Hartford Wolf Pack

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Hartford Wolf Pack
1999–00)
Current season

The Hartford Wolf Pack are a professional ice hockey team based in Hartford, Connecticut. A member of the American Hockey League (AHL), they play their home games at the XL Center. The team was established in 1926 as the Providence Reds. After a series of relocations, the team moved to Hartford in 1997 as the Hartford Wolf Pack. It is one of the oldest professional hockey franchises in existence, and the oldest continuously operating minor league hockey franchise in North America.

The franchise was renamed the Connecticut Whale in October 2010, in honor of the former Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League (NHL), but reverted to their current name after the 2012–13 AHL season. The Wolf Pack is the top affiliate of the NHL's New York Rangers and is one of the three professional hockey teams in Connecticut.

History

The franchise that became the Wolf Pack was founded in 1926 in

International Hockey League
to form the International-American Hockey League, which dropped the "International" from its name in 1940.

The Reds — known as the Rhode Island Reds in their later years — folded after the 1976–77 season. Shortly afterward, the owners of the Broome Dusters of the North American Hockey League bought the Reds franchise and moved it to Binghamton, New York as the Binghamton Dusters. After securing an affiliation with the Hartford Whalers in 1980, the team changed its name to the Binghamton Whalers. An affiliation change to the Rangers in 1990 — one that continues to this day — brought another new name, the Binghamton Rangers.

After the 1996–97 NHL season, the Whalers moved to Raleigh, North Carolina as the Carolina Hurricanes. Soon after the Whalers' departure, the Binghamton Rangers relocated to Hartford and began to play at the vacated Hartford Civic Center (today known as the XL Center).

Following a "name-the-team" contest, the franchise became the Hartford Wolf Pack, a reference to a submarine class as well as the tactic known as "

East Coast Hockey League
. Following the submarine theme, the mascot was named "Sonar".

The Connecticut Whale logo, used from 2010 to 2013
The Connecticut Whale logo, used from 2010 to 2013

The Wolf Pack's first coach was

Jack A. Butterfield Trophy
as AHL playoff MVP.

In the summer of 2010, the Rangers entered into a business relationship which gave former Whalers owner

shootout. On November 27, 2010, the team played their first game under the new "Whale" name. The opponent was, again, the Sound Tigers. The Whale won 3–2, in a shootout. The attendance for the debut game was 13,089, which is the third-largest crowd in franchise history.[3]
On January 1, 2011, the Whale debuted new home jerseys featuring light blue instead of green, however, the color was shelved for the 2011–12 season.

A picture of the XL Center during a Hartford Wolfpack game on 12/10/22.

The Whale were hosts and participants in the 2011

East Hartford, Connecticut. Connecticut fell to the Providence Bruins
, 5–4, in a shootout.

In June 2012, after just 21 months, the New York Rangers terminated their business relationship with Baldwin[1] after he and his company ran up a debt of almost $3 million and had about 15 court cases against him.[4]

In April 2013, just two and a half seasons after rebranding as the Whale, the team decided it would revert to the nickname "Wolf Pack" for the following season.[5] Global Spectrum, the group now marketing the team and managers of the XL Center arena, announced in May 2013 that the franchise had officially returned to the Hartford Wolf Pack identity.[6]

Although the Wolf Pack does not officially acknowledge its past in Providence and Binghamton (or claim the Reds' four Calder Cups), it is the only AHL franchise to have never missed a season since the league's founding in 1936. In one form or another, the franchise has iced a team every year since 1926. The Wolf Pack and Abbotsford Canucks — the descendants of another charter AHL member, the Springfield Indians — are the oldest minor-league hockey franchises in North America. However, the Indians were inactive for three seasons in the 1930s, making the Wolf Pack the oldest continuously operating minor-league hockey franchise in North America. The only professional hockey franchises older than the Wolf Pack and the Canucks are the NHL's Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins.

Team information

Mascots

The Wolf Pack started in 1997 with one mascot, a wolf named Sonar. The name was chosen to keep with the submarine theme that the team had used in their naming and logo. Following the folding of their sister team, the

New England Sea Wolves
, the Wolf Pack added the Sea Wolves' mascot, named Torpedo; this mascot has since been retired. In 2010, with the renaming of the team to the Connecticut Whale, Sonar was joined as a mascot by former Whalers mascot Pucky the Whale. Sonar took the 2012–13 season off while Pucky was the sole mascot. When the naming arrangement ended, Sonar came back while Pucky was retired.

