The 2008–09 AHL season was the 73rd season of the American Hockey League. 29 teams each played 80 games in the regular season, which ran from October 8 until April 12.

Team and NHL affiliation changes The Iowa Stars are renamed and are now called the Iowa Chops, and the Anaheim Ducks have replaced the Dallas Stars as the team's NHL affiliate.

The Dallas Stars have no AHL affiliate this year, with the Texas Stars (based in Austin) to become their affiliate for the 2009–10 season.

On April 28, 2009, it was announced that two teams would be relocated for the 2009–10 season: the Quad City Flames would move to Abbotsford, BC, and the Philadelphia Phantoms would relocate to Glens Falls, NY.

Affiliation changes AHL team New affiliate Old affiliate Iowa Chops Anaheim Ducks Dallas Stars Portland Pirates Buffalo Sabres Anaheim Ducks Rochester Americans Florida Panthers Buffalo Sabres/Florida Panthers

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 Atlantic Division GP W L OTL SOL Pts GF GA y–Hartford Wolf Pack (NYR) 80 46 27 3 4 99 243 216 x–Providence Bruins (BOS) 80 43 29 2 6 94 238 232 x–Portland Pirates (BUF) 80 39 31 3 7 88 249 239 x–Worcester Sharks (SJS) 80 42 35 1 2 87 223 223 e–Manchester Monarchs (LAK) 80 37 35 0 8 82 211 218 e–Lowell Devils (NJD) 80 35 36 2 7 79 213 243 e–Springfield Falcons (EDM) 80 24 44 8 4 60 188 258

East Division GP W L OTL SOL Pts GF GA y–Hershey Bears (WSH) 80 49 23 2 6 106 296 240 x–Bridgeport Sound Tigers (NYI) 80 49 23 3 5 106 241 212 x–Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (PIT) 80 49 25 3 3 104 274 212 x–Philadelphia Phantoms (PHI) 80 43 30 2 5 93 234 232 e–Binghamton Senators (OTT) 80 41 30 5 4 91 232 238 e–Norfolk Admirals (TBL) 80 33 38 4 5 75 236 269 e–Albany River Rats (CAR) 80 33 40 3 4 73 219 258

Western Conference North Division GP W L OTL SOL Pts GF GA y–Manitoba Moose (VAN) 80 50 23 1 6 107 239 188 x–Hamilton Bulldogs (MTL) 80 49 27 4 0 102 263 201 x–Grand Rapids Griffins (DET) 80 43 25 6 6 98 255 226 x–Toronto Marlies (TOR) 80 39 29 5 7 90 240 229 e–Syracuse Crunch (CBJ) 80 40 32 5 3 88 214 226 e–Lake Erie Monsters (COL) 80 34 38 3 5 76 199 218 e–Rochester Americans (FLA) 80 29 43 0 8 66 184 259

West Division GP W L OTL SOL Pts GF GA y–Milwaukee Admirals (NSH) 80 49 22 3 6 107 229 195 x–Peoria Rivermen (STL) 80 43 31 2 4 92 215 211 x–Houston Aeros (MIN) 80 38 31 2 9 87 218 230 x–Rockford IceHogs (CHI) 80 40 34 0 6 86 229 220 e–Quad City Flames (CGY) 80 36 31 6 7 85 212 216 e–Chicago Wolves (ATL) 80 38 37 3 2 81 226 222 e–Iowa Chops (ANA) 80 33 33 4 10 80 209 260 e–San Antonio Rampage (PHX) 80 36 38 2 4 78 205 243

Scoring leaders Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

Player Team GP G A Pts PIM Alexandre Giroux Hershey Bears 69 60 37 97 84 Keith Aucoin Hershey Bears 70 25 71 96 73 Jason Krog Manitoba Moose 74 30 56 86 30 Janne Pesonen Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 70 32 50 82 33 Artem Anisimov Hartford Wolfpack 80 37 44 81 50 Darren Haydar Grand Rapids Griffins 79 31 49 80 26 Tim Stapleton Toronto Marlies 70 28 51 79 26 Corey Locke Houston Aeros 77 25 54 79 60 Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau Hartford Wolfpack 74 29 49 78 142 Kyle Greentree Quad City Flames 79 39 37 76 63

Calder Cup playoffs

In each division, the fourth-place team will play the first-place team in the division semifinals, while the second-place team plays the third-place team.

Bracket

A is short for Atlantic Division E is short for East Division N is short for North Division W is short for West Division

All Star Classic The 22nd AHL All-Star Classic was played in Worcester, Massachusetts, on January 26, 2009, with the PlanetUSA All-Stars defeating the Canadian All-Stars 14–11 after scoring nine goals in the third period to come back from an 8–5 deficit. Corey Locke scored four goals for the Canadian All-Stars, while Jeff Taffe had a hat-trick for the PlanetUSA All-Stars. The host club was the Worcester Sharks. The 2009 event in Worcester marked the fourth time since 1995 that the AHL All-Star Classic took place in New England. The AHL All-Star Game was last held in Massachusetts in 1959 at the Eastern States Coliseum in West Springfield.

