March to the Stanley Cup got its start in Providence

By Dan Hickling, www.projo.com  Published on: Thursday April 29, 2010

(WILMINGTON, Mass.) Do you wonder why NHL clubs put great stock in their player development effort?

Just take a look at the Boston Bruins’ playoff roster. It’s full of guys who wore the “Spoked P” before pulling on the “B.” No fewer than 10 Bruins who have dressed at least once in this year’s playoffs are Providence Bruins alums.

And three of them — defenseman Adam McQuaid and forwards Vladimir Sobotka and Trent Whitfield — lugged pucks in Providence this year.

If the Bruins are in fact on the road to the Stanley Cup, the wheels for many of them were greased at The Dunk. None of this has come by accident.

Bruins’ GM Peter Chiarelli puts great stock in the AHL development operation directed by P-Bruins head coach Rob Murray.

“Obviously, it plays a huge role,” Chiarelli said. “I think part of our objective here is producing the type of player we want through the Providence [Bruins] minor-league system. You see the number of players that have played there in our lineup right now and we have a good batch coming still. It keeps the identity continuous.”

It also maintains a sense of on-ice homogeny. When Boston bench boss Claude Julien puts in a power-play wrinkle, the ripple is felt in Providence, where Murray continuously works with a corps of taxi squadders [a.k.a. The “Black Aces”]. “When the guys hit the NHL,” said Chiarelli, “ they have been through the same training regimen and put in their time at the lower level. It’s a good system that rewards merit, and we are going to try to keep it up.”

The P-Bruins this season failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 1998. Chiarelli said that upgrades are in store for next year’s roster, both with young prospects — former first-rounder Joe Colborne, defenseman Steve Kampfer, forward Max Sauve, et al — and with free agents.

“We have got some plans on new players coming in,” he said. “The roster will be different from the roster you saw this year. We obviously want success down there because when you have success at that level, those players come up and are accustomed to success and those players are the types of people you want in your organization.”