The newly minted Calder Cup Champions have released their schedule for the upcoming season, and there's a lot to look forward to.

New Division

The biggest change for the team this season is the arrival of the Hamilton Hammers into the division. The Hammers are the new incarnation of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and whether the team name was the "Tigers" or the "Sound Tigers" is still hotly contested, but based on my research they probably had been both at one time or another in their history, but in any case they now move out of Connecticut and the AHL's Atlantic Division and into to the North Division and will play at the newly renovated arena in downtown Hamilton, the TD Coliseum (originally Copps Coliseum).

Hamilton previously had an AHL team through the Bulldogs, originally an affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers with Scott Howson, the current President of the AHL, as their General Manager, but then they changed affiliation to the Habs. That AHL team ended in the off-season of 2015 when the Habs swapped affiliations to the St. John's Ice Caps and Hamilton did not get a replacement, though the Bulldogs brand lived on as an OHL team which moved to Brantford during the Coliseum renovations with former Maple Leaf Zach Hyman as the lead of the ownership group, and it now looks like they will stay there forever, until the day they decide they won't. That's the the nature of major junior hockey ownership, it's complicated!

Anyway, expect to see the Hammers a lot. The Marlies will play them here at our Coliseum at The Ex five times this coming season, and the Marlies will make the trip down the QEW/403 to Hamilton to play them at their Coliseum five times this season.

If you want to go to a game there, the good news is there's a lot of GO Transit service from Toronto to Hamilton, but be careful about the approach. There is an express GO bus (Route 16) from Toronto to Hamilton, though it's mainly focused on off-peak services, but that means it's available at night and a great way back from Hamilton to Toronto as the bus goes top speed down the QEW with no traffic and makes no stops along the way. I once was on a late bus that made it from Union Station to Hamilton in only 45 minutes.

There's also many GO Train trips from Hamilton to Toronto every day of the week, but they don't always wind up at the same spot. Hamilton now has three different GO Train stations, but the one closest to the arena, the Hamilton GO Centre, literally only four blocks away from the arena, is serviced only on weekdays. On weekends you will wind up at the West Harbour GO Station where all the trains stop and either turn back to Toronto or continue on to Niagara. The public transit options for the last mile are limited, though they do exist, but you should use one of those online trip planers to time it correctly.

The Team Changes

We've already covered all the changes to the team for this coming season, some official some unofficial, but if you want to catch up, here is the news.

John Gruden has been promoted to an assistant coach of the Maple Leafs and will be replaced by Steve Sullivan who was formerly a Marlies assistant coach and played in over one thousand NHL games. Mark Giordano will become an assistant coach, elevated from his current role there. The players have always spoken highly of "Gio" anytime I've asked about working with him. They like him, and they trust him.

Some players we can expect to see spend at least some time on the Marlies had their contracts renewed.

Leafs re-sign Quillan, Tverberg, and Villeneuve
Summer business is done on Day 67 of the Chayka Era
PPP LeafsHardev

There are new faces in the mix, though they could wind up playing in the ECHL for the Cyclones, but it is likely Easton Cowan will play for the Leafs continuously now, so that opens a spot, further it is widely speculated in Swedish media that Alex Nylander will go to play in the SHL, though this is not officially confirmed yet anywhere I can find, but some of these guys will play for the Marlies a lot of games, but if true that's another open position.

The Marlies also signed one of the Leafs goalie draft picks from the 2024 draft to an AHL contract.

The Games To Circle On Your Calendar

If you want some good hockey entertainment, here are some key games I would recommend as good choices to attend.

Marlies Home Opener

Saturday October 3: No surprise they are playing the Hamilton Hammers. There will no doubt be a pre-game ceremony to drop the Calder Cup banner and honour the win which will be worth the trip to the Coliseum for that alone.

This isn't the first game of the season for the Marlies though, they start the day before on the road against the Rochester Amerks. Their game in Rochester starts Friday at 7:00 p.m. which means they will probably get out of there at 10:00 and then they ride the bus back to Toronto to face the Hammers at 4:00 on Saturday. It's a tricky turn around, but hopefully the team is well rested as they probably won't leave Rochester until about 10:00 and it's a three hour trip back to Toronto.

Marlies vs. Wolves

Saturday November 21: the Marlies will face the Chicago Wolves for the first time since defeating them to win the Calder Cup. This game will be at Scotiabank Arena and starts early at 1:30 p.m. a very family friendly time so if you want to take kids to a game at the big arena, this is the one. There's a second game against the Wolves the next day at the Coliseum at 4:00 p.m..

Marlies vs. Rocket

Tuesday December 17: Another team the Marlies defeated on their way to the playoffs were the Laval Rocket and wow do those two teams not like each other. You can very much expect any game against the Rocket and Marlies to be heavily physical and with lots of post-whistle shenanigans happening with Florian Xhekaj on the Rocket's roster. The first two games between them are in early December in Laval, but the Rocket then come to Toronto for this rare Tuesday game, and then play here again the next Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m., so plenty of time for the pot to boil over at that game.

New Year's Weekend Games and the Boat Show Trip

Friday January 1 and Saturday January 2: The Charlotte Checkers are in town for the New Year's long weekend, and it is a long weekend unlike last year where the calendar played a cruel joke on us and had New Year's Day on a Thursday meaning I had to go into work Friday to get the December month-end books closed (accountant grumbling noises). A week after this the Marlies host the Utica Comets and then they set sail for the annual Boat Show road trip, not playing another home game until January 31, about three weeks.

Scotiabank Arena Games

We already mentioned the one on November 21. Here are the others.

Sunday December 27: The traditional Boxing Day game at Scotiabank Arena against the Belleville Senators, though not actually on Boxing Day. Expect traffic in and out of the City to be heavy since Monday will be when Boxing Day is observed, so it's not the end of the long weekend and there will lots of people downtown for shopping. This game starts early at 2:00 p.m. making it a family friendly event.

Wednesday March 17: A game against the W/B Scranton Penguins at 1:30 p.m.. It seems like an odd choice to have an afternoon game on a Wednesday until you note this is March Break for most Ontario school boards, so there will be a lot of people visiting the City. It's a perfect time to go to the game and then check out the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Saturday March 27th: This is getting towards the end of the season and it's against the Hamilton Hammers. Interestingly this is listed officially as an away game for the Marlies, I'm not sure why but perhaps the Hammers bought this game from them to have it there. In any case, it starts at a reasonable 5:00 p.m. so if you are coming there all the way from Hamilton or anywhere on the Lakeshore West line there will be time to go out after the game for dinner or drinks before getting back home on the train.

Get ready for the new season. The full schedule is here.

Toronto Marlies