Grand Rapids Griffins Clinch First Berth as AHL Issues 2026 Primer

With 20 games still remaining in the regular season, the Grand Rapids Griffins became the first team to clinch a berth in the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs on Friday night," The Hockey News reported, author IsmailFasih@THNN. The clinch marks the earliest confirmed postseason ticket in the 2025-26 campaign and sets Grand Rapids apart as the team to watch down the stretch.

The league published its 2026 Calder Cup Playoff Primer and, in announcing it, noted the document will "lay out clinching scenarios, teams to watch and key matchups that will determine postseason math." The primer was posted late February 2026 and is being promoted as the AHL's comprehensive map for the final three weeks-plus of the regular season.

The immediate trigger for Grand Rapids' lock came off-ice: "The Griffins locked up a playoff spot as a result of the Rockford IceHog's 4-1 loss to the Hershey Bears," The Hockey News reported. The Rockford-Hershey 4-1 scoreline supplied the clinching mathematics while Grand Rapids still have 20 games remaining on their schedule.

Grand Rapids will make their third consecutive trip to the postseason, and the club is still chasing a historic benchmark—"the 1992-93 Binghamton Rangers (57-13-10, .775) for the best record in AHL history," The Hockey News added. That comparison frames how dominant Grand Rapids has been this season and why their early clinch is notable beyond simply being first across the line.

The Hockey News also noted seasonal timing: "The AHL’s 2025-26 regular season ends April 19." With clinching occurring with 20 games left and the regular season scheduled to finish April 19, the primer and league standings now shift focus to seeding battles, tiebreakers and the matchups the AHL highlighted in its late-February material.

An AHLPR social post picked up and amplified the league material before the clinch was official, saying, "The first look at the AHL's 2026 Playoff Primer is here, as the Grand Rapids Griffins can clinch a berth in the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs today." That present-tense notice appeared on Reddit's r/hockey feed and underlines the tight timing between the primer release and the Rockford result that confirmed Grand Rapids' spot.

Photographs accompanying coverage identified "Grand Rapids Griffins/Detroit Red Wings goaltender Sebastian Cossa (33)" with image credit listed as "Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images," per The Hockey News caption. Reporting now requires confirmation of roster status and any further individual contributions from Cossa as Grand Rapids pivots into postseason planning.

Reporting follow-ups to complete the picture include obtaining the full AHL 2026 Calder Cup Playoff Primer to capture exact clinching scenarios and the remainder of the cut-off fragment at "tiebr," verifying the exact calendar date of the Friday clinch and the Rockford-Hershey boxscore details, confirming Sebastian Cossa's roster designation, and verifying the spelling and source of the image credit listed as "Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images." Those details will flesh out seeding projections laid out in the league primer as the AHL heads into the final weeks before the April 19 regular-season finale.