SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … American Hockey League President and CEO David Andrews announced that the league’s Board of Governors, convening for its Spring Meeting earlier this week in Chicago, Ill., has approved the following division alignment for the 2017-18 AHL season:

The format for the 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs will be finalized by the Board of Governors at its Annual Meeting in Hilton Head Island, S.C., July 2-6, and the complete playing schedule for the 2017-18 regular season, which begins Oct. 6, will be announced this summer.

In operation since 1936, the AHL continues to serve as the top development league for all 30 National Hockey League teams. More than 88 percent of today’s NHL players are American Hockey League graduates, and for the 16th year in a row, more than 6 million fans attended AHL games across North America in 2016-17.