In the AHL, most games are between teams in the same division. The North Division, where the Toronto Marlies play, usually has each team meet one opponent a few times a year from the Central Division in the West. They also play some Atlantic Division teams, but not all of them.
The AHL realignment won’t change much for the Marlies next year, but travel times will drop because other teams moved closer to Toronto.
Toronto will play with the same set of teams, but the Senators are now in Belleville and the IceCaps are now the Laval Rocket. It cuts down on travel, but the trips to St. John’s always seemed popular with the players.
The new team in the East is the Charlotte Checkers, affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes. We won’t know until the schedule is released if the Marlies will travel that far south.
In this graphic form, you can see the obvious space open for a Vegas affiliate in the Central Division. There is still no official word on their plans in that area.
