Jayson Megna wins 2026 Bruce Boudreau Award with Colorado Eagles
Jayson Megna’s 51-point season and captaincy earned him the Bruce Boudreau Award, a rare spotlight for an AHL-contract player in Colorado.
Jayson Megna’s season did more than drive the Colorado Eagles into the Calder Cup Playoffs. It put an AHL-contract player at the center of one of the league’s top individual honors, a reminder that the American Hockey League still runs on veterans who can score, lead and hold a room together.
Megna was named the 2026 Bruce Boudreau Award winner on April 30, 2026, after a season that checked every box the honor is meant to recognize. The award is selected by a panel of league media and goes to the most outstanding player signed to an AHL contract, not an NHL deal. For a league often framed through prospect pipelines and NHL call-ups, Megna’s win put a different kind of value on display: the player who stays, produces and sets the standard every night.
The Eagles captain delivered 26 goals and 25 assists for 51 points in 69 regular-season games in 2025-26, matching the 51 points he posted the year before. He added one goal and one assist in two Calder Cup playoff games as Colorado finished second in the Pacific Division with 92 points and swept San Diego in the first round. Megna also earned an All-Star Game nod, another sign that his production and leadership resonated across the league, not just in Loveland.
His path gives the award more weight. Megna, who is from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, played one year at the University of Nebraska-Omaha after going undrafted from the USHL’s Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, then signed a two-year deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins after attending development camp in 2012. He has played 206 NHL games over ten seasons with Pittsburgh, the New York Rangers, Vancouver, Colorado, Anaheim and Boston, but chose an AHL contract in part because of family considerations and a desire to stay in Colorado, where he lives with his wife and five-year-old daughter.
That choice has paid off for both sides. Across 14 pro seasons, Megna has 409 regular-season points in 618 AHL games and 43 points in 66 playoff games. He has worn the captain’s letter for the past two seasons, and the Eagles have leaned on that presence as much as his finish. In a league where so many stories are about the next NHL arrival, Megna’s season is a case for the career AHL pro who keeps a contender organized and dangerous.
The award carries the name of Bruce Boudreau, whose own AHL résumé still stands out in league history. Boudreau played or coached 22 AHL seasons, totaled 799 career points in 634 games, and won 340 regular-season games as an AHL coach. For Colorado, Megna’s honor fits the club’s identity: a veteran captain, a strong team season, and a playoff run built around players who understand how to win at this level.
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