Cleveland Monsters Clinch Third Straight Playoff Berth After Slow Start

A 5-2 home loss to the Hershey Bears on November 20 left the Cleveland Monsters sitting sixth in the AHL's North Division with a 4-4-3-1 record. Four months later, they have clinched a third consecutive trip to the Calder Cup Playoffs.

The turnaround unfolded steadily under head coach Trent Vogelhuber, an Ohio native in his fourth season and the seventh head coach in franchise history. By late February, the Monsters had climbed to third place in the North Division with a 29-18-6-1 record, a swing that erased any early-season doubt about whether this roster had the depth to sustain a playoff culture.

Two players carried the bulk of that climb. Goaltender Ivan Fedotov, tied for first in the AHL in games played with 42 appearances through late March, posted 22 wins with a 2.83 goals-against average and an .888 save percentage. Forward Luca Del Bel Belluz, tied for 12th in AHL scoring, added nine power-play goals to rank tied for eighth in the league in that category. Their production provided the consistent output a team anchored by a young roster needs when the standings get tight. Veteran defensemen Will Butcher, Brendan Smith, and Dysin Mayo were cited early in the season as stabilizing forces alongside forwards James Malatesta, Luca Pinelli, Owen Sillinger, and defenseman Corson Ceulemans.

The 2025-26 clinch is the latest chapter in what has become one of the AHL's more compelling three-year arcs. After missing the postseason every year from 2019 through 2023, Cleveland made a dramatic return in 2023-24, winning the North Division regular season title, sweeping the Syracuse Crunch, defeating the Belleville Senators, and advancing to the Eastern Conference Final before losing to the defending champion Hershey Bears in seven games, a series that included four overtime games. In 2024-25, the Monsters swept the Toronto Marlies in the First Round with back-to-back overtime wins before the Laval Rocket eliminated them 3-1 in the North Division Semifinals.

The franchise traces its championship ceiling to 2016, when the team competed as the Lake Erie Monsters under then-coach Jared Bednar, who later took over the NHL's Colorado Avalanche. That squad, featuring future Blue Jackets stars Josh Anderson and Oliver Bjorkstrand, won 15 of 17 postseason games to claim the Calder Cup, Cleveland's first AHL title since the Cleveland Barons won in 1964 and the 10th for a Cleveland-based AHL franchise. The team officially became the Cleveland Monsters on August 9, 2016.

The Columbus Blue Jackets' primary development affiliate plays home games at Rocket Arena in downtown Cleveland, shared with the NBA's Cavaliers. The city will also host the 2027 AHL All-Star Classic, a selection that reflects how the franchise has repositioned itself within the league over the past three seasons.

Three straight playoff appearances under Vogelhuber do not guarantee a deeper run in 2026, but they confirm that what began as a one-year return has become a standard. The Monsters are no longer a team trying to get back to the playoffs; they are a team that expects to be there.