Alexandre Giroux of the Hershey Bears was the AHL’s leading scorer during calendar year 2009, while the Hamilton Bulldogs owned the league’s best regular-season record.
Giroux, the AHL’s MVP and scoring champion for the 2008-09 season, recorded 54 goals and 48 assists for 102 points in 68 regular-season games during 2009, helping the Bears to a division title last year and the best record in the AHL so far in 2009-10.
Giroux was also the AHL’s leading playoff scorer last spring as Hershey captured its 10th Calder Cup championship. Including the postseason, Giroux’s totals for 2009 were 69 goals, 61 assists and 130 points in 90 games.
Keith Aucoin, Giroux’s linemate in Hershey, was second in the AHL with 91 points in 66 regular-season games. Jason Krog was third with 90 points in 79 games for Manitoba and Chicago, followed by Darren Haydar (89 points) and Corey Locke (84).
Hamilton finished the 2008-09 campaign with a strong showing under Don Lever to finish second in the North Division and sixth overall in the AHL, and the Bulldogs’ excellent start in 2009-10 under new head coach Guy Boucher has them one point out of first place overall as the calendar turns.
The Bulldogs owned a .665 points percentage in 2009, going 51-24-4-3 for 109 points in 82 regular-season games. Hershey (.660) was second at 49-23-2-7, followed by the Milwaukee Admirals (.631), Hartford Wolf Pack (.630) and Manitoba Moose (.624).
| Regular-Season Scoring, 2009 | ||||||
| Player | Team(s) | GP | G | A | Pts | |
| 1. | Alexandre Giroux | HER | 68 | 54 | 48 | 102 |
| 2. | Keith Aucoin | HER | 66 | 30 | 61 | 91 |
| 3. | Jason Krog | MTB-CHI | 79 | 28 | 62 | 90 |
| 4. | Darren Haydar | GR-LE | 80 | 34 | 55 | 89 |
| 5. | Corey Locke | HOU-HFD | 79 | 27 | 57 | 84 |
| 6. | Tim Stapleton | TOR-CHI | 70 | 38 | 37 | 75 |
| 7. | P.A. Parenteau | HFD | 58 | 27 | 47 | 74 |
| 8. | Mark Letestu | WBS | 71 | 27 | 46 | 73 |
| 9. | Jon Matsumoto | PHI-ADK | 78 | 30 | 42 | 72 |
| 10. | Mikko Lehtonen | PRO | 78 | 31 | 36 | 67 |
| Kyle Greentree | QC-RFD | 75 | 33 | 34 | 67 | |
| Regular-Season Standings, 2009 | ||||||||
| Team | GP |
W |
L | OTL | SOL | Pts | Pct | |
| 1. | Hamilton | 82 | 51 | 24 | 4 | 3 | 109 | .665 |
| 2. | Hershey | 81 | 49 | 23 | 2 | 7 | 107 | .660 |
| 3. | Milwaukee | 80 | 44 | 23 | 4 | 9 | 101 | .631 |
| 4. | Hartford | 81 | 47 | 26 | 3 | 5 | 102 | .630 |
| 5. | Manitoba | 85 | 48 | 27 | 5 | 5 | 106 | .624 |
| 6. | Bridgeport | 83 | 47 | 28 | 3 | 5 | 102 | .614 |
| 7. | W-B/Scranton | 80 | 46 | 28 | 3 | 3 | 98 | .613 |
| 8. | Peoria | 79 | 43 | 29 | 2 | 5 | 93 | .589 |
| 9. | Worcester | 80 | 45 | 31 | 1 | 3 | 94 | .588 |
| 10. | Manchester | 83 | 44 | 32 | 1 | 6 | 95 | .572 |
| (includes only teams active in both 2008-09 and 2009-10) | ||||||||
