SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today that Jacob MacDonald of the Colorado Eagles is the winner of the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL’s outstanding defenseman for the 2024-25 season.
The award was voted on by coaches, players and members of the media representing each of the league’s 32 cities.
MacDonald rewrote the AHL record books in 2024-25 by scoring 31 goals, the most ever by a defenseman in the league’s 89-year history. He added 24 assists to lead all AHL blueliners in scoring with 55 points, equaling his career high, and finished with a plus/minus rating of plus-24 to rank tied for 10th in the entire league. MacDonald scored 13 times on the power play and tallied five game-winning goals for the Eagles, who led the AHL in offense (3.47 goals scored per game) and tied for fourth in defense (2.57 goals allowed per game) en route to capturing their first Pacific Division title this season.
A 10th-year pro from Portland, Ore., MacDonald was voted a First Team AHL All-Star in 2024-25, his third postseason All-Star selection after garnering First Team honors in 2017-18 and a Second Team nod in 2019-20. In 340 career AHL games, MacDonald has totaled 99 goals – tied for seventh-most ever by an AHL defenseman – and 149 assists for 248 points. MacDonald, undrafted out of Cornell University, has also skated in 135 games in the National Hockey League with Florida, Colorado and San Jose, registering 10 goals and 17 assists.
This award was first presented by the AHL in 1958-59 in honor of the late Eddie Shore, a member of both the Hockey Hall of Fame and the American Hockey League Hall of Fame who is widely regarded as one of hockey’s greatest defensemen. Shore won a total of seven Calder Cups in his career, including two as the general manager of the Buffalo Bisons and five as the longtime owner of the Springfield Indians. Previous recipients of the Eddie Shore Award include Steve Kraftcheck (1959), Bob McCord (1961, ’67), Al Arbour (1965), Jim Morrison (1966), Noel Price (1970, ’72, ’76), Brian Engblom (1977), Terry Murray (1978, ’79), Dave Farrish (1982), Brad Shaw (1987), Dave Fenyves (1988, ’89), Eric Weinrich (1990), Darren Rumble (1997), John Slaney (2001, ’02), Niklas Kronwall (2005), Johnny Boychuk (2009), Mark Barberio (2012), Justin Schultz (2013), T.J. Brennan (2014, ’16), Jake Bean (2020), Jordan Gross (2022), Christian Wolanin (2023) and Kyle Capobianco (2024).
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.
The winner of the 2024-25 Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award (outstanding goaltender) will be announced Wednesday.
