The 2022–23 AHL season was the 87th season of the American Hockey League. The regular season began on October 14, 2022, and ended on April 16, 2023. The 2023 Calder Cup playoffs followed the conclusion of the regular season, and began on April 18, 2023. They concluded on June 21 with the Hershey Bears winning their 12th Calder Cup in team history, defeating the Coachella Valley Firebirds in overtime of game seven of the finals.
League changes
After the previous regular season where teams played an imbalanced schedule consisting of 76, 72, or 68 games, all teams played an equal amount of games at 72. The Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy for the regular season champion will no longer be awarded based on points percentage, but rather total points. Qualification for the 2023 Calder Cup playoffs was decided by accumulation of points by team, with 23 teams making the cutoff.
For the first time since 2018, the league expanded, adding the Coachella Valley Firebirds. The Stockton Heat moved to Calgary in order to be closer to their NHL affiliate, the Calgary Flames. The Heat became the Calgary Wranglers. This brought the number of teams in the league to an all-time high of 32.
Team and NHL affiliation changes
After the National Hockey League (NHL) added the Seattle Kraken for the 2021–22 season, the Kraken took a different approach than the 2017 expansion team, the Vegas Golden Knights. Seattle wanted to add an AHL expansion team for their first season, unlike Vegas. The Kraken had discussed the possibility of promoting the Idaho Steelheads from the ECHL, similar to what the league decided to do with the 2018 expansion team Colorado Eagles. However, Seattle chose to create their own expansion team in Thousand Palms, California. The team, named the Coachella Valley Firebirds, was originally scheduled to begin play during the 2021–22 AHL season, however the debut of the Firebirds was delayed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic delaying the construction of their arena. With Seattle having no AHL affiliate for their debut season, they decided to affiliate with the Charlotte Checkers as the secondary affiliate to the Florida Panthers.
The Firebirds organization will be taking the spot of the Stockton Heat in the Pacific Division. The Firebirds join other successful AHL franchises in the Southern California market, such as San Diego, Bakersfield, and Ontario. The Panthers will become the sole affiliate of the Checkers.
Relocations
The Stockton Heat franchise was relocated to Calgary beginning with the 2022–23 season. The Heat had played the entire 2020–21 season at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with cross-border travel being restricted. On August 2, 2022, the team announced its name, bringing back the "Wranglers" moniker.