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 victory over the Chicago Wolves in Game 5 of the Finals before 8,682 fans at the Coca-Cola Coliseum tonight, winning the series four games to one.
Toronto erased a 2-0 deficit to record its third straight win in the series. Vinnie Lettierithe leading scorer in the Calder Cup Playoffs with 26 points in 23 games, scored a potential trophy-clinching goal with 3:11 left in the second half, and Easton Cowan recorded three assists.
Goalkeeper 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 pick by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2020 NHL Draft, went 15-7 with a 2.22 goals-against average, .923 save percentage and two shutouts in 22 playoff appearances. Starting 20 in a row, Akhtyamov made 27 saves in Game 5.
William Villeneuve had two more assists in Game 5; his 21 assists are tied for second-most by a defenseman in a single Calder Cup postseason.
Toronto fell behind 2-0 in the first half before scoring four straight goals and holding on to shut out the Wolves. First of Felix Unger SörumTwo goals of the night started the game at 8:28 before the captain Josiah Slavin doubled the lead with 2:11 to go in the opening frame.
However, he is a Marlies rookie Landon Sim tip Matt BenningA long shot goes past the Chicago keeper Cayden Primeau (9-9) in the last minute of the period, and Toronto hit a three-pointer in the second to take the lead.
Bo GroulxThe eighth goal of the postseason came on the power play to tie the game at 2-2. Then Jacob Quillan and Lettieri scored 1:23 out to give Toronto a 4-2 lead.
The Wolves continued to push, getting Unger Sörum’s second goal of the game just after a 5-on-3 expired with six seconds left before halftime.
But the Marlies blocked visitors from there. Akhtyamov made nine saves in the final frame to preserve the Cup championship victory.
Primeau finished with 19 saves for the Wolves, who had a season-best performance after defeating Texas, Grand Rapids and Colorado to earn their sixth Western Conference championship. Chicago and the parent Carolina Hurricanes became the fourth franchise in the last 30 years to make their respective Finals in the same season.
Under the coach John GrudenToronto went 16-8 during the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs, winning 10 of their last 13 games. The Marlies defeated the Rochester Americans (2-1), Laval Rocket (3-2), Cleveland Monsters (3-2) and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (4-2) before eliminating Chicago to become the third team in AHL history to win five series in one playoff year. Their .569 fielding percentage in the regular season (36-26-5-5, 82 points) is the lowest by the last Calder Cup champion since the 2002 Chicago Wolves (.538).
Toronto’s victory completes the AHL’s historic 90th season. Active since 1936, the AHL continues to serve as the top development league for all 32 teams in the National Hockey League. About 90 percent of today’s NHL players graduated from the American Hockey League, and more than 100 members of the Hockey Hall of Fame spent time in the AHL during their careers.
(Toronto wins series, 4-1)
Game 1 – Friday, 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 – Thursday, June 18 – Chicago 4, TORONTO 3 (OT)
Game 5 – Friday, June 19 – TORONTO 4, Chicago 3
In the American Hockey League for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams and currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for the league’s top scorer in 2016.
