Checkers are prepping for their 8th straight playoff run. Here are 5 things to know

“Playoffs” and “Charlotte” are not mutually exclusive terms.

Nobody in the Queen City does postseason play better than the Charlotte Checkers, and the team will launch its Calder Cup bid Wednesday night at Bojangles Coliseum.

The Checkers have easily compiled the best postseason record among Charlotte’s professional sports teams and are in the American Hockey League playoffs for the eighth straight year.

A year ago, the Checkers advanced to the Calder Cup finals, losing the best-of-seven series in six games to the British Columbia-based Abbottsford Canucks.

This season, the Checkers open the playoffs as the Atlantic Division’s third seed, hosting the sixth-seeded Springfield Thunderbirds in a best-of-three series.

Face off is set for 7 p.m. and games will be streamed on flohockey.com.

While much of the lineup has changed for Charlotte since last season’s playoffs, the Checkers are still coached by Geordie Kinnear, who many players credited for the team’s big playoff run in 2025.

“Basically, hockey is three seasons,” Kinnear said. “You have training camp, which is the season when everyone is trying to establish themselves in the organization and within our team,” he said.

“Then you develop a relationship (with the players) during the regular season,” Kinnear added. “It’s more of a dress rehearsal, because you have to get into the playoffs.”

So here are five things to know about the Checkers and the AHL playoffs this spring:

1. Charlotte has home-ice advantage

The Checkers will play at home for the entire opening round. Game 2 will be at 7 p.m. Friday, with a potential Game 3 at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Charlotte finished the regular season with a 44-28 record . Springfield went 32-40.

The Checkers had a 6-2 record during the regular season against Springfield, including 8-2 wins on back-to-back nights in January.

2. The Checkers have a tough leader

Hockey teams’ leading scorers are not often the team’s leader in penalty minutes, but that’s the case for Charlotte. Ben Steeves, a 23-year-old left-handed forward, topped the Checkers in goals (23) and points (45). He also led in penalty minutes, with 100.

He was a collegiate standout at Minnesota-Duluth but went undrafted and signed a contract in 2024 with the Florida Panthers organization.

Like most other top players on this season’s Charlotte squad, Steeves is a relatively new face. He played only eight games for the Checkers last season.

No. 2 in scoring for Charlotte is forward Jack Devine (18 goals, 25 assists). Second in penalty minutes is veteran defenseman Trevor Carrick (69).

Starting goalkeeper Cooper Black has a 2.47 goals-against average.

3. Scouting the Thunderbirds

Springfield, top farm team of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues, are led by Chris Wagner (24 goals, 26 assists) and Aleksanteri Kaskimaki (20 goals, 24 assists).

Quinton Burns (92 penalty minutes) and Dylan Peterson (85 minutes) are the enforcers. Vadim Zherenko (3.08 goals-allowed average) and Georgi Romanov (3.29) have shared goalkeeping duties this season.

4. Power play team improving

Last year’s Charlotte Checkers team was among the AHL’s best on the power play. This season’s team has ranked lower statistically, but Kinnear said the Checkers are getting better.

“Obviously, it wasn’t our year on the power play, statistic-wise, but we’ve really been trending (better) these last couple of weeks,” he said.

Kinnear added, “The most improved team over the course of the playoffs usually wins the Calder Cup.”

5. Some sidelights

Last year, both the Checkers and their NHL parent team, the Florida Panthers, made big playoff runs. The Panthers won the Stanley Cup, in fact. That won’t happen this season, as the Panthers failed to qualify for the NHL playoffs.

There will be no AHL playoff finals rematch either. The Abbottsford Canucks also failed to qualify for postseason play.

The second and third rounds of the AHL playoffs are best-of-five series, with each team hosting some games. The format moves to best-of-seven for the Eastern and Western finals and for the championship series.

Charlotte and Springfield last met in the playoffs in 2022. Springfield swept the Checkers in three games.

There are ties between Springfield and the Checkers. Springfield was Florida’s AHL affiliate through the 2019-20 season, and current Checkers’ coach Kinnear was Springfield’s coach from 2016-20. When Springfield ownership switched to the St. Louis Blues organization in 2020, Florida linked up with Charlotte.