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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For professional teams, you have at top the National Hockey League (NHL). Then below them you have the American Hockey League (AHL) commonly referred to as the farm team. Then below them you have the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). These 3 Leagues are both US and Canada. Then you have a couple small independent leagues in the States and a handful of semi-pro leagues that you just don’t need to worry about, because no one from them ever makes it to the NHL.
For junior players (15-20 years old), in Canada, you have the three Major Junior leagues. The Ontario Hockey League (OHL), the Western Hockey League (WHL), and the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) (yes they did just recently re-name to that). Collectively, these 3 leagues form the Canadian Hockey League or CHL.
Below the CHL are 3 more levels. Junior A, Junior B and Junior C. Depending on which province you are in, there might be 1, 2 or all 3 levels, and the names change slightly province by province.
Younger players then Junior play in Minor Hockey. Up until recently, these used to be named stuff like “bantam” or “midget,” but now they are named after the age (U-13 or U-8, etc.)
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