AHL Atlantic

Former AHL coach Clark Donatelli has been indicted on four counts of sexual assault for allegedly touching the breast and vagina of Erin Skalde, the wife of Donatelli's former assistant coach Jarrod Skalde, in 2018, per Katie Strang of The Athletic.

At the time, Donatelli was head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, an AHL affiliate for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The indictment was issued by a Rhode Island grand jury in July, but he wasn't arraigned until Nov. 10 after he returned to the United States from Germany, where he had been coaching.

The report was filed by Erin Skalde, who has consented to be identified.

Skalde reportedly told the police that "Donatelli grabbed her breast and shoved his hand down her pants while Skalde, her husband and Donatelli went out together following a road game against the Providence Bruins," per Strang.

Skalde had also told Penguins officials of the alleged assault in June 2019, leading to Donatelli's departure from the organization. A lawsuit against the team also alleged the coach was a "serial harasser" who assaulted "numerous women."

The Penguins reached an undisclosed settlement with Erin and Jarrod Skalde last week.

"We are pleased to announce the resolution of the matter involving Erin Skalde and the Pittsburgh Penguins organization, which has come to a satisfactory conclusion for all parties involved," Erin Skalde’s attorneys, Gina A. DeBoni and Jason J. Friedl, said in a statement Tuesday. "We appreciate the collaboration the team has shown in acknowledging the concerns of our client."

Donatelli was released on a $10,000 bond and is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing in December.     

Providence Bruins goalie and Boston Bruins prospect Malcolm Subban was struck in the throat by a puck during warm-ups before the game against the Portland Pirates on Feb. 7 and has been diagnosed with a fractured larynx, the team announced in a statement. He underwent surgery and it is unknown when he will return to the ice.

Continue for updates. 

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Bruins Issue Statement on Subban 

Thursday, Feb. 11

The Bruins provided an update on Subban's surgery and timetable to return:

"Malcolm underwent successful surgery on February 8 at Mass Eye & Ear Hospital in Boston to repair his larynx fracture. He is doing well and has been released from the hospital. While there is no definitive timetable for his return at this time, he is expected to be out a minimum of eight weeks."

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Subban in Stable Condition

Sunday, Feb. 7

According to the Bruins' statement, Subban will be out indefinitely. 

Malcolm, the younger brother of Montreal Canadiens star P.K. Subban, sent a picture to fans after being admitted to the hospital: 

Thanks for all the supportt! pic.twitter.com/rAEY9d6k6x

— Malcolm Subban (@Subbz3r0) February 7, 2016

"He's a Subban," P.K. said Sunday, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston. "We're built tough."

A first-round pick by the Bruins in the 2012 draft, Malcolm has made one NHL appearance to date. In the February 2015 tilt against the St. Louis Blues, Subban saved three of six shots while allowing three goals and picking up the loss.

While nothing is ever technically guaranteed, everyone will be better off the sooner hockey fans in the heart of Connecticut come to terms with the Hartford Whalers being gone for good.

It has been 15 years since "the Whale" bolted the congested virtual dividing line between New England and New York sports allegiance. But while the NHL’s Battle of New England is strictly a trove of memories now, there has been a radiant silver lining for both Boston Bruins buffs and the not-so-orphaned Hartford hockey fanbase.

That silver lining, namely the AHL rivalry between the Providence Bruins and Connecticut Whale, may never have shined brighter or in a more prominent view than it is right now.

In the midst of an NHL lockout, the next-best league in North America presses on with one team brandishing Boston’s colors and nickname and another bearing the same colors and affectionate nickname of its predecessor.

Friday night will mark the second of six Bruins-Whale bouts this season and the first at the Dunkin' Donuts Center, Boston’s prospect base and the best-attended AHL facility in the region.

This date is also hovering around the two-year anniversary of Connecticut’s abrupt, midseason switch from the Hartford Wolf Pack, the franchise’s original name from when it first came to fill the void in the fall of 1997.

Those two elements―the fact that this is the best quality of hockey presently available and the contesting clubs’ emblems and uniforms―should logically serve to intensify a feud that was appreciable enough to begin with.

The geographic aspect speaks for itself. It gives the AHL its own Battle of Southern New England to complement the Big East basketball grudge between Providence College and UConn.

One party caters to the capital of Rhode Island, the only New England state not to border any non-New England states or provinces.

The other represents the capital of Connecticut, the misfit New England state that, as implied earlier, blends Boston and New York fanfare.

One team hones the professional prospects for America’s oldest NHL franchise just north of the state border. The other functions as the farm club for the New York Rangers, another Original Six franchise that, like the Bruins, has undergone a recent revival in relevance.

With the lockout dragging on indefinitely, the two Gardens (TD and Madison Square) are as lacking in major league hockey as Hartford’s XL Center has been and most likely will continue to be. At the same time, the lockout means that Providence has the likes of Jordan Caron passing the time, while Connecticut has Chris Kreider.

