Chicago Wolves earn respect after resilient Calder Cup Final run

Toronto lifted the Calder Cup, but the Chicago Wolves left the Final looking more like a team the league underestimated than a team that merely fell short. The Marlies won the series 4-1, yet Chicago spent the spring stacking proof that its roster, its coach and its edge in elimination games belonged in the conversation.

The Wolves finished second in the Central Division at 36-21-8-7 for 87 points after Spiros Anastas took over behind the bench on Dec. 12, 2025. They then went 10-6 in the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs, beat the Grand Rapids Griffins 3-1 in the Central Division semifinals and outlasted the Colorado Eagles 4-3 in the Western Conference Final. Chicago became the 10th team in AHL history to win both Game 6 and Game 7 of a playoff series on the road, and all four of its wins against Colorado came by one goal.

That profile held up in the Final, even against a Toronto team that finished 16-8 in the postseason and won 10 of its final 13 games under John Gruden. Chicago erased a third-period deficit in Game 4 and won 4-3 in overtime on Viktor Neuchev’s goal, after Bradly Nadeau had struck 28 seconds into the game, the fastest opening goal to a Finals game since 2017. Domenick Fensore and Justin Robidas fueled the comeback before Neuchev ended it, and the Wolves became only the eighth team in 25 series to force a Game 5 after trailing 3-0, and only the second to avoid a sweep by winning Game 4 on the road.

That is the part of this run that should matter next season. Chicago did not stumble into the Final on luck or soft brackets. Ryan Suzuki had seven points in the Wolves’ four elimination wins, the kind of production that usually travels in May and June. Cayden Primeau and Amir Miftakhov gave the Wolves enough goaltending survival to keep every series alive, including Miftakhov’s 36-save turn in Game 6 against Colorado and Primeau’s 33-save performance in the decisive Game 7 at Loveland, Colorado.

Anastas made the identity plain when he said, “Our approach has been a Game 7 mentality,” and added that the Wolves were “4-0 in elimination games.” That was not spin. It was the spine of a team that reached its sixth conference championship in 25 seasons as an AHL franchise and joined the parent Carolina Hurricanes as the fourth affiliate pair in the last 30 years to reach their league finals in the same season. Toronto got the trophy, but Chicago’s roster looks like a foundation, not a finish line.