Season-by-season results

Regular season Playoffs
Season Games Won Lost Tied OTL SOL Points PCT Goals
for 		Goals
against 		Standing Year Prelims 1st
round 		2nd
round 		3rd
round 		Final
1997–98 80 43 24 12 1 — 99 .619 272 227 2nd, New England 1998 — W, 3–0, BNH W, 4–3, WOR L, 1–4, SJF —
1998–99 80 38 31 5 6 — 87 .544 256 256 2nd, New England 1999 — W, 3–0, SPR L, 0–4, PRO — —
1999–00
 80 49 22 7 2 — 107 .669 249 198 1st, New England 2000 — W, 3–2, SPR W, 4–1, WOR W, 4–3, PRO W, 4–2, RCH
2000–01 80 40 26 8 6 — 94 .588 263 247 2nd, New England 2001 — L, 2–3, PRO — — —
2001–02 80 41 26 10 3 — 95 .594 249 243 2nd, East 2002 BYE W, 3–2, MAN L, 1–4, HAM — —
2002–03 80 33 27 12 8 — 86 .538 255 236 3rd, East 2003 L, 0–2, SPR — — — —
2003–04 80 44 22 12 2 — 102 .638 198 153 1st, Atlantic 2004 BYE W, 4–1, POR W, 4–0, WOR L, 3–4, WBS —
2004–05 80 50 24 — 3 3 106 .663 206 160 2nd, Atlantic 2005 — L, 2–4,
LOW
 — — —
2005–06 80 48 24 — 6 2 104 .650 292 231 2nd, Atlantic 2006 — W, 4–3, MAN L, 2–4, POR — —
2006–07 80 47 29 — 3 1 98 .613 231 201 2nd, Atlantic 2007 — L, 3–4, PRO — — —
2007–08 80 50 20 — 2 8 110 .688 266 198 2nd, Atlantic 2008 — L, 1–4, POR — — —
2008–09 80 46 27 — 3 4 99 .619 243 216 1st, Atlantic 2009 — L, 2–4, WOR — — —
2009–10 80 36 33 — 6 5 83 .519 231 251 6th, Atlantic 2010 — Did not qualify
2010–11 80 40 32 — 2 6 88 .550 221 223 3rd, Atlantic 2011 — L, 2–4, POR — — —
2011–12 76 36 26 — 7 7 86 .566 210 208 2nd, Northeast 2012 — W, 3–0,
BRI
 L, 2–4, NOR — —
2012–13 76 35 32 — 6 3 79 .520 213 222 2nd, Northeast 2013 — Did not qualify
2013–14 76 37 32 — 1 6 81 .533 202 220 3rd, Northeast 2014 — Did not qualify
2014–15 76 43 24 — 5 4 95 .625 221 214 1st, Northeast 2015 — W, 3–2, PRO W, 4–2, HER L, 0–4, MAN —
2015–16 76 41 32 — 3 0 85 .559 202 199 6th, Atlantic 2016 — Did not qualify
2016–17 76 24 46 — 4 2 54 .355 194 280 7th, Atlantic 2017 — Did not qualify
2017–18 76 34 33 — 6 3 77 .507 208 252 6th, Atlantic 2018 — Did not qualify
2018–19 76 29 36 — 7 4 69 .454 209 266 8th, Atlantic 2019 — Did not qualify
2019–20 62 31 20 — 6 5 73 .589 171 173 4th, Atlantic 2020 — Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21 24 14 9 — 1 0 29 .604 82 74 2nd, Atlantic 2021 — No playoffs were held
2021–22 72 32 32 — 6 2 72 .500 205 225 7th, Atlantic 2022 — Did not qualify
2022–23 72 35 26 — 4 7 81 .563 227 215 5th, Atlantic 2023 W, 2–0, SPR W, 3–1, PRO L, 0–3, HER — —
2023–24 72 34 28 — 7 3 78 .542 204 219 5th, Atlantic 2024 W, 2–1, CHA W, 3–1, PRO L, 0–3, HER — —

Players

Current roster

Updated April 26, 2024.[7][8]

Team roster
No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace Contract
48 Russia Maxim Barbashev LW L 20 2023 Moscow, Russia Rangers
55 Canada Alex Belzile (A) RW R 32 2023
Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec
 Rangers
9 United States
Brett Berard
 		LW L 21 2023 East Greenwich, Rhode Island Rangers
21 Sweden Anton Blidh LW L 29 2023 Mölnlycke, Sweden Rangers
40 Canada Talyn Boyko G L 21 2023
Drumheller, Alberta
 Rangers
27 Canada Nikolas Brouillard D L 29 2023
Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec
 Rangers
42 Czech Republic Jaroslav Chmelar F R 20 2024
Nove Mesto nad Metuji, Czechia
 Rangers
5 Canada Ben Harpur D L 29 2022 Hamilton, Ontario Rangers
24 Sweden Karl Henriksson C L 23 2022
Malmo, Sweden
 Rangers
25 United States Blake Hillman D L 28 2022 Elk River, Minnesota Wolf Pack
81 Canada Mac Hollowell D R 25 2023 Niagara Falls, Ontario Rangers
17 United States Blade Jenkins LW L 23 2024 Jackson, Michigan Wolf Pack
38 Canada
Ryder Korczak
 		C R 21 2022
Yorkton, Saskatchewan
 Rangers
16 Canada Jake Leschyshyn C L 25 2023 Raleigh, North Carolina Rangers
14 United States Connor Mackey D L 27 2023 Tower Lakes, Illinois Rangers
23 United States Victor Mancini D R 22 2024 Hancock, Michigan Rangers
8 United States
ATO
) 		D R 23 2024 Troy, New York Wolf Pack
13 Canada Bryce McConnell-Barker C L 20 2023 London, Ontario Wolf Pack
20 Canada Riley Nash C R 35 2023 Consort, Alberta Rangers
1 Sweden
ATO
) 		G L 22 2024 Linköping, Sweden Rangers
78 Canada Brennan Othmann LW L 21 2023 Scarborough, Ontario Rangers
28 Canada Sahil Panwar C L 22 2023
Mississauga, Ontario
 Wolf Pack
10 Czech Republic Matej Pekar C L 24 2023 Turnov, Czech Republic Wolf Pack
7 Canada Nic Petan C L 29 2024 Delta, British Columbia Rangers
71 United States Tyler Pitlick RW R 32 2024
Minneapolis, Minnesota
 Rangers
39 Canada Harrison Rees D R 24 2024
Mississauga, Ontario
44 Canada Matthew Robertson D L 23 2021
Edmonton, Alberta
 Rangers
10 Canada
ATO
) 		F L 19 2024 London, Ontario Wolf Pack
58 Canada Brandon Scanlin D L 25 2022 Hamilton, Ontario Rangers
29 Slovakia Adam Sykora LW L 19 2023
Piestany, Slovakia
 Rangers
41 United States Bobby Trivigno F L 25 2022 Setauket, New York Rangers
3 Finland Kalle Väisänen LW R 21 2024 Kotka, Finland Rangers
4 United States Bryan Yoon D R 26 2024 Parker, Colorado Wolf Pack

