Taormina named top defenseman in American Hockey League

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
April 3, 2017

Syracuse Crunch defenseman Matt Taormina was named the Eddie Shore Award as the Most Outstanding American Hockey League Defenseman.

Taormina has already established career highs with 14 goals, 42 assists and 56 points, tied for the league-lead among defenseman in scoring heading in to the final two weeks of the AHL season. Taormina leads the league with 29 power play points. He was also named an AHL First-team All-Star earlier this week.

The award is voted on by coaches, players and members of the media in each of the league’s 30 cities.

Taormina is the second defenseman to win the award for a Lightning farm team after Mark Barberio was named the Eddie Shore Award winner while playing for Norfolk in 2011-12.

This award was first presented by the AHL in 1958-59 in honor of the late Eddie Shore, a member of both the Hockey Hall of Fame and the American Hockey League Hall of Fame who is widely regarded as one of hockey’s greatest defensemen. Shore won a total of seven Calder Cups in his career, including two as the general manager of the Buffalo Bisons and five as the longtime owner of the Springfield Indians. Current Lightning television analyst Brian Engblom is also a previous winner of the award while playing with the Nova Scotia Voyageurs in 1976-77.