Sheng Peng
LOS ANGELES — The San Jose Sharks organization has an MVP.
Andrew Poturalski has won the Les Cunningham Award for AHL MVP for the 2024-25 season.
Poturalski led the league with 73 points, and helped spearhead the San Jose Barracuda’s return to the Calder Cup playoffs, their first time since 2019.
Poturalski spoke with local media about the honor this afternoon, in an entertaining sit-down that touched on the honest reason why he signed with the San Jose Sharks, the origin of Barracuda playoff motto “Be a Pig”, and the birth on Thursday night of his third child.
For the Barracuda, their alternate captain is not just the most valuable on the ice, he’s the most valuable off the ice too.
“He’s an impressive, elite offensive driver,” head coach John McCarthy said. “Most importantly, for our team, he’s a great leader, a great person, he brings people together, that type of personality.”
“You see what he does, not only on the ice producing, but off the ice as a leader, as a veteran guy. He’s someone who guys can lean on, guys can look to in all aspects,” captain Jimmy Schuldt said.
Schuldt gave a recent example: Poturalski has been out of the line-up since Mar.28 with a week-to-week lower-body injury, but he had a bunch of the younger Barracuda players over before the playoffs for dinner.
“Stuff like that is what makes him really important to this team and the MVP,” Schuldt noted.
Poturalski also took us inside how he leads, even when he’s not playing, including who came over for this recent dinner.
This is 31-year-old Poturalski’s first MVP, but he’s been a regular candidate. This is the third time that he’s led the AHL in scoring and he’s a four-time regular season AHL All-Star team selection.
He’s also a two-time Calder Cup champion and took home playoff MVP in 2019.
Poturalski, on his reaction to winning the MVP:
I took the call this morning, it was definitely pretty cool. You know the cliché answer, but the same applies to me—you don’t really play the game for the individual awards, but I think it’s a testament to our team and the good players that I get to play with every night. They’ve helped me to be in this position and have given me the opportunity to succeed. It’s definitely pretty cool, it’s an all-around honor to our team and everyone that’s helped me out.
Poturalski, on if he was surprised that this was his first time winning MVP:
I mean, we joked around my year in Chicago [when I scored 101 points]. Even my good friend [and teammate], Stef Noesen, that year—I think he had, like, [48] goals, he was more than well-deserving to win that one year. We just used it as motivation for the playoffs.
Like I said, it’s not something you really think too much about—it’s not really why you train in the summer. You want to win championships, so that’s what motivates me. It’s definitely a huge honor and I’m very thankful to be in the position to win it.
(San Jose Hockey Now note: The Ontario Reign’s T.J. Tynan won the award)
Poturalski, on watching the Barracuda win Game One:
It’s awesome. I mean, just as a side note, it’s exciting times for us over here. I’m actually in Buffalo with my wife right now, and we just welcomed our third child. She delivered him last night, so I was able to then flip on the iPad and catch the game. It was awesome to see the boys get the job done. Obviously, it sucks right now being hurt and it’s out of my hands, but for them to have my back and get a win like that is definitely huge.
Poturalski, on the name of the child:
We actually just picked the name: Nash Andrew Poturalski.
Poturalski, on why he had confidence that the Barracuda could win when he signed with San Jose Sharks organization:
It’s tough to answer that. I wouldn’t say that was my main intention on signing here, I think I came here more for the opportunity to try and play in the NHL and step in and fill a role that they haven’t had in the past years.
But I was pleasantly surprised when I got to camp. Just learning about all the players and all the young talent that’s in the organization and getting to play with some of these players and seeing how good they are, us complementing each other on the ice and having that success that we did. It was a lot of fun to be a part of and really cool to see these guys and how good they are, it helped me have the season that I had. It’s something that I guess I didn’t expect when I made the decision to sign here, but like I said, it’s been nothing but a lot of fun and cool to see.
Poturalski, on his linemates earlier in the season:
I’d say my line switched a ton early on, but I think the one consistent piece was Collin Graf. We played a lot of time together from the start of the year, but it hasn’t been steady three. We’ve kind of rotated a bunch and flipped guys in and out here and there, but I think that also speaks volumes about our team and how anybody could step in there. All the different pieces and talent that we have, we have a lot of different options for who can come in and help me and fill that role, so it’s pretty cool.
Poturalski, on his lower-body injury:
Right now, it’s still week-to-week, and trust me, I’m doing everything I possibly can to try and get back out there. Our son was born last night at like 8 PM, and I was in doing rehab this morning at 8 AM, even here in Buffalo.
That’s all I can really say, but I’m working as hard as I can to get back and hopefully join the boys as soon as possible. Hopefully, they keep winning games and we can make that run together. From my end, it’s fun to watch what they did last night, especially in the third period. Hopefully, they’ll get another win for me here soon.
Poturalski, on how his injury occurred:
Just a hit I took in that Abbotsford game that I went out in. It’s a tough hit, but it is what it is, it’s a violent sport.
Poturalski, on how rewarding it’s been to see young Barracuda players grow and listen to him:
It’s definitely been really cool to be a part of that.
I’d say, from my standpoint, I like to just try and be a good person and create a good culture. That’s something that’s just kind of been instilled in me. You get to know guys, have them over for dinner. A couple times, some of the younger guys come over and you just get to know them and show them what it’s like to be a good person, and ask people how their day is, stuff like that.
I think a lot of little things just add up. When you create a good culture and you have a lot of good people, and you work hard and you’re competitive, I think all those things help lead to success on the ice. That’s what it takes to be a good pro.
It’s a really competitive business, and it’s hard to stay in this league—in any league—but if you’re a good person, you work hard, you’re a good teammate, you’re competitive, all those little things, I think, add up. I’m just trying to use that and lead by example. I’m not really a big “rah rah” guy in the room yelling and stuff. That’s just not who I am. I just try and lead by example, if any guys ever need anything, I feel like I’m a pretty easy guy to come talk to and help share my experiences.
Poturalski, on being able to share his MVP season and the growth of the Barracuda team with ex-Coachella Valley Firebirds teammate Jimmy Schuldt:
He’s definitely awesome. Jimmy and I are pretty close friends and had great times together in Coachella.
The fact that we both ended up signing together in San Jose was awesome, and we were super excited for it. Just to have our families together—my son loves Jimmy, he’s always asking, “Where’s Jimmy?” and stuff like that. To have another year with him here has been really cool, and to see him take over the leadership role as captain has been awesome, he does a great job.
Everything I just preached on is exactly Jimmy, too. He’s a great leader, a great character person. I don’t think anyone has ever said a bad word about the guy, so it’s been really cool to be a part of it with Jimmy.
Poturalski, on if he and Schuldt signed with the San Jose Sharks together on purpose:
I mean, we had a couple discussions, but we never really know going into free agency. You have a lot of different options up in the air, and then stuff kind of picks up pretty quickly.
We both knew that San Jose had reached out and that our agents were in contact with them. Like I said, there’s a lot of other teams involved in there too, so the odds of us actually lining up together probably weren’t great.
But yeah, I think he texted me like, “Hey, I think we’re actually going to San Jose,” and I was like, “No way. I think I am too,” and then it all got done there, like, pretty quickly. So, yeah, we’re super excited.
Poturalski, on hosting the younger Cuda for dinner recently:
It’s obviously been tough not being out there with the guys. When you’re hurt, you kind of feel isolated a little bit, and then on top of that, Haley and the family have been back in Buffalo preparing for the birth, so I’ve been super-lonely, and wanted to get to see the guys and stuff.
I actually promised some of the younger guys that I would smoke them a brisket. I got a big 20-pound brisket, and I think there were like 10 of us at the house—I think it was [Luca Cagnoni, Jake Furlong, Braden Hache], Jimmy popped by, then Grafer, [Filip] Bystedt, and then I think the two new guys, [Patrick] Giles and [Zack] Ostapchuk, I hope I’m not leaving anybody out.
Just kind of getting all these guys together, and I think that’s what being a good team in the playoffs is—you need to have a close group and get to know guys. Obviously, I can’t contribute on the ice right now, so just bringing the guys together, we got to watch some playoff hockey, we got to eat some good food—it was one of my best briskets to date.
We had a great time, it’s just fun getting to hang out with the guys off the ice. You get to create bonds with guys that you don’t normally form inside the rink, you get to talk about other stuff and watch some NHL playoffs. We had a great time.
Poturalski, on if he sees the makings of a Calder Cup-contending team with the Barracuda:
I think if you look up and down our line-up, you see that there’s no real glaring holes. We have solid guys at all positions and a good blend of vets and younger players, and even rookies that are stepping up and playing huge roles for us. I think that’s what it takes to win at the AHL level—you need to have a great blend of both, and we certainly have that.
For me, it’s a really uneasy feeling being a part of a best-of-three that you can’t even play in and have no effect on out there. To see what they did last night and kind of shut the door on them there in the third period and take over that game was huge. Like I said, best-of-three, we still got to get another one here, definitely not out of the water by any means.
I texted a couple guys and said “Keep your foot down, keep going, and get this win and close this thing out.” It sucks watching on an iPad, but they did a great job.
Poturalski, on Barracuda playoff motto, “Be a Pig”:
It’s great. It all started with Louis Mass, the PK coach. I think we had a bad game, early in the season where guys weren’t blocking shots and stuff, so he said, “You need to be a pig.”
I think guys started buying in. When guys were blocking shots, guys were oinking at him on the bench, and stuff like that. It’s just a funny little thing that kind of got guys to buy in.
Sometimes, you come up with a slogan at the end of the year for playoffs, and maybe it’s a little cheesy or something, but it had meaning to us. It was something where during the middle of the year, guys bought into it, and it’s just something you can rally around here coming down the home stretch.
I think they got some pretty cool t-shirts, I can’t wait to get my hands on one.
Special thanks to Maddie Dutra for her help transcribing