SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today that Ryan Mougenel of the Providence Bruins is the winner of the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award as the AHL’s outstanding coach for the 2025-26 season.
The award is voted on by fellow coaches and members of the media representing each of the league’s 32 cities.
In his eighth season with the Bruins, including the last five as head coach, Mougenel guided Providence to a record of 54-16-2-0, good for 110 points and the fourth-highest points percentage (.764) in AHL history, while capturing the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy as the AHL’s regular-season champions. Providence finished sixth in the league in scoring (3.32 goals per game) and second in defense (2.25 goals per game), amassing a plus-77 goal differential that was the franchise’s highest since their Calder Cup season of 1998-99. Mougenel also continued to oversee the development of Bruins prospects including 11 players who have competed with Boston this season, among them Matthew Poitras, Michael Callahan, Jonathan Aspirot, Alex Steeves, Victor Söderström, Lukas Reichel and First Team AHL All-Star Michael DiPietro.
Mougenel, 50, joined the Bruins organization as an assistant coach for Providence in 2018 and was promoted to head coach on Aug. 13, 2021, compiling a record of 217-103-26-14 (.658) – the best mark in the AHL over the last five years. He had previously served as an assistant in the San Jose Sharks organization with their AHL affiliates in Worcester (2014-15) and San Jose (2015-18), as well as with the Hershey Bears in 2013-14. A native of Scarborough, Ont., Mougenel spent most of his six-year playing career in the ECHL, winning a championship with Atlantic City in 2003. He also played 20 games in the AHL with the Rochester Americans in 1999-2000.
The Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award, which was first presented in 1968, honors the late Mr. Pieri, a long-time contributor to the AHL as the owner and general manager of the Providence Reds and a member of the American Hockey League Hall of Fame. Mougenel is the fourth Providence coach to receive the award, following the Bruins’ Scott Gordon (2008) and Peter Laviolette (1999) and the Reds’ John Muckler (1975).
Other previous winners of the award include Frank Mathers (1969), Fred Shero (1970), Al MacNeil (1972, ’77), Bob McCammon (1978, ’81), Jacques Demers (1983), Bill Dineen (1985, ’86), Larry Pleau (1987), Mike Milbury (1988), John Paddock (1988), Marc Crawford (1993), Barry Trotz (1994), Robbie Ftorek (1995, ’96), Claude Julien and Geoff Ward (2003), Claude Noel (2004), Randy Cunneyworth (2005), Kevin Dineen (2006), Scott Arniel (2009), John Hynes (2011), Jon Cooper (2012), Willie Desjardins (2013), Jeff Blashill (2014), Mike Stothers (2015), Rick Kowalsky (2016), Roy Sommer (2017), Pascal Vincent (2018, ’25), Mike Vellucci (2019), Karl Taylor (2020), Spencer Carbery (2021) and Todd Nelson (2024).
In operation since 1936 and celebrating its 90th-anniversary season this year, the American Hockey League continues to serve as the top development league for all 32 National Hockey League teams. Nearly 90 percent of all players competing in the NHL are AHL graduates, and through the years the American Hockey League has been home to more than 100 honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The winner of the 2025-26 Eddie Shore Award (outstanding defenseman) will be announced Tuesday.