Team captains

Retired numbers

Hartford Wolf Pack retired numbers
No. Player Position Career No. retirement
12 Ken Gernander RW 1997–2005 October 8, 2005[13]

The Wolf Pack have honored a number of former Hartford Whalers players by hanging their jerseys in the rafters, without formally retiring their numbers. In 2006, Ulf Samuelsson (#5), Ron Francis (#10) and Kevin Dineen (#11) were honored by the team in this way, joining Rick Ley (#2), Gordie Howe (#9) and John Mckenzie (#19) whose numbers had been previously retired by the Whalers.[14]

American Hockey League Hall of Famers

AHL Hall of Fame Honored Members
Name Seasons Induction Year
Ken Gernander 1997-2005 (player)
2005-07 (asst. coach)
2007-17 (head coach) 		2013
Jean-Francois Labbe
 1998-2001 (player) 2016
John Paddock 1999-2002 (head coach) 2010
Brad Smyth 1997-2002, 2005-06 (player) 2019

Notable alumni

The following players have played both 100 games in Hartford and 100 games in the National Hockey League:

Team records

Single season
Goals: 50, Brad Smyth (2000–01)
Assists: 69, Derek Armstrong (2000–01)
Points: 101, Derek Armstrong (2000–01)
Penalty Minutes: 415, Dale Purinton (1999–2000)
GAA: 1.59, Jason LaBarbera (2003–04)
SV%: .936, Jason LaBarbera (2003–04)
Shutouts: 13, Jason LaBarbera (2003–04)
Goaltending Wins: 34, Jason LaBarbera (2003–04)
Career
Goals: 184, Brad Smyth
Assists: 204, Derek Armstrong
Points: 365, Brad Smyth
Penalty Minutes: 1240, Dale Purinton
Shutouts: 21, Jason LaBarbera
Goaltending Wins: 91, Jason LaBarbera
Games: 599, Ken Gernander

References

  1. ^ a b Doyle, Paul (September 20, 2010). "Wolf Pack Name Changing To Connecticut Whale". Hartford Courant. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
  2. ^ Jacobs, Jeff (September 20, 2010). "Wolf Pack's Name Changing To Whale". Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on July 31, 2012. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  3. ^ Doyle, Paul (November 28, 2010). "Hartford Hockey: A Whale Of A Debut". Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on December 1, 2010. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
  4. ^ Jacobs, Jeff (August 6, 2012). "Give Howard Baldwin Credit For Trying, But The NHL Dream Is Dead — For Now". Hartford Courant. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  5. ^ Doyle, Paul (April 23, 2013). "Connecticut Whale: Exit Whale, Re-Enter Wolf Pack; Source Says Team Name Will Change". Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on April 30, 2013. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
  6. ^ "It's Official! Hartford Wolf Pack Now the Name". Hartford Courant. May 14, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  7. ^ "Hartford Wolf Pack :: Players". Hartford Wolf Pack. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
  8. ^ "Hartford Wolf Pack - Roster". American Hockey League. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
  9. ^ "PACK CAN'T MAKE UP GROUND ON SOUND TIGERS". Hartford Wolf Pack. March 6, 2016.
  10. ^ "PACK ANNOUNCE CAPTAIN, ALTERNATES". Hartford Wolf Pack. October 5, 2017.
  11. ^ "Cole Schneider named Captain for the 18/19 season". Twitter. Hartford Wolf Pack. October 4, 2018.
  12. ^ "Wolf Pack Name Steven Fogarty Captain". Hartford Wolf Pack. October 3, 2019.
  13. ^ Jacobs, Jeff (May 17, 2017). "Gernander's firing is Hartford's biggest loss since Whalers". Hartford Courant. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  14. ^ "Retired Numbers".

External links

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