‘A good mix of everything’: Pelletier motivated further by AHL Player of the Year honor

Jakob Pelletier was lining up his next shot on the golf course when his phone began to ring.

The incoming call showed the contact for Syracuse Crunch head coach Joel Bouchard, who was calling with good news for the 25-year-old forward.

Pelletier last week was named the Fortune Tires Player of the Year in the American Hockey League, the award given to the league’s top standout player.

“I didn’t know it was the award for player of the year at first. It means a lot,” Pelletier said. “But like I told Bouch and pretty much the whole team that shot me a text after it got out, those guys are a big part of it because I don’t think one player alone can do that by themselves. It takes all the players, all the coaches, all the trainers as well. It’s more like a team award than a solo award, to be honest.”

Pelletier hung up the phone and approached his ball for his next shot. Emotions were running high, and he admitted his golf ball ended up out of bounds on a mishit.

There weren’t many mishits on the ice this standout season—Pelletier scored 28 goals and 77 points in 63 games for the Crunch on his way to winning the John B. Sollenberger Trophy as the league’s top scorer over the 2025-26 season. His 49 assists tied for third in the league.

He also piloted the Crunch power play on his way to an AHL-best 31 points on the man advantage.

“He’s got a good mix of everything,” Bouchard said of Pelletier. “We worked a lot on some of the stuff that will help him get to the next level, and he really pushed that this year to be more dynamic and worked on his 200-foot game.”

Pelletier killed penalties for Bouchard and quickly developed into a leader in the locker room. The speedy forward served as one of the team’s alternate captains in 2025-26.

“His engagement in the moment and his engagement to what’s in front of him and what the game gives him is what makes him a really good player,” Bouchard said. “He’s invested, and he’s definitely very consistent. He always comes ready to play because he enjoys being with the boys and he enjoys the game of hockey.”

‘He’s going to get there'

Fans in Tampa Bay also got to see Pelletier in five games this season. He averaged 9:16 of time on ice per game while sending four shots on goal. It marks the fourth straight season in which he earned time in the NHL following a career-best season in 2024-25.

Pelletier scored seven goals and 19 points across 49 NHL appearances split between the Calgary Flames and Philadelphia Flyers a season ago. The First Round pick by Calgary in the 2019 NHL Draft said that helped his mindset to allow for this season’s production.

“I had the confidence from last year that I brought into this year. Last year I played 50 games in the NHL and was happy with my game, so my confidence was high.”

His big focus this season was on the sport’s finer details. After going three games without a point in early November, he sat down with Bouchard to talk about those details, and his game took another step shortly after. Some of that was defensively, particularly staying active with his stick.

“I was not as good at keeping my stick on the puck at the start of the year when I was in the D zone or trying to retrieve the puck,” Pelletier said. “I started doing that a lot, started creating turnovers, and that leads to offense.”

The forward experienced the organization’s winning culture both in the NHL and AHL this season, the first of a three-year contract he signed this past summer.

Bouchard repeatedly witnessed Pelletier’s excitement to join the Lightning depth chart, noting that he was quick to study and lean into that environment.

“We’ve committed as an organization to keep developing him as a player. He’s still a prospect, and he really embraced everything,” Bouchard said. “He’s dedicated and he bought into everything that he and I talked about or even the team concepts. He’s a leader on and off the ice, and he’s just getting what he deserved in that he had a really strong performance throughout the season.”

Younger players gravitated to Pelletier, who is already working on his game ahead of next season. Bouchard knows the player will again arrive ready to play when training camp opens in the fall.

“It’s a lot of fun for our coaching staff and the players. He’s a joy around the rink,” Bouchard said. “Our main goal is to always develop players. Even when players become a little older, their goal is set to be in the NHL. That’s definitely his goal, and he’s going to get there.”

That remains Pelletier’s focus.

“I want to be an NHL player and I want to be a difference-maker. I want to show to everybody that I belong there and I can be a significant player in the NHL.”