AA, AAA, PHL, Farm teams – what!?
I am Canadian. Things I know: NHL is top professional league. Farm teams are directly below but I am unsure what league that is. But I’m wondering actually about the leagues the kids play in before they get signed to a farm team or the NHL. There are just so many acronyms.
Honestly, if someone could even just list them in order from top to bottom would even be helpful.
Thanks in advance
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Below are what I would consider to be the most important leagues to be aware of. Not an exhaustive list by any stretch, but a good basis to know pro vs junior, and the overall tiers associated. I did not get into college hockey as that is generally similar to juniors, but generally similar, but slightly older age group in comparison.
Key pro leagues in North America:
NHL – National Hockey League – Top tier
AHL – American Hockey League – Second tier, affiliated with the NHL and the top development league for those that have aged out of college/junior level
ECHL – East Coast Hockey League – Third tier, teams are generally affiliated with an AHL/NHL team, some prospects go here if they are lower tier, have longer development paths, or are goalies (Goalies are voodoo and have very unique paths to stardom)
PWHL – Professional Women’s Hockey League – Top women’s hockey league. Just completed their first year. They stream their games for free on Youtube. If you haven’t watched any you are missing out.
Key junior leagues:
CHL – Canadian Hockey League – Overarching term for the Major Junior leagues in Canada. Players can generally play here up until age 20 with some exceptions for what are called overage years. Made up of the three listed below:
OHL – Ontario Hockey League – Teams are all located in the providence of Ontario with two US teams
QMJHL – Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League – Teams are located in the providence of Quebec and other eastern providences
WHL – Western Hockey League – Teams are located in providences west of Ontario along with a US division in Washington & Oregon
USHL – US top junior league. You also may see references to USNTDP which stands for the US National Team Development Program.
Non-North American leagues:
SHL – Swedish Hockey League
KHL – Russian based league with some teams from other nearby countries as well.
MHL & VHL – Lower level Russian leagues
DEL – German top league
SM-Liiga – Finnish top league
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