SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today that goaltender Michael DiPietro of the Providence Bruins has been voted the winner of the Les Cunningham Award as the AHL’s most valuable player for the 2025-26 season.
The award was voted on by coaches, players and members of the media representing each of the league’s 32 cities.
DiPietro becomes just the ninth different goaltender in league history to win MVP honors, following Johnny Bower (1955-56, 1956-57, 1957-58), Denis DeJordy (1962-63), Gilles Villemure (1968-69, 1969-70), Pelle Lindbergh (1980-81), J.F. Labbe (1996-97), Martin Brochu (1999-2000), Jason LaBarbera (2003-04) and Dustin Wolf (2022-23).
The MVP selection comes after DiPietro won the Baz Bastien Award as the AHL’s outstanding goaltender each of the last two seasons. He followed a career year in 2024-25 by improving his numbers across the board in 2025-26, posting a record of 34-8-1 and leading the entire league in goals-against average (1.91), save percentage (.930) and wins (34). DiPietro also ranked fifth in minutes played (2,644), shots faced (1,202) and saves (1,118).
DiPietro won his first seven starts of the season and went 14-1-0 over a two-month stretch from Jan. 17 to Mar. 14, and he allowed two goals or fewer in 33 of his 45 appearances overall in backstopping the Bruins to the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy as the AHL’s regular-season champions. DiPietro made his second appearance at the AHL All-Star Classic in February, and he was voted a First Team AHL All-Star for the second year in a row as well.
In 190 career AHL games over his seven pro seasons with Providence, Abbotsford and Utica, DiPietro has gone 118-50-14 with a 2.39 GAA, a .918 save percentage and 12 shutouts. The 26-year-old native of Windsor, Ont., was selected by Vancouver in the third round of the 2017 NHL Draft and has made four career appearances in the NHL, including one this season with Boston. He was acquired by the Bruins via trade on Oct. 27, 2022.
The AHL’s most valuable player award honors the late Les Cunningham, a member of the AHL Hall of Fame who was a five-time league All-Star and three-time Calder Cup champion with the Cleveland Barons. Previous winners of the award include Carl Liscombe (1948, ’49), Johnny Bower (1956, ’57, ’58), Fred Glover (1960, ’62, ’64), Art Stratton (1965, ’74), Dick Gamble (1996), Mike Nykoluk (1967), Dave Creighton (1968), Gilles Villemure (1969, ’70), Doug Gibson (1975, ’77), Pelle Lindbergh (1981), Paul Gardner (1985, ’86), Tim Tookey (1987), Jody Gage (1988), John Anderson (1992), Don Biggs (1993), Brad Smyth (1996), Derek Armstrong (2001), Jason Spezza (2005), Keith Aucoin (2010), Tyler Johnson (2013), Travis Morin (2014), Chris Bourque (2016), Gerry Mayhew (2020), T.J. Tynan (2021, ’22), Dustin Wolf (2023), Mavrik Bourque (2024) and Andrew Poturalski (2025).
In operation since 1936 and celebrating its 90th-anniversay 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.