The Calder Cup Playoff field has been cut to eight teams.

It features a back-to-back Calder Cup champion, the AHL’s regular-season champion, a penalty-killing powerhouse, and much more.

Some of these clubs cruised through the previous round. Two of them swept. One knocked out the Calder Cup finalist of the past two years. Others got a significant scare. And one survived three elimination games, including a series-deciding overtime. Four of them were regular-season division champions. The other four each finished second in their respective divisions.

Tonight it starts when the Laval Rocket, the regular-season champion, visit the Rochester Americans. The Hershey Bears continue their pursuit of a third consecutive Calder Cup on Friday when they start on the road against the Charlotte Checkers. In the Western Conference, the Milwaukee Admirals and Texas Stars meet for the third year in a row. They will fight to move on to the Western Conference Finals to face the winner of this round’s Abbotsford Canucks-Colorado Eagles match-up.

After this round, all remaining rounds will expand to a best-of-seven format.

A case can be made for why any of these eight teams can lift the Calder Cup in June. Let’s break down the Eastern Conference. A Western Conference look will follow Thursday.

Charlotte Checkers

Maybe it’s best to stay away from special-teams play when facing the Checkers. That’s because Charlotte had the AHL’s top-ranked penalty kill (86.6 percent) in the regular season along with a league-high 16 shorthanded tallies. They opened the Calder Cup Playoffs with two shorthanded goals in the opening four minutes of Game 1 against the Providence Bruins. Their power play was not too bad, either, as it finished fifth in the regular season.

Charlotte plays an aggressive, up-tempo game that can frustrate opponents. Just ask the P-Bruins, who managed all of eight shots in Game 5 this past Sunday. The Checkers have overcome a crush of regular-season injuries. A March goaltending change brought in Kaapo Kähkönen, and he was excellent against Providence with a .926 save percentage across five games. Add in an elite defenseman like Trevor Carrick to lead a stout blue line, and combine it with a balanced group of up-front scoring, and you have the Checkers. Head coach Geordie Kinnear does not get a lot of fanfare, but he and his staff have done an excellent job.

Hershey Bears

They’re the Bears. That’s why. They believe in themselves above all else, and for good reason. They have won nine consecutive playoff series, an AHL record, and they have done so by consistently pulling themselves out of danger. They went to a Game 7 overtime in the Calder Cup Finals two years ago. They saw a 3-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Finals last year dissolve, go to Game 7, and then go to overtime 

Their depth consistently rewards them. Garrett Roe, a hero last spring with six goals in 12 playoff games coming in and out of the Hershey line-up as needed, came through again last round against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Last year it was defenseman Nicky Leivermann who entered after three injuries on the blue line and immediately looked at ease.

One thing about the Bears, they may beat themselves once. But they rarely succumb twice to that same mistake. After their power play malfunctioned in Games 2 and 3 and also allowed three shorthanded goals, they rallied with a trio of power-play goals in Game 4. Twice they avoided elimination against the Phantoms. They have experience, and they tap into it when they most need it. During the regular season they went 24-6-5-1 on the road.

Hunter Shepard, who helped to lead the Bears past Lehigh Valley, has been through two of these Calder Cup runs. So have captain Aaron Ness and forward Mike Vecchione to lead a group of eight holdovers from the group that began this run two years ago. Ten more players joined in for last year’s run. They also have a fantastic home environment in one of the premier buildings in the league, and it gets loud from the first round onward.

And when all else fails, they have five-time Calder Cup champion Todd Nelson behind their bench. He consistently has the right feel for his team, knows when to press and when to let up, and shows an abundance of urgency while never showing panic.

Laval Rocket

Montreal Canadiens management went out last summer and found the right group of veterans to surround a young cast.

Two solid veterans in Laurent Dauphin and Tyler Wotherspoon came aboard along with new head coach Pascal Vincent. Long-time offensive force Alex Barré-Boulet came over from the Syracuse Crunch. Rafaël Harvey-Pinard landed back in Laval.

Cayden Primeau rejuvenated his season, coming to Laval after a rough start with Montreal and winning 21 of 26 appearances. Jacob Fowler joined the team late in the regular season and has immediately fit in at the pro level. Primeau and Fowler will be a difficult one-two force in net for opponents. The AHL’s top defensive team in the regular season, the Rocket allowed the second-fewest goals in the third period (55). They know how to close out opponents.

Youth plays a big role with Laval even by AHL standards. The blue line has first-round picks Logan Mailloux and David Reinbacher. Up front are prospects Owen Beck, Jared Davidson, Sean Farrell, Oliver Kapanen, Joshua Roy, and Luke Tuch. They have a feisty group as well with Xavier Simoneau, William Trudeau, and Florian Xhekaj among the Laval players who can irritate opponents in a long series.

Rochester Americans

Sure, Laval presents a goaltending problem for opponents, but so do Devon Levi and the Amerks.

Levi had a league-high seven shutouts in the regular season before adding two of them last round against the Syracuse Crunch. Smart, composed, and eager, he exudes composure in the Rochester net, and his teammates follow. Behind first-year head coach Michael Leone, the Amerks play a well-structured game. They let Levi see pucks, and he does the rest.

Erik Brännström, Kale Clague, Zach Metsa, and Jack Rathbone provide defensive experience.

Jiří Kulich returned from the Buffalo Sabres for the postseason and had 1-2-3 in three games against the Crunch. Konsta Helenius, who just turned 19 this week, is continuing to build on a strong first AHL season after the Sabres took him 14th overall in last June’s NHL Draft. Isak Rosén (28 goals) and Brett Murray (27 goals) delivered offense all season long. Josh Dunne, captain Mason Jobst, and Brendan Warren offer strong support up-front as well.

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