SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … Texas Stars forward Mavrik Bourque and Springfield Thunderbirds forward Adam Gaudette have claimed the American Hockey League’s two prestigious offensive awards for the 2023-24 season.
Bourque has won the John B. Sollenberger Trophy as the leading point-getter in the AHL, while Gaudette has captured the Willie Marshall Award as the AHL’s leading goal-scorer in 2023-24.
A second-year pro from Plessisville, Que., the 22-year-old Bourque is the youngest AHL scoring champion since Brandon Pirri in 2012-13. Following up on a 20-goal rookie campaign, Bourque finished the year with 26 goals and 51 assists for a league-best 77 points in 71 games for Texas, also ranking first with 256 shots on goal. Bourque was voted a First Team AHL All-Star for 2023-24, participated in his first AHL All-Star Classic this season and made his National Hockey League debut with the Dallas Stars on Apr. 6. He was a first-round selection by Dallas (30th overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft.
Gaudette scored a league-best 44 goals in 67 games for the Thunderbirds, surpassing his previous career high of 27 goals set last season and tied for the fourth-most by a Springfield skater in 80 seasons of AHL hockey in the city. Gaudette added 27 assists to finish third in the AHL scoring race with 71 points, and was voted to the AHL’s First All-Star Team this season. The sixth-year pro from Braintree, Mass., has 77 goals and 57 assists in 138 AHL games over his career, along with 27 goals and 43 assists in 220 career games in the NHL. Gaudette was originally a fifth-round pick by Vancouver in the 2015 NHL Draft and joined the St. Louis Blues organization via trade from Toronto on Feb. 17, 2023.
The AHL’s leading-scorer trophy was originally named after Wally Kilrea, who held the AHL’s single-season scoring record when the award was instituted in 1947-48. That year, Carl Liscombe broke Kilrea’s record, and the award was renamed in his honor. In 1955, the AHL Board of Governors voted to name the trophy after John B. Sollenberger, a long-time contributor to the league as manager and president of the Hershey Bears and former Chairman of the AHL Board of Governors. Previous winners of the John B. Sollenberger Trophy include Fred Glover (1957, ’60), Willie Marshall (1958), Bill Sweeney (1961, ’62, ’63), Don Blackburn (1972), Paul Gardner (1985, ’86), Bruce Boudreau (1988), Peter White (1995, ’97, ’98), Derek Armstrong (2001), Jason Spezza (2005), Alexandre Giroux (2009), Keith Aucoin (2010), Travis Morin (2014), Chris Bourque (2016), Chris Terry (2018), Carter Verhaeghe (2019), Sam Anas (2020), Andrew Poturalski (2021, ’22) and Michael Carcone (2023).
The AHL’s goal-scoring award was established in 2004 to honor Willie Marshall, the AHL’s all-time leader in goals, assists, points and games played; winners include Mike Cammalleri (2005), Alexandre Giroux (2009, ’10), Tyler Johnson (2013), Frank Vatrano (2016), Carter Verhaeghe (2019) and Stefan Noesen (2022). Other previous yearly goal-scoring leaders include Bryan Hextall (1937), Lou Trudel (1942, ’45), Fred Glover (1951), Dunc Fisher (1958), Jimmy Anderson (1961, ’64), Yvon Lambert (1973), Gordie Clark (1980), Paul Gardner (1985, ’86), Jody Gage (1988) and Brad Smyth (1996, 2001).
In operation since 1936, the American Hockey League continues to serve as the top development league for all 32 National Hockey League teams. Nearly 90 percent of all players competing in the NHL are AHL graduates, and through the years the American Hockey League has been home to more than 100 honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
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