Grading the Toronto Marlies – Chicago Wolves Calder Cup final

The respective farm teams of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes will fight it out for the 88-year-old AHL trophy

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Published Jun 09, 2026  •  Last updated 11 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Members of the Toronto Marlies celebrate a goal during the first game of their series against the Rochester Americans at Coca Cola Coliseum in Toronto on April 22, 2026. Photo by Barry McCluskey /Barry McCluskey

Some familiar NHL surnames will be on the visitors’ roster when the Toronto Marlies meet the Chicago Wolves in the Calder Cup final. 

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The Wolves, the farm team of the Carolina Hurricanes, punched their ticket Monday night with a 4-3 win over the Colorado Eagles, taking Games 6 and 7 of the American Hockey League’s Western Conference final on the road. 

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Game 1 of the best-of-seven championship, Toronto repping the East in its first trip since winning it in 2018, will be Friday and Sunday at All-State Arena in Rosemont, Ill, before three scheduled at Coca-Cola Coliseum starting Tuesday.  

SIZING UP THE WOLVES

Chicago has Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour’s son Skyler, defenceman Cal Foote (son of former NHLer and Vancouver Canucks’ coach Adam) and Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki’s younger brother Ryan. It was Ryan, a first-round pick of the Canes in 2019, assisting on Chicago’s opening goal and supplying a big go-ahead marker in Monday’s middle period. 

The goaltending duel is projected to be two Russians born in the same city of Kazan, Artur Akhtyamov of the Marlies and Chicago’s Amir Miftakhov. The Wolves also have Cayden Primeau, who started the season in net with the Leafs as a replacement for absent Joseph Woll.       

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The Wolves, who were second in the AHL Central Division, and Marlies were involved in four high-scoring matches in regular play, splitting two-game series in each city. Toronto had a slight one-point overall advantage, after beating the Wolves 5-2 at Coca-Cola Coliseum on March 1, a day after losing 5-4 in a shootout. 

But AHL rosters are more beefed up with experience come playoffs. Toronto’s strength has been veteran scoring from Vinni Lettieri (17 points) and captain Logan Shaw (15), though William Villeneuve has a Marlies post-season record of 14 assists by a defenceman and winger Easton Cowan had big goals in Games 5 and 6 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.         

WHAT SHAPE ARE MARLIES IN

The Marlies are taking a couple of days off to celebrate the Game 6 clincher over the Penguins. As Akhtyamov said in his broken English to the media after the 2-1 win, “I’m just so … enjoyed.” 

Shaw gripped the Richard F. Canning Trophy as Eastern Conference winners and overtime hero Alex Nylander mimicked brother William in doing his post-game interview tarp-less. 

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“We’ve been getting better and better through the playoffs, stronger as a group,” Nylander said. “Our play has shown the team we are. We believe in each other, trust our systems. We have to keep going, one more round.” 

Shaw had surveyed veterans in the room and knew of no other Marlie player who’d been to an AHL final. He also noted the extra playoff round (this will be Toronto’s fifth series of the spring), the nature of AHL scheduling with multiple weekend games and some of its remote cities made the Calder Cup a unique pursuit. 

‘The grind, the travel, the bus trips … but we get to play hockey for a living,” Shaw reminded. ”This is a run we’ll remember forever. 

“We’re a good team, a deep team, but it’s the buy-in we have right now. And we’re this far. It won’t be one guy or two that gets the job done; we’re a team of 30 guys in there, guys who played in this series, guys who didn’t.” 

Akhtyamov is getting plenty of love for his .927 save percentage, third among AHL playoff netminders before Monday with at least 10 playoff games.  

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Shaw was also asked what the past two months have done for Cowan after an up-and-down rookie year as a Leaf.  

“It’s the adversity and the pressure of these kinds of games, being a part of it will help. Look back to Game 4 when he had a mistake (a game-deciding giveaway against the Pens). Hockey is a game of mistakes and in Game 5, watch the way he played, the best player on the ice and same thing (Sunday).  

“Those are the things that will prepare him for the NHL when times are tough and he has some bad games or shifts. He was only here a couple of games during the year and to be sent down for playoffs, sometimes guys might not buy in (to being demoted). He’s bought in since Day 1.” 

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