Dates April 20–June 11, 2016 Champions Lake Erie Monsters | Teams 16 Runner-up Hershey Bears | |
The 2016 Calder Cup playoffs of the American Hockey League started on April 20, 2016, with a changed playoff format. The sixteen teams that qualifies, eight from each conference, will play best-of-five series in the division semifinals, with the playoffs to continue with best-of-seven series for the division finals, conference finals, and Calder Cup finals. The Lake Erie Monsters defeated the Hershey Bears in a four game sweep to win the Calder Cup for the first time in franchise history, and the tenth time the Calder Cup has been won by a team representing Cleveland, Ohio.
Contents
Playoff seeds
After the 2015–16 AHL regular season, 16 teams qualified for the playoffs. The top eight teams from each conference (ranked by points percentage) qualify for the playoffs.
At the end of the regular season, the following teams qualified (with points percentage):
Atlantic Division
- Hershey Bears – 98 points (.645)
- Providence Bruins – 95 points (.625)
- Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins – 92 points (.605)
- Portland Pirates – 90 points (.592)
- Bridgeport Sound Tigers – 87 points (.572)
North Division
- Toronto Marlies – 114 points (.750)
- Albany Devils – 102 points (.671)
- Utica Comets – 88 points (.579)
Central Division
- Milwaukee Admirals – 101 points (.664)
- Lake Erie Monsters – 97 points (.638)
- Rockford IceHogs – 94 points (.618)
- Grand Rapids Griffins – 90 points (.592)
Pacific Division
- Ontario Reign – 93 points (.684)
- San Diego Gulls – 84 points (.618)
- Texas Stars – 91 points (.599)
- San Jose Barracuda – 73 points (.537)
Division semifinals
Note 1: All times are in Eastern Time (UTC−04:00). Note 2: Game times in italics signify games to be played only if necessary. Note 3: Home team is listed first.Leading skaters
These are the top ten skaters based on points. If there is a tie in points, goals take precedence over assists.
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus-minus; PIM = Penalty minutes
Leading goaltenders
This is a combined table of the top five goaltenders based on goals against average and the top five goaltenders based on save percentage with at least 180 minutes played. The table is initially sorted by goals against average, with the criterion for inclusion in bold.
GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; SV% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts; TOI = Time on ice (in minutes)