On Tuesday, the AHL announced that former Philadelphia Flyers forward Jakob Pelletier was named the AHL Player of the Year, putting the exclamation point on the best pro season of his career thus far.
Pelletier, still just 25 years old, erupted for 28 goals, 49 assists, and 77 points in 62 games for the AHL Syracuse Crunch this season, establishing new career-highs across the board while leading the entire league in scoring, making him an easy choice for AHL Player of the Year.
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In four Calder Cup playoff games, Pelletier added a goal and four assists, and he got to play in five NHL games for the Tampa Bay Lightning this season as well.
The 2019 first-round pick was let go by the Flyers last offseason after a short stint in Philadelphia that saw him score three goals, five assists, and eight points in 25 games in place of the traded Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost, playing in a limited role for then-Flyers coaches John Tortorella and Brad Shaw.
Free to sign with any NHL team after not receiving a qualifying offer from the Flyers, Pelletier inked a three-year pact with the Lightning, giving the perennial Stanley Cup contenders some depth and some young upside – two things they badly needed.
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The 5-foot-9 winger could have had a role to play in Philadelphia with the Flyers again this season when Tyson Foerster missed time with two different injuries, but Denver Barkey and Alex Bump stepped up in their first professional seasons instead.
At the same time, though, given that Pelletier played almost exclusively in the AHL again this season, we can point to a weak Lehigh Valley Phantoms team that probably could have used some upgrades.
For instance, journeyman Lane Pederson finished as the Phantoms’ leading scorer with 23 goals, 25 assists, and 48 points in 63 games, while Pelletier trumped that total with just his 49 assists.
Also consider that Anthony Richard, the team’s second-highest scorer, just left for Switzerland, and Bump and Barkey, seventh and 14th, respectively, on the team in scoring, graduated to the NHL.
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Alexis Gendron, who was traded to the Boston Bruins organization midseason, had a modest 10 goals, 12 assists, and 22 points himself.
That’s all to say that the Flyers lost a lot of firepower over the course of the season, which culminated in an early end to the year for prospects like Oliver Bonk, David Jiricek, Hunter McDonald, Aleksei Kolosov, Carson Bjarnason, Jack Berglund, and Cole Knuble.
In the end, Pelletier bet on himself and signed elsewhere, and now he’s a bonafide AHL star, at the very least.
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