2025 Cleveland Monsters vs Toronto Marlies

AHL Power Rankings: Toronto Marlies Maintain Control Of First Place

AHL Power Rankings: Toronto Marlies Maintain Control Of First Place

The Toronto Marlies still control first place in the FloHockey AHL Power Rankings.

Jan 3, 2025 by Patrick Williams
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Every two weeks throughout the regular season, FloHockey's AHL expert Patrick Williams will deliver the FloHockey AHL Power Rankings listing all 32 teams. 

This week the Toronto Marlies remain in control of the top spot in the Power Rankings.

See where your favorite team ranks based on the Power Rankings and follow them throughout the season to see how your club rises or falls. You can also see the full AHL standings here to see how it compares with our power rankings.


1) Toronto Marlies (--)

The Marlies had a handful of slip-ups in December, but they largely have kept powering through. They possess tremendous goaltending depth with Artur Akhtyamov, Dennis Hildeby, and Matt Murray all having taken turns in net this past month. After two-game weekend home set with Cleveland followed by a visit from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton next week, their annual Toronto International Boat Show road trip will be upon them. This year’s 10-game trek that takes them everywhere from Utica to San Diego and many points in between across North America.


2) Calgary Wranglers (--)

Head coach Trent Cull is up with the parent Calgary Flames as an interim assistant coach. How long? That is still to be determined, but Joe Cirella is taking his spot in charge of the Wranglers for now. They took care of Abbotsford in a pair of home games this week and now have a team that they have dominated, the Manitoba Moose, on this weekend’s home slate.


3) Charlotte Checkers (+7)

The Chris Driedger-Ken Appleby combination in net can be as good any in this league. Driedger took Coachella Valley to the Calder Cup Finals last season, and Appleby has been outstanding and shown that he can handle a heavier workload successfully. The power play is still excelling at 31 percent. Amid a crush of injuries – some of them long-term – the Checkers continue to still excel. With a top-five home record, a six-game homestand that opens next week is a chance for the Checkers to really make a run.


4) Grand Rapids Griffins (--)

Grand Rapids came out on New Year’s Eve and hammered the visiting Cleveland Monsters with four first-period goals. Roster moves have hit the Griffins all season, and with the parent Detroit Red Wings’ head-coaching change last week, that issue will be one to monitor. Will new Detroit head coach Todd McLellan coming in result in some line-up shuffling that either helps or hurts the Griffins?


5) Ontario Reign (+6)

There was too much talent on the Reign roster for them to remain a mid-pack team too far into the season. With an experienced blue line that can move the puck, the Reign have among the AHL’s most dangerous offenses. They took advantage of a somewhat light December schedule to go 8-1-0-1. The first two-thirds of their January schedule features a steady dose of struggling opponents and could give the Reign a chance to take a run at Calgary.


6) Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (+2)

Amid injuries, NHL recalls, and other personnel losses, the Penguins continue to find a way. Head coach Kirk MacDonald has instituted a solid brand of hockey that can get the Penguins through some of those difficult nights when the line-up is looking a bit thin. The Pittsburgh Penguins will have to restock their farm system in the coming years after it was depleted, but bringing along critical prospects like Rutger McGroarty in a winning AHL environment is a good start to that process.


7) Providence Bruins (+5)

No matter the season or the roster, nothing says December in the AHL like the P-Bruins finally figuring themselves out and going on a tear. This December was no different as the P-Bruins went 9-2-1-0. Brandon Bussi had a difficult start to the season in net, but he has also found his game to give Providence a stout tandem with Michael DiPietro.


8) San Jose Barracuda (-2)

The Barracuda net is Georgi Romanov’s now, and it may stay that way for quite some time with Yaroslav Askarov settling in with the San Jose Sharks. So far Romanov has mostly shown that he is able to handle that responsibility. Having 10 of their next 13 games at home, now is the time for the Barracuda to stock up on points.


9) Hershey Bears (-6)

The back-to-back Calder Cup champion Bears continue to struggle to find their game and closed out December with five losses in their last seven games. They also have gone 8-9-1-0 (.472), a figure that leaves them 25th in the league. The first half of the season was about banking points with a home-heavy schedule. Their poor home play has made a second-half that features a 10-game road trip that much more crucial. Their eight-game homestand meanders on this weekend with a pair of games against the P-Bruins, so the task isn’t getting any easier.


10) Rochester Americans (+6)

Making their way into the Top 10 for the first time this season are the Amerks, who tore through December with a 9-2-0-0 record. That charge included four wins on a difficult five-game swing through Charlotte, Laval, and Belleville. The next test is having seven of their first nine games in January on the road. After a Utica-heavy schedule so far, they only see the Comets four times in the next two months.


11) Cleveland Monsters (-6)

12) Laval Rocket (-3)

13) Coachella Valley Firebirds (-6)

14) Colorado Eagles (+3)

15) Chicago Wolves (+5)

16) Texas Stars (+6)

17) Tucson Roadrunners (+2)

18) Syracuse Crunch (+6)

19) Belleville Senators (-6)

20) Hartford Wolf Pack (+1)

21) Milwaukee Admirals (-6)

22) Bakersfield Condors (+4)

23) Rockford IceHogs (+2)

24) Abbotsford Canucks (-6)

25) Lehigh Valley Phantoms (-2)

26) Springfield Thunderbirds (-12)

27) Iowa Wild (+1)

28) San Diego Gulls (-1)

29) Utica Comets (--)

30) Bridgeport Islanders (+1)

31) Manitoba Moose (-1)

32) Henderson Silver Knights (--)

Out of the Top 10: Cleveland Monsters, Coachella Valley Firebirds, Laval Rocket

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