| Hartford Wolf Pack | |
|---|---|
 | |
| City | Hartford, Connecticut |
| League | American Hockey League |
| Conference | Eastern |
| Division | Atlantic |
| Founded | 1926 (CAHL) |
| Home arena | PeoplesBank Arena |
| Colors | Blue, red, white |
| Owner(s) | Madison Square Garden, Inc. |
| General manager | Ryan Martin |
| Head coach | Grant Potulny |
| Captain | Casey Fitzgerald |
| Media | MSG Network AHL.TV (Internet) Mixlr (Internet) |
| Affiliates | New York Rangers (NHL) Bloomington Bison (ECHL) |
| Franchise history | |
| 1926–1976 | Providence Reds |
| 1976–1977 | Rhode Island Reds |
| 1977–1980 | Binghamton Dusters |
| 1980–1990 | Binghamton Whalers |
| 1990–1997 | Binghamton Rangers |
| 1997–2010 | Hartford Wolf Pack |
| 2010–2013 | Connecticut Whale |
| 2013–present | Hartford Wolf Pack |
| Championships | |
| Regular season titles | 1: (1999–00) |
| Division titles | 4: (1999–00,2003–04,2008–09,2014–15) |
| Conference titles | 1: (1999–00) |
| Calder Cups | 1: (1999–00) |
 Current season | |
TheHartford Wolf Pack are a professionalice hockey team based inHartford, Connecticut. A member of theAmerican Hockey League (AHL), they play their home games at thePeoplesBank Arena. The team was established in 1926 as theProvidence 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 theConnecticut Whale in October 2010, in honor of the formerHartford Whalers of theNational Hockey League (NHL), but reverted to their current name after the2012–13 AHL season. The Wolf Pack is the top affiliate of the NHL'sNew York Rangers and is one of the three professionalhockey teams in Connecticut.
The franchise that became the Wolf Pack was founded in 1926 inProvidence, Rhode Island as theProvidence Reds, one of the five charter members of theCanadian-American Hockey League. In 1936, the Northeast-based CAHL merged with the Midwest-basedInternational 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 for their final season— folded after the 1976–77 season. Shortly afterward, the owners of theBroome Dusters of theNorth American Hockey League bought the Reds franchise and moved it toBinghamton, New York as theBinghamton Dusters. After securing an affiliation with theHartford Whalers in 1980, the team changed its name to theBinghamton Whalers. An affiliation change to the Rangers in 1990 — one that continues to this day — brought another new name, theBinghamton Rangers.
After the1996–97 NHL season, the Whalers moved toRaleigh, North Carolina as theCarolina 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 thePeoplesBank Arena).
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 "wolfpacking". With Connecticut being home to both the main builder of submarines (General Dynamics Electric Boat) and theUS Navy's primarysubmarine base, honoring the state's naval tradition was the paramount goal. The nameSeawolf, a reference to theSeawolf-class submarines was considered to have been the ideal name for the team. However, it had already been taken by theMississippi Sea Wolves of theEast Coast Hockey League. Following the submarine theme, the mascot was named "Sonar".
The Wolf Pack's first coach wasE.J. McGuire, and their first home game was played in front of a crowd of 12,934 fans on October 4, 1997.P.J. Stock scored the first home goal in Wolf Pack history. The first franchise goal was scored the night prior in Providence, R.I., by Pierre Sevigny. The team reached the playoffs during the first 12 years of their existence and won theCalder Cup in2000, defeating theRochester Americans in the Cup finals.Derek Armstrong won theJack A. Butterfield Trophy as AHL playoff MVP.
In mid-2010, the Rangers entered into a business relationship which gave former Whalers ownerHoward Baldwin and his company, Hartford Hockey LLC (doing business as Whalers Sports & Entertainment), control of the team's business operations.[1] On September 20, 2010, Baldwin announced the Wolf Pack would change their name to the Connecticut Whale in honor of the Whalers.[2] The name change took place on November 27, 2010; the final game with the "Wolf Pack" name came on November 26, 2010. The opponent was Connecticut's other AHL team, theBridgeport Sound Tigers. The Sound Tigers won 4–3, in ashootout. 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.
The Whale were hosts and participants in the 2011AHL Outdoor Classic, the Whale Bowl, held atRentschler Field inEast Hartford, Connecticut. Connecticut fell to theProvidence Bruins, 5–4, in a shootout.
In June 2012, after just 21 months, theNew 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 theXL 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 andAbbotsford Canucks — the descendants of another charter AHL member, theSpringfield 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'sMontreal Canadiens,Toronto Maple Leafs andBoston Bruins.
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, theArena Football League'sNew 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.
| 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 theCOVID-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 | — | — |
| 2024–25 | 72 | 30 | 33 | — | 7 | 2 | 69 | .479 | 199 | 234 | 7th, Atlantic | 2025 | Did not qualify | ||||
Updated October 20, 2025.[7][8]
| 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) andKevin Dineen (#11) were honored by the team in this way, joiningRick Ley (#2),Gordie Howe (#9) andJohn Mckenzie (#19) whose numbers had been previously retired by the Whalers.[14]
| 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 |
The following players have played both 100 games in Hartford and 100 games in theNational Hockey League:
Founded in 2010 and 2015 | |
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