Tonight, the Abbotsford Canucks will take part in their first ever Calder Cup Finals in franchise history. With series wins against the Tucson Roadrunners, Coachella Valley Firebirds, Colorado Eagles, and Texas Stars, Abbotsford has already clinched the title of Western Conference Champions. They are only one series win away from becoming the 2025 Calder Cup Champions — the only things that stand in their way are the Charlotte Checkers. 

Charlotte has had a shorter path to the Calder Cup Finals compared to Abbotsford. The Checkers, the AHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers, only finished two points ahead of the AHL Canucks in the league standings with 94 points in 72 games played. They came second in their division to the Hershey Bears, but advanced straight to the second round due to the Atlantic Division having fewer teams than the Pacific. Because of this, the Checkers have only played in 12 playoff games. They started their playoff run by defeating the Providence Bruins in five games, following this up by sweeping the Hershey Bears by winning the first three games in a best-of-five series. After, they swept the Laval Rocket with four straight wins in the Conference Finals. 

Abbotsford’s playoff run has looked quite different, as Canucks fans are aware. The AHL Canucks first took on the Roadrunners in the first round, beating them in two of the three series games. They then proceeded to beat Coachella Valley in four games, as well as Colorado in five. Their six-game Conference Final series against Texas was their longest in the playoffs. While Charlotte has swept their opponents in the past two series’, Abbotsford’s series’ have gone longer and longer with each round. 

In terms of players to keep an eye on, Charlotte’s leading scorer, John Leonard, has six goals and four assists in the Checkers’ 12 postseason games. That’s an average of 0.83 points per game. The only AHL Canuck who beats this average is Linus Karlsson, whose nine goals and eight assists in 18 games comes out to 0.94 per game. Charlotte’s next two highest point producers are Jesse Puljujärvi (2G, 6A — 0.66 points per game) and former Vancouver Canuck Will Lockwood (5G, 2A — 0.58 points per game). Arshdeep Bains (3G, 11A — 0.78 points per game) and Sammy Blais (3G, 9A — 0.71 points per game) trail Karlsson for Abbotsford. 

Charlotte’s starting goaltender during the Calder Cup Playoffs has been Kaapo Kähkönen, who has played in all 12 of the Checkers’ postseason matches. He has yet to let in more than three goals in a single playoff game, with his highest rate being two surrendered on eight shots against. His lone playoff shutout came against the Bruins back in Charlotte’s first playoff series of the season, in which Kähkönen stopped all 32 shots against. Throughout the postseason, he has registered a .927 SV% and a 1.73 GAA. 

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Of the two goaltenders, Artūrs Šilovs has definitely been the busiest. With 18 games played throughout the playoffs, Šilovs has racked up a total of 1048 minutes played. He has the higher save percentage between himself and Kähkönen with 0.929%, but has a slightly higher GAA with 1.94. His five shutouts are the unparalleled highest of all goaltenders throughout the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs, as the next highest is Devon Levi of the Rochester Americans with two in eight games. In Game 5 against Texas, Šilovs registered his first point of the postseason with an assist on Bains’ first goal of the playoffs.     

One thing the AHL Canucks will want to take advantage of is Charlotte’s power play. Right now, the Checkers’ power play is operating at a success rate of 7% despite having 43 opportunities. As well, Charlotte’s away penalty kill has been more effective than their home penalty kill, as they have killed 95.7% of their times shorthanded on the road. On the flip side, they have only killed 83.3% while at home. 

Team Stats

Abbotsford: 

Goals-for: 52

Goals against: 39  

PIMs: 249

PP%: 22%

PK%: 90.6% 

Charlotte: 

Goals-for: 45

Goals against: 21

PIMs: 229

PP%: 7% 

PK%: 90/2% 

Individual Stat Leaders

Points: 

Abbotsford: 

• Linus Karlsson (17)
• Arshdeep Bains (14)
• Sammy Blais (12)
• Phil Di Giuseppe (10) 
• Max Sasson (9) 

Charlotte: 

• John Leonard (10) 
• Jesse Puljujärvi (8)
• Will Lockwood (7)
• Rasmus Asplund (7)
• Michael Benning (7)
• Sandis Vilmanis (7) 
• Tobias Bjornfot (7) 

Goals: 

Abbotsford: 

• Linus Karlsson (9) 
• Phil Di Giuseppe (5) 
• Max Sasson (4) 
• Tristen Nielsen (4) 

Charlotte: 

• John Leonard (6)
• Will Lockwood (5)
• Rasmus Asplund (4) 
• Michael Benning (4) 

Assists: 

Abbotsford: 

• Arshdeep Bains (11) 
• Sammy Blais (9) 
• Linus Karlsson (8) 
• Kirill Kudryavstev (6) 
• Ty Mueller (6) 

Charlotte: 

• Jesse Puljujärvi (6)
• Kyle Criscuolo (5) 
• Tobias Bjornfot (4)
• Sandis Vilmanis (4) 
• Trevor Carrick (4) 
• Mikulas Hovorka (4)
• John Leonard (4) 

Goaltenders: 

Abbotsford: 

• Artūrs Šilovs: 1.94 GAA, .929 SV% in 18 GP 

Charlotte: 

• Kaapo Kähkönen: 1.73 GAA, .972 SV% in 12 GP 

2025 Calder Cup Final Schedule:

Game 1: Friday, June 13 @ Charlotte, 4:00 pm PT

Game 2: Sunday, June 15 @ Charlotte, 1:00 pm PT

Game 3: Tuesday, June 17 @ Abbotsford, 7:00 pm PT

Game 4: Thursday, June 19 @ Abbotsford, 7:00 pm PT

*Game 5: Saturday, June 21 @ Abbotsford, 6:00 pm PT

*Game 6: Monday, June 23 @ Charlotte, 4:00 pm PT

*Game 7: Wednesday, June 25 @ Charlotte, 4:00 pm PT

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