Zac Jones of the Rochester Americans has been named the winner of the Eddie Shore Award as the American Hockey League's outstanding defenseman for the 2025-26 season. The award, voted on by coaches, players, and media from the league's 32 cities, recognizes his dominant performance. Jones led all defensemen with 62 points in 60 games.
Jones became just the second blueliner in AHL history to lead the league in assists with 52, matching a feat last achieved by Nova Scotia's Craig Levie in 1980-81. He also recorded the most power-play assists by a defender in 20 years at 36, helping the Americans rank fourth on the power play, and led defensemen with 168 shots on goal. He earned First Team AHL All-Star honors and represented Rochester at the 2026 AHL All-Star Classic in February, the league announced from Springfield, Massachusetts. He is the fourth Americans player to claim the award, following Steve Kraftcheck in 1959, Al Arbour in 1965, and Zach Redmond in 2019. A fifth-year professional from Glen Allen, Virginia, and a University of Massachusetts-Amherst product, Jones was drafted by the New York Rangers in the third round of 2019 before signing with the Buffalo Sabres organization as a free agent on July 2, 2025. In 168 career AHL games, he has 28 goals and 101 assists for 129 points, plus four goals and 24 assists in 115 NHL contests.
