How Mavrik Bourque invested in himself and turned into the AHL's best player

The AHL MVP discusses his season and how he's been learning each step of the way.

Mavrik Bourque had a good idea he’d be winning the Les Cunningham award as the American Hockey League MVP.

He had led the league in scoring with 77 points in 71 games. Roughly a week before the AHL announcement he was named an AHL First-Team All-Star, alongside fellow Texas/Dallas forward Logan Stankoven.

“You never know if you are gonna get picked, but when I saw I was on the first-team all-star, I had a pretty good idea,” Bourque said. “At that point I knew I had a chance to win the MVP. And honestly, it was my main goal this year, to be the best player in this league. I couldn’t control whether I was up or down (in the NHL), but I could control that I was doing the right thing and I could prove I was ready for next level by simply being best player at this level.”

Bourque has a high-draft pedigree, he was taken 30th in the 2020 NHL Draft, but he went from a middling AHL player to the best one this season.

He had 47 points in 70 games as a rookie and struggled with consistency during the 2022-23 season.

So what changed?