Furthermore, as of this season, each team has one of legendary Boston blueliner Ray Bourque’s sons―Chris for Providence, Ryan for Connecticut. A host of former friends and foes from Boston College and Boston University, which have the quintessential college rivalry, are scattered around each roster as well.

Granted, this is not exactly the AHL’s most competitive card right now, but the old Bruins-Whalers rivalry did not always boast a pair of heavyweights. Neither was that always the case with the everlasting Original Six feuds of Bruins-Canadiens or Bruins-Rangers, but those matchups spark unconditional fan fervor nonetheless.

In its 15-plus years of existence, the AHL version of Boston-Hartford has sculpted enough of a history to match its NHL predecessor.

Two of Hartford’s eight Stanley Cup playoff appearances ended in seven- and six-game losses to the Bruins in 1990 and 1991, respectively. The P-Bruins have met the team formerly known as the Wolf Pack in four Calder Cup playoff rounds, claiming a sweep in 1999, losing in seven games in 2000 and winning a best-of-five in 2001 and a best-of-seven in 2007.

Providence-turned-Hartford defenseman Terry Virtue won a Cup with the Bruins in 1999, then scored in overtime in Game 7 to knock off his old friends and help Hartford press on to the 2000 title. The AHL’s playoff prize has not been back anywhere in New England since.

Virtue was hardly the first AHL entity to go from pleasing Providence to servicing the sworn enemy in Hartford. The Wolf Pack/Whale franchise originated as the Providence/Rhode Island Reds, who eventually bolted for Binghamton in 1977.

The Reds morphed into the Broome Dusters, then the Binghamton Whalers and ultimately the Binghamton Rangers. When their previous parent club left a hockey void in Hartford, their adoptive affiliate from Manhattan promptly decided to transplant its prospects to the Nutmeg State.

How about that? The two southernmost New England states each know the feeling of losing a pro hockey club. Rhode Islanders can indirectly begrudge Hartford for taking their old team, while Whalers fans can partially blame the Bruins for ushering their NHL franchise out of New England.

In turn, both fanbases can take it out on each other with their respective AHL teams.

If none of this makes the term "minor league" a misnomer, this author yearns to know what does.

Save for a subsequent Craig Cunningham goal on enemy grounds and an empty-netter on the cusp of the buzzer in their zone Saturday night, it was like Groundhog Day in October for the Providence Bruins after their game Friday.

Accordingly, an assessment of Saturday’s 4-2 road falter to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers will be inevitably fraternal to that of Friday’s 3-1 home drawback against Manchester.

For the second straight night, the offensive unit of Max Sauvé, Ryan Spooner and Jamie Tardif collaborated to spot the Bruins a 1-0 edge. Once again, Providence proceeded to spill that lead on an opposing short-handed goal and then fall behind, 2-1, via an opposing power-play goal before the second intermission.

Bridgeport’s Jon Landry and Matt Watkins sandwiched Cunningham’s comeback strike, which was assisted by Carter Camper and Jordan Caron, with goals to finalize Bridgeport’s 4-2 triumph.

As Providence dips to 0-2 in the young 2012-13 AHL campaign, here is a deeper look at the most jutting highlights and lowlights from Saturday’s scoresheet.

0

Points on the year for winger Chris Bourque, the reigning AHL scoring champion brought into the Bruins organization this past offseason. While it is barely the time to even start simulating the panic-button push, Bourque has not so much as been on the ice for a Providence strike through two games.

Only twice in his 93-point campaign last year did Bourque go through consecutive games without chipping in a goal or an assist. Only once did he go dry for three or more.

Other pointless Providence forwards after two games played apiece include Christian Hanson, Jared Knight, Lane MacDermid and captain Trent Whitfield.

2

Sophomore defenseman Kevan Miller’s rating on the plus side for the weekend.

Unlike Bourque, Miller is wasting no time composing a season akin to his 2011-12 campaign. Last year’s runaway plus/minus leader for Providence at a plus-20, Miller already has a plus-two rating on the season, having been on the ice for two of the three Bruins goals and only one opposing power-play goal.

None of Bridgeport’s four tallies on Saturday―which came in a variety pack of one short-handed, power-play, even-strength and empty-net strike―occurred on Miller’s watch.

Among his teammates, Tardif was Miller’s only company in the plus/minus black on Saturday, retaining an identical plus-one.

3.07

Michael Hutchinson’s goals-against average on the night, coupled with a .857 save percentage and credit for his second straight loss.

Since holding the Monarchs scoreless through nearly the first 40 minutes on Friday, Hutchinson has allowed six goals on 38 shots faced in roughly 80 minutes of action.

Again, this trend is not worth significant consternