The Calder Cup Finals between the Abbotsford Canucks and Charlotte Checkers gets underway tonight.
Charlotte have largely bulldozed their way to the final after finishing second in the Atlantic Division.
They defeated the Providence Bruins 3-2 in a best-of-five Atlantic Division Semifinals series before sweeping the two-time defending champion Hershey Bears 3-0 in the Atlantic Division Finals. They also swept the AHL's Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy winning Laval Rocket in the Eastern Conference Finals.
This is the first time a Florida Panthers affiliate has made the Calder Cup Final and the first time a NHL and AHL affiliate organization have made their respective finals since the 2088 Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
The Checkers franchise won the 2019 Calder Cup while affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes.
Abbotsford finished second in the Pacific Division before defeating the Tucson Roadrunners 2-1 in round one, the two-time defending Western Conference champion Coachella Valley Firebirds 3-1 in round two, the Colorado Eagles 3-2 in round three, and the Texas Stars 4-2 in the conference finals.
A Vancouver Canucks affiliate has never won the Calder Cup, the last appearance was the Utica Comets in 2015.
The Checkers eliminated Laval on June. 3 while the Canucks did not knock out Texas until June. 8. It will be interesting to see if there is any rust and how the long rest impacts Charlotte.
Goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen has played all 12 games up to the finals and has a 10-2 record with a 1.73 GAA and .927 SP.
John Leonard leads the Checkers with six goals and 10 points in 12 games, four of those goals coming shorthanded. He forms an extremely fast first line with Rasmus Asplund and Wilmer Skoog.
MacKenzie Entwistle returned against Laval for his first games since December and picked up two points in three games. Despite spending much of his time on the fourth line Jesse Puljujarvi is second on the team with eight points in 12 games.
Riley Bezeau has three goals in four playoff games, he will be forced to miss Game 1 as he serves a one-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Laval defenseman Gustav Lindstrom.
Sandis Vilmanis has seven points in eight playoff games after posting just 27 points in his first professional campaign. Will Lockwood sits second on the team with five goals after scoring just 10 during the regular season.
The defense cores are focal points of both teams. The Checkers lean heavily on their top four of Tobias Bjornfot, Mike Benning, Trevor Carrick, and Mikulas Hovorka.
Benning and Bjornfot each have seven points in the playoffs while Carrick continues to be a great puck mover. He has five points in 12 playoff games after a 50 point regular season.
Arturs Silovs has been fantastic for the Canucks in the playoffs, posting a 12-5 record with a 1.94 GAA, .929 SP and five shutouts, three of those shutouts coming in series clinching games.
Linus Karlsson leads Abbotsford with nine goals and 17 points in 18 games and has been the team's most dynamic forward by a significant margin, they will continue to lean on his ability to score.
After posting 11 assists in Abbotsford's first 15 playoff games Arshdeep Bains scored his first goal of the playoffs in Game 5 against Texas before scoring two more in Game 6. His production will be key for the Canucks in the finals.
Veteran forwards Sammy Blais and Phil Di Giuseppe have 12 and 10 points respectively and have been important offensive contributors in the playoffs. Blais also leads the playoffs with 69 penalty minutes.
After lots of tinkering with their forward lines Max Sasson was locked into the top line center spot for the final three games of the conference finals with Di Giuseppe and Karlsson, Ty Mueller has played well as second line center allowing Jujhar Khaira to thrive in a third-line checking role.
Jonathan Lekkerimaki was a scratch for the final three games against the Stars and it will be interesting to see if he cracks the lineup at any point.
Victor Mancini and Christian Wolanin have formed a great two-way defensive pairing for the Canucks, while Guillaume Brisebois and Jett Woo continue to log lots of ice-time.
Special teams will play an important role in the series. Charlotte's powerplay is clicking at just 7% but their penalty kill has a 90% success rate, they have also scored an incredible six goals while shorthanded. Abbotsford's powerplay has been better than Charlotte's at a solid 22% while their penalty kill also has a 90% success rate.
The full Calder Cup Playoffs bracket and schedule can be seen here.
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