AHL names team winners for 2025-26 Man of the Year honors

The AHL’s annual Man of the Year race is really a referendum on who shows up when the cameras are gone. This year’s 32 team winners, announced April 14, put familiar names such as Seth Griffith, Jayson Megna, Lucas Condotta, Max McCormick and Cal Petersen into the running for the league’s next Yanick Dupré Memorial Award.

The honor carries the weight of Dupré’s story. The Hershey Bears forward played four AHL seasons and reached the league’s All-Star stage in 1995 before dying in 1997 at age 24 after a 16-month battle with leukemia. He also appeared in 35 NHL games with the Philadelphia Flyers, and the AHL has presented the Man of the Year award every season since 1998 in his memory.

The winner of the 2025-26 Yanick Dupré Memorial Award will be chosen in the coming weeks by representatives from IOA and American Specialty along with the AHL. That process begins with a wide field, and the list this time again shows how deeply community work is baked into the league, from long-established leaders like Griffith in Bakersfield and McCormick in Coachella Valley to younger faces such as Chase Wouters in Abbotsford, Justin Robidas in Chicago, Ben Steeves in Charlotte and Owen Sillinger in Cleveland.

There is real significance in the names behind the honor because these are the players organizations lean on for the work that happens away from the standings. The same group is expected in schools, hospitals, youth events and charity appearances all season long, and the team winners reflect that kind of steady visibility in places like Laval, Grand Rapids, Hartford, Lehigh Valley, Providence, Rochester, San Diego, Syracuse, Utica and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

The league’s broader context helps explain why the award matters. The AHL has operated since 1936 and serves as the top development league for all 32 NHL teams, with nearly 90 percent of NHL players coming through it. That makes the Man of the Year honor more than a ceremonial nod. It is a reminder that in a league built on development, the best pros are often the ones who understand the job does not end at the rink door. Curtis McKenzie proved that last season when he won the 2024-25 league award after three Texas Stars team honors, and Daniel Walcott did the same the year before after becoming a five-time Syracuse Crunch honoree.