The Providence Bruins and Boston Bruins announced today that the clubs have extended their exclusive player development agreement for eight additional seasons.
Providence has served as the primary American Hockey League affiliate of the Boston Bruins since its inception in 1992, making the affiliation between Boston and Providence one of the longest standing player development agreements in league history. The new eight-year extension will see the Providence-to-Boston pipeline continue through the 2015-16 season.
"The partnership between the Boston and Providence organizations has never been stronger and we are excited to extend our affiliation agreement," said Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli. "The close proximity of the two cities makes the relationship mutually beneficial for both teams on the hockey operations and marketing sides of our businesses. [Providence Bruins owner] H. Larue Renfroe and his leadership group have shown true foresight in both their guidance of the Providence Bruins and their implementation of improvements to the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. We look forward to expanding our collaboration with this new agreement."
“We’re excited to continue our long term partnership with the Boston Bruins,” said Renfroe. “We take a lot of pride in helping develop the top Boston Bruins prospects and we look forward to continuing that role over the next eight seasons.”
Over the years, the Providence Bruins helped develop some of the current stars of the Boston Bruins including Patrice Bergeron, Glen Murray, Tim Thomas, Mark Stuart, Jeremy Reich and David Krejci. In total, 156 players that spent time in Providence went on to play a total of 4,179 man-games for the Boston Bruins.
In addition, the P-Bruins have had developed many of the Boston Bruins’ head coaches and assistant coaches including Mike O’Connell, Steve Kasper, Bob Francis, Tom McVie, Mike Sullivan and Peter Laviolette.
Over their 16 seasons, the P-Bruins have made the playoffs 14 times, including this season, and won the Calder Cup championship in 1999. Currently, the P-Bruins hold the best record in the American Hockey League at 47-15-3-3 for 100 points.
