise was held by Michael Kahn, the current CEO of the Checkers. He will remain a minority partner.
“I would like to thank Michael Kahn for his excellent stewardship of the Charlotte Checkers franchise in our league over the last 14 years,” said Scott Howson, American Hockey League President and CEO, in the league’s press release. “We are very excited to welcome Andy Kaufmann and Zawyer Sports, and we look forward to working with him as he continues to build on the success of the Checkers.”
Mandatory Cut-Resistant Neckwear
Starting the beginning of the 2024-25 season, all players and on-ice officials must wear cut-resistant neck protection. Last season, the AHL instituted mandatory cut-resistant socks and wrist sleeves for all players and on-ice officials.
League Hockey Operations Department Changes
On September 3rd, Scott Howson, President and CEO of the AHL, announced the following changes to the league’s hockey operations department:
Hayley Moore has been promoted to Executive Vice President, Hockey Operations.
Alison Izzi has been promoted to Vice President, Hockey Operations/Governance succeeding Melissa Caruso, who has left the AHL to assume the role of general manager with the Minnesota franchise of the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
Current Director, Officiating and Player Safety Stephen Thomson will assume an expanded role within the department.
Hello FloSports!
The AHL and FloSports announced a multi-year extension of their media partnership on September 12th. As part of this extension, AHLTV will become AHLTV on FloHockey and move to FloHockey.tv at the start of the 2024-25 season. The AHL’s streaming service was already being managed by FloSports since 2018.
Per the press release: FloSports will also continue to provide the AHL with its primary digital tools including website and mobile app hosting, and real-time scoring and statistics. FloSports’ suite of digital technologies has hosted and maintained the AHL’s web properties – anchored by the official league website at TheAHL.com – since 2009, and their LeagueStat system has been utilized for the league’s real-time scoring and stats since 2005.
“AHLTV moving to FloHockey represents a seismic shift in the professional hockey media landscape that will exponentially grow the American Hockey League’s reach and footprint, while solidifying FloHockey as the ultimate home for hockey with access to virtually all teams in the NHL’s development system,” said Josh Siskin, FloSports GM of FloHockey, in the league’s press release announcing the extension. “The AHL has built a great product for fans both on and off the ice, and this partnership will help push both the AHL and FloHockey to new heights.”
There are two options for subscriptions to FloHockey, a monthly and annual plan. The monthly price is $29.99 per month, and the annual plan is $150 per year which comes out to $12.50 per month.
Fastbreak.ai Partnership
On September 20, the AHL announced their partnership with Fastbreak.ai to assist in scheduling the league’s 1,152 regular-season games. They will do this by providing tools to assist the league in considering logistical and financial factors such as competitive fairness and team travel.
“We are thrilled to partner with the AHL and bring our advanced AI technology to one of the premier hockey leagues in the world,” said John Stewart, CEO of Fastbreak.ai in the league’s press release. “Our platform is designed to tackle the challenges of sports scheduling, ensuring that leagues like the AHL can deliver an optimal experience for fans, while also meeting the operational demands of the teams.”
Scott Howson expanded upon this, “Partnering with Fastbreak.ai allows the American Hockey League to supplement our complex scheduling process with state-of-the-art technology, and to support the work done by our hockey operations staff with new data and metric reporting to optimize the final result for our clubs and our fans.”
NHLCA Guest Coaches for the 2024 Preseason
During the 2024 AHL preseason, the Rockford IceHogs and Providence Bruins will be participating in the National Hockey League Coaches' Association Guest Coach Program.
Amy Brolsma and Chin-Yin Tse will be working alongside Rockford’s coaching staff. Brolsma became the first female coach to work in the United States hockey League in 2021. She currently is a skating coach in Wisconsin and Minnesota.Tse is the general manager of the Tulsa Jr. Oilers and a member of the Board of Directors for the Carnegie Initiative.
University of Southern Maine’s Head Coach, Matt Pinchevsky, will work with Providence’s staff.
The NHLCA began a guest coaching initiative in 2022, selecting members of its BIPOC Coaches Program and Female Coaches Program to participate in NHL teams’ development camps for the purposes of networking, professional development and visibility. The NHLCA and the American Hockey League extended this opportunity to AHL clubs for their 2024 preseason camps.
