SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … San Jose Barracuda forward Andrew Poturalski and Texas Stars forward Matěj Blümel have claimed the American Hockey League’s two prestigious offensive awards for the 2024-25 season.
Poturalski has won the John B. Sollenberger Trophy as the leading point-getter in the AHL, while Blümel has captured the Willie Marshall Award as the AHL’s leading goal-scorer in 2024-25.
Poturalski becomes just the third player in AHL history to lead the league in scoring three times, joining AHL Hall of Famers Bill Sweeney (1960-61, 61-62, 62-63) and Peter White (1994-95, 96-97, 97-98). Poturalski, who also won the Sollenberger Trophy in 2020-21 and 2021-22, finished with a league-best 73 points – including a career-high 30 goals – in 59 contests for the Barracuda despite missing the last nine games of the season. The First Team AHL All-Star selection also collected one assist in three NHL games with the San Jose Sharks. Poturalski, a native of Williamsville, N.Y., is a two-time Calder Cup winner (Charlotte 2019, Chicago 2022) who also reached the Finals in 2023 and 2024 with Coachella Valley.
Blümel scored 39 goals to capture the Marshall Award and finished just behind Poturalski in the scoring race with 72 points in 67 games for the Stars. The 24-year-old native of Tabor, Czechia, scored 11 times on the power play and twice shorthanded en route to topping the 30-goal mark for the second year in a row, and led the AHL with 274 shots on goal – the most by an AHL skater in 12 years. Signed as a free agent by Dallas on June 6, 2022, Blümel also appeared in seven games for the parent Stars in 2024-25, notching one goal.
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), 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, 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.
