SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … Syracuse Crunch forward Jakob Pelletier and Belleville Senators forward Arthur Kaliyev have claimed the American Hockey League’s two prestigious offensive awards for the 2025-26 season.
Pelletier has won the John B. Sollenberger Trophy as the leading point-getter in the AHL, while Kaliyev has captured the Willie Marshall Award as the AHL’s leading goal-scorer in 2025-26.
Pelletier finished with a league-leading 77 points (28 goals, 49 assists) in 63 games for Syracuse, joining Carter Verhaeghe (2018-19) as the only Crunch skaters to win a scoring title in franchise history. Voted a First Team AHL All-Star this season, Pelletier tied for first in the league with five shorthanded goals, and his 31 power-play points were the most of any AHL forward. The fifth-year pro also finished the campaign with a 20-game scoring streak, the longest by an AHL skater in more than 17 years. Originally a first-round choice by Calgary in the 2019 NHL Draft, Pelletier signed as a free agent with Tampa Bay on July 2, 2025, and appeared in five games with the Lightning this season.
Kaliyev scored 40 goals to capture the Willie Marshall Award, adding 28 assists to finish third in scoring with 68 points in 70 games for Belleville. Kaliyev also led the AHL with 266 shots on goal and ranked second with 16 power-play markers, and he put together a seven-game goal scoring streak – tied for the longest in the league this season – between Nov. 8 and Nov. 21. Kaliyev, who was also selected a First Team AHL All-Star for 2025-26, joined the Ottawa organization as a free agent in July and tallied one assist in two NHL games this season; the sixth-year pro was originally a second-round draft pick by Los Angeles in 2019.
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), Darren Haydar (2007), 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, ’25), Michael Carcone (2023) and Mavrik Bourque (2024).
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), Stefan Noesen (2022) and Adam Gaudette (2024). 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 and celebrating its 90th-anniversary season this year, 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.
