AHL concludes board of governors meeting; list of changes announced

By @MichaelCaples –

With the conclusion of the American Hockey League’s Board of Governors annual meeting, there will be some changes coming to the AHL next season.

Here are the division alignments:

All AHL temas will play 76 game next season, with the exception of Bakersfield, Ontario, San Diego, San Jose, Stockton and Tucson, which will play 68 games each.

Teams will wear light jerseys at home until the Christmas break, and then dark jerseys at home after the Christmas break.

New fighting rules state that any player who enters into a fight prior to, at, or immediately following the drop of the puck for a face-off will be assessed an automatic game misconduct, along with any other penalties assessed.

During the regular season, any player who racks up 10 fighting majors will be suspended for one game. For any subsequent fighting major up to 13, the player will automatically be suspended for one game. If a player tops 14 fights, they player will start receiving two-game suspensions.

In any situation where the opposing player was assessed an instigator penalty, the fighting major shall not count towards the player’s total for this rule.

In addition to not being able to make line changes after an icing, the offending team will not be allowed to use its time-out, either.

The ice cleaning procedures used during promotional timeouts will be used prior to overtime during the regular season, replacing the “dry scrape” done by Zambonis.