Portland Pirates defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani was named the winner of the Eddie Shore Award as the American Hockey League’s outstanding defenseman Tuesday.
In his fourth AHL season, Gragnani, currently in the NHL with the parent Buffalo Sabres, set Portland franchise records for assists and points in a season by a defenseman.
Additional Photos
“He’s just kind of had a dominating year, offensively,” Portland assistant coach Eric Weinrich said.
“On top of that, he’s one of the top plus-minus defensemen in the league.
“His defensive play sometimes gets overlooked, but he’s really worked hard to be good at both ends of the ice.”
With less than a week left in the regular season, Gragnani leads AHL defensemen in assists (48) and points (60), and ranks fourth with a plus-22 rating.
On Jan. 15, Gragnani, a 24-year-old Montreal native, tied a club record with five assists in a game against Worcester.
Last month he had six consecutive multiple-point games and ranked second among all league players in March by scoring 20 points in 13 games.
Gragnani, a third-round draft pick by Buffalo in 2005, has appeared in six games with the Sabres this season.
His first career NHL point was the assist on Tim Connelly’s winning goal last Wednesday night against the New York Rangers.
Last Sunday, his first NHL goal was the overtime winner at Carolina.
The award, voted by coaches, players and members of the media in each of the league’s 30 cities, is named for Shore, who is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and also the AHL Hall of Fame, and is regarded as one of hockey’s greatest defenseman.
“Anything that has Eddie Shore’s name attached to it is quite an honor,” said Weinrich, who received the award in 1990 when he played for the old Utica Devils.
Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at: pbetit@pressherald.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.