Planet USA All-Stars Canadian All-Stars Coach: Don Granato (Chicago Wolves) Bob Woods (Hershey Bears) Assistant coach(es): Jason Christie, Wendell Young (Chicago Wolves) Mark French (Hershey Bears) Starters: #15 F Martins Karsums (Providence Bruins) #16 F Ryan Vesce (Worcester Sharks) #17 F Chris Bourque (Hershey Bears) #5 D Jakub Kindl (Grand Rapids Griffins) #7 D Yannick Weber (Hamilton Bulldogs) #35 G Cory Schneider (Manitoba Moose) #9 F Mike Santorelli (Milwaukee Admirals) #12 F Alexandre Giroux (Hershey Bears) #14 F Chris Minard (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins) #3 D Johnny Boychuk (Providence Bruins) #77 D Derek Joslin (Worcester Sharks) #29 G Mike Brodeur (Rochester Americans) Reserves: #4 D Rory Fitzpatrick (Rochester Americans, captain) #6 D Ben Lovejoy (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins) #8 F Jared Ross (Philadelphia Phantoms†) #11 F Keith Aucoin (Hershey Bears) #12 F Ryan Potulny (Springfield Falcons) #14 F Michael Ryan (Albany River Rats) #18 F Brian Salcido (Iowa Chops†) #20 F Petri Kontiola (Rockford Icehogs) #21 F Joe Motzko (Chicago Wolves) #22 F Jeff Taffe (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins) #26 D Jaime Sifers (Toronto Marlies) #31 G Jeff Frazee (Lowell Devils) #40 D Mattias Karlsson (Binghamton Senators) #42 F Artem Anisimov (Hartford Wolf Pack†) #44 D Jonas Junland (Peoria Rivermen) #86 G Daniel Larsson (Grand Rapids Griffins) #10 F Tim Kennedy (Portland Pirates**) #18 F Drew Miller (Iowa Chops*) #19 F Nathan Gerbe (Portland Pirates**) #21 D Bobby Sanguinetti (Hartford Wolf Pack**) #90 F Nikita Filatov (Syracuse Crunch*) #2 D Andrew MacDonald (Bridgeport Sound Tigers) #6 D Cody Franson (Milwaukee Admirals) #7 D Brett Palin (Quad City Flames) #16 F Cal O'Reilly (Milwaukee Admirals) #20 D Bryan Helmer (Hershey Bears, captain) #24 F Derek MacKenzie (Syracuse Crunch†) #25 F Mark Mancari (Portland Pirates) #26 F Brandon Segal (Norfolk Admirals†) #30 G Tyler Weiman (Lake Erie Monsters†) #33 G Barry Brust (Houston Aeros) #37 F Mike Iggulden (Bridgeport Sound Tigers) #48 D Kyle Cumiskey (Lake Erie Monsters) #62 F Teddy Purcell (Manchester Monarchs) #75 D Danny Syvret (Philadelphia Phantoms†) #84 F Corey Locke (Houston Aeros) #97 F Brett MacLean (San Antonio Rampage) #1 G Brian Elliott (Binghamton Senators*) #10 F Jason Krog (Manitoba Moose**) #19 F Claude Giroux (Philadelphia Phantoms*) #24 F Steve Downie (Norfolk Admirals*) #39 F Martin St. Pierre (Providence Bruins*) * indicates player was called up to his NHL team. ** indicates player was named to All-Star team, but missed game due to injury. † indicates player was named as a replacement due to callups or injury.

Trophy and award winners

Team awards Calder CupPlayoff champions: Hershey Bears Richard F. Canning TrophyEastern Conference playoff champions: Hershey Bears Robert W. Clarke TrophyWestern Conference playoff champions: Manitoba Moose Macgregor Kilpatrick TrophyRegular season champions, League: Manitoba Moose Frank Mathers TrophyRegular season champions, Eastern Conference: Hershey Bears Norman R. "Bud" Poile TrophyRegular season champions, Western Conference: Manitoba Moose Emile Francis TrophyRegular season champions, Atlantic Division: Hartford Wolf Pack F. G. "Teddy" Oke TrophyRegular season champions, East Division: Hershey Bears Sam Pollock TrophyRegular season champions, North Division: Manitoba Moose John D. Chick TrophyRegular season champions, West Division: Milwaukee Admirals

See also List of AHL seasons 2008 in ice hockey 2009 in ice hockey

References

AHL official site AHL Hall of Fame HockeyDB Historic standings and statistics - at Internet Hockey Database