By: Jake Ferraro | Follow me on Twitter/X @18Jxxx18
The Providence Bruins are the best team in the American Hockey League this season. After last night’s 2-1 road win against the Springfield Thunderbirds at MassMutual Center, Providence leads the AHL with 97 points, having a four-point cushion on the Grand Rapids Griffins. Arguably, the biggest reason for Providence’s success this season has been because of goaltender Michael DiPietro.
The reigning Aldedge “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award winner is having another tremendous season in Providence. There is less than one month remaining in the AHL regular season, and with how he’s been stellar all season and a major reason Providence has the AHL’s best record, DiPietro deserves to be the AHL’s Les Cunningham Award winner as the league’s best player for 2026.
DiPietro has spectacularly defended his 2025 “Baz” Bastien season. DiPietro leads all AHL goaltenders with 30 wins, and his 1.90 GAA and .932 save percentage are both the league’s best as well. DiPietro is the AHL goaltender who has 25 wins or a GAA under 2.20 this season. DiPietro has more wins than 16 AHL teams, which is half of the entire league. In 20 of his 39 games played this season, DiPietro recorded 25 saves in the game. Those four stats alone, and keeping Providence at the top of the AHL, are impressive and a huge advantage for MVP voting.
Most MVPs in a hockey league are usually forwards, given the point production they provide for their team. As of now, Jakob Pelletier of the Syracuse Crunch leads the AHL with 69 points. However, Pelletier’s contribution for Syracuse has them sitting in second place in the North Division with 81 points, which is 16 points fewer than what DiPietro has contributed for Providence.
Pelletier’s season can give a comparison to last season’s AHL MVP and the last time a goaltender won the award. Last season, Andrew Poturalski of the San Jose Barracuda won the 2025 AHL MVP. Poturalski finished the season leading the AHL with 73 points, but San Jose failed to make the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs. Pelletier will likely pass Poturalski’s 2024-25 point total this season and have reason to be the AHL MVP. Like Providence, Syracuse has clinched a spot in the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs, but Pelletier’s impact isn’t quite the same as DiPietro’s.
Dustin Wolf was the last goaltender to win the AHL MVP, which happened in 2023, and he won the “Baz” Bastien award as well. That season, Michael Carcone of the Tucson Roadrunners led the AHL with 85 points, but his team failed to make the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs. Meanwhile, Wolf’s goaltending was outstanding throughout, which helped the Calgary Wranglers finish with 106 points to lead the AHL that season. Wolf finished the season leading the AHL with 42 wins, and his 2.09 GAA and .932 save percentage both led the league. Wolf’s 2023 season with Calgary is the same scenario as DiPietro is currently having with Providence in 2026.
The improvement from last season to this season from DiPietro has been incredible. With how he’s playing, DiPietro is worthy of playing more in the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins. While Joonas Korpisalo has struggled with consistency since last season, the Bruins could have an idea to have DiPietro be Jeremy Swayman’s backup in the future. Winning the 2026 AHL MVP would give DiPietro reason to get more NHL experience, as he’s only played in four career NHL games. One of which was a relief performance this season, which lasted just over six minutes.
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