TORONTO, Ont. (theahl.com) … For the second time in franchise history, the Toronto Marlies are Calder Cup champions.
The Marlies added the 2026 championship to their 2018 title with a 4-3 win over the Chicago Wolves in Game 5 of the Finals before 8,682 fans at Coca-Cola Coliseum tonight, winning the series four games to one.
Toronto erased a 2-0 deficit to register its third come-from-behind victory of the series. Vinni Lettieri, the leading scorer in the Calder Cup Playoffs with 26 points in 23 games, scored what would prove to be the Cup-winning goal with 3:11 left in the second period, and Easton Cowan recorded three assists.
Goaltender Artur Akhtyamov won the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the most valuable player of the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs. The 24-year-old Akhtyamov, a fourth-round choice by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2020 NHL Draft, went 15-7 with a 2.22 goals-against average, a .923 save percentage and two shutouts in 22 playoff appearances, including 27 saves in Game 5 tonight.
Under head coach John Gruden, Toronto went 16-8 during the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs, winning 10 of its last 13 games. The Marlies defeated the Rochester Americans (2-1), the Laval Rocket (3-2), the Cleveland Monsters (3-2) and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (4-2) before eliminating Chicago to become just the third team in AHL history to win five series in one playoff year. Their .569 points percentage in the regular season (36-26-5-5, 82 points) is the lowest by an eventual Calder Cup champion since the 2002 Chicago Wolves (.538).
Toronto’s victory brings an end to the AHL’s historic 90th season. In operation since 1936, the AHL continues to serve as the top development league for all 32 National Hockey League teams. Nearly 90 percent of today’s NHL players are American Hockey League graduates, and more than 100 honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame spent time in the AHL in their careers.
(Toronto wins series, 4-1)
Game 1 – Fri., June 12 – Toronto 4, CHICAGO 2
Game 2 – Sun., June 14 – Toronto 5, CHICAGO 4 (OT)
Game 3 – Tue., June 16 – TORONTO 1, Chicago 0
Game 4 – Thu., June 18 – Chicago 4, TORONTO 3 (OT)
Game 5 – Fri., June 19 – TORONTO 4, Chicago 3
On the American Hockey League beat for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.
