In a move that was expected pretty much since the job became open, the Bruins named former Providence Bruins captain Trent Whitfield as the 14th head coach of the AHL farm club, replacing Ryan Mougenel after he accepted an assistant spot on the Vancouver Canucks coaching staff.
On its face, the hire makes a ton of sense, as Whitfield has been an assistant in Providence for the last decade and has stepped in as the de facto head coach at times when the P-Bruins head coach was briefly absent over the last couple of seasons.
So the 49-year-old has been groomed for the gig over the last few years and checks the boxes in terms of resume and readiness to be the bench boss in Providence.
“I’m honored and grateful to the Boston Bruins organization for the opportunity to lead this group in Providence," said Whitfield. "This is a position I’ve worked toward throughout my career, and I’m excited to get started as we continue to compete at a high level while supporting the growth of our players."
Beyond the obvious, slotting Whitfield into an important position in Boston’s draft-and-development program is also continuing a trend that we’ve seen with the Black and Gold over the last handful of years. The Bruins continue to stockpile their organization with members of the core group of B’s players who were on the team before, during, and after the 2011 Stanley Cup-winning season.
That trend is no accident, as it’s a continued testament to how special that group was on the ice and to their ability to take what made them special as players and pass it along to the next generation of players in Black and Gold. That will be Whitfield’s responsibility in Providence just as it’s the bailiwick of Marco Sturm and Chris Kelly at the NHL level, and with Zdeno Chara and Adam McQuaid (Director of Player Development) as key members of the Bruins management team.
“We are excited to announce Trent Whitfield as head coach of the Providence Bruins,” said Don Sweeney. “Over the past 10 seasons, Trent has established himself as a highly successful coach, and we are confident that he is ready for this opportunity. His ability to create a winning culture while prioritizing player development will help prepare our players for success at the NHL level.”
The thinking behind this pattern of bringing back members of that core group will be hammered home this season as it continues a several years process of Hall of Famers from that group being honored both by the organization, and by the hockey world at large, with Patrice Bergeron on tap for both Hockey Hall of Fame honors and having his No. 37 retired by the Bruins on Dec. 1 ahead of a game at TD Garden against the Colorado Avalanche.
Bergeron has not officially joined the Bruins organization at this point, while happily fulfilling his role as a father and husband in a young family with four kids, but even he has not been a stranger around this Bruins team, with Sturm running the NHL show as one of his former teammates and linemates. And it was Sweeney and the Bruins discussing Bergeron’s legacy that embodies exactly what all of these players bring to the table in coming back home to the Boston roost in their post-playing careers.
“From the moment he arrived in Boston as an 18-year-old, he dedicated himself to his craft and never stopped striving to improve throughout his 20-year career. He was an exceptional two-way player, elite in the face-off circle and on the penalty kill, and he continuously evolved his game, becoming a key contributor on the power play as well,” said Sweeney. “Patrice grew into a true leader on and off the ice and served as a tremendous captain, leading with commitment, confidence and humility. He won at every level of the game, achieving Triple Gold with Team Canada and capturing a Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins.”
All of this circles back to Whitfield as the P-Bruins change the makeup of their AHL roster and go away from a large helping of veteran players like Riley Tufte, Jeffrey Viel and Patrick Brown while instead focusing on younger organizational players like Dans Locmelis, Riley Duran and Swiss import Attilio Biasca with names like Dean Letourneau and Will Zellers expected to enter the mix at the end of the collegiate season.
Whitfield is the kind of player who bounced between the NHL and AHL for a long time, was a big-time offense producer at the AHL level and a grinder at the NHL level who played all kinds of different roles between his nearly 1000 professional games played at both pro levels. In that way he’s the perfect voice for both types of players that come through Providence on their way to the Bruins, and on their way to playing roles at the NHL level that will serve the Black and Gold as they continue to stress integrating youth into a salary cap world where minimum salary players are going to become a valuable currency with NHL salaries going through the roof.
Don’t underestimate the hiring of 39-year-old Ryan Ward as an assistant coach, as well, after a strong stint as the head coach of the Youngstown Phantoms in the USHL. Ward is the kind of rising coaching star that the Bruins should be adding to their AHL staff along with Ryan Bourque, who was hired as an assistant coach last season after a stint at the US National Team Development Program.
Those are the kinds of young coaches that will aid Providence in becoming the development arm of the Bruins organization while leaning a little less heavily on the veteran players that stocked the roster over the last couple of seasons. The Whitfield hiring is a good sign for a Bruins organization that continues to refine and improve their development system while working on upgrading their draft efforts to filter high-end hockey talent through their ranks.