What Is The Calder Cup?
The Calder Cup is named after Frank Calder, the first president of the NHL, and is the award for the champion of the AHL playoffs. It is not to be confused with the Calder Memorial Trophy, which is awarded annually to the best NHL rookie of the season. The Calder Cup is its own trophy, with its own storied history of almost a century.
It was first awarded in 1937 to the Syracuse Stars, and prior to the cancellation of the Calder Cup playoffs in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had held the record for oldest continuously awards professional ice hockey trophy, having been awarded every year from 1937 to 2019. (The Stanley Cup, comparatively, had the streak broken in 2005, when the NHL season was lost to a lockout.)
Over the last 96 seasons, the Calder Cup has been awarded to 28 different cities and 34 different teams. 11 active AHL teams have a Calder Cup to their name, though there are a handful of others, for example, the Ontario Reign, who won the Calder Cup under a different name (Manchester Monarchs). 14 AHL teams have won more than twice, with the Hershey Bears leading the way. The Bears have won 12 Calder Cups out of the 94 that have been handed out, and are the current reigning Champs, having beaten out the Coachella Valley Firebirds in the 2023-24 playoffs.
Another impressive record is the Springfield Indians, who won the Calder Cup three years running, from 1960 to 1962. Though other teams have won back to back years, the Indians remain the only team to win three years in a row.
Jack A. Butterfield Trophy
In the NHL, we all know the MVP trophy is named the Conn Smythe for his contributions to the league and the game, but who is Jack A. Butterfield and why does he get his name on an AHL trophy?
Jack A. Butterfield was a pioneer in the AHL. He served as the GM of the aforementioned Springfield Indians during their historical Calder Cup streak from 1960-1962. He then became the longest serving executive in the league, sitting as president for 28 years (from 1966 to 1984), and even after retirement, he remained as chairman of the board until his death in 2010. During his time as president, he was instrumental in building the bridges between the NHL and the AHL that we see today, and when the WHA (World Hockey Association) came into being in 1972, and when the AHL was looking at expansion, his work was critical to the survival of the AHL.
Because of all this, he was honoured with a place in the Hockey Hall of Fame, two James C Hendy Awards (given to the AHL’s most outstanding executive), a Lester Patrick trophy for his service to hockey in the United States, and finally, in 1984, the AHL announced they would be naming their brand new playoff MVP trophy after Butterfield himself.
The current reigning Jack A. Butterfield winner is Hunter Shepard of the Hershey Bears. It has been won in the past by players that would go on to have long NHL careers, like Carey Price, Robin Lehner, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Tyler Bertuzzi. It has been won only once by someone who was not on the winning team: in 1985, Tim Tookey’s Hershey Bears would lose to the Adirondack Red Wings, but he would be awarded the Butterfield anyway.
What Next?
The AHL season kicks off on Friday October 13th with 24 of its 32 teams playing their season opener on that night. The defending champions, the Hershey Bears, will not start their campaign until Saturday October 14th, facing off against the Belleville Senators at home. Will they be able to go for another back-to-back victory?
