BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – AHL hockey will remain in Hartford for the 2020-21 season.
CRDA Executive Director Mike Freimuth has exclusively confirmed to Cantlon’s Corner that MSG confirmed last week, two weeks ahead of their contractually required deadline, that the Hartford Wolf Pack will be back in Connecticut’s capital for a 24th year of AHL hockey.
The renewal is the first of three option years at MSG‘s disposal in a five year deal.
The team moved to Hartford back in 1997, the fall following the Hartford Whalers’ departure for North Carolina. They beat out bids from the now-defunct IHL, the other rival minor league at the time. The other suitor was a group led by Howard Baldwin, Sr. that had purchased the AHL dormant Cornwall Aces franchise. That franchise would eventually become the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
The Wolf Pack has been one of the steadier competitive AHL franchises almost every season. They are currently in the midst of a rebirth. After a weekend sweep of three-games-in-three-days are back in first place in the Atlantic Division with a 14-4-2-5 record, percentage points ahead of the Providence Bruins. Each team has 35 points and are in a tie for the fourth-best AHL team overall.
The renewal, for the time being, ends speculation that the team would relocate after the season, but the XL Center still sits in a state of limbo with no firm plan on the re-boot of the arena with funding in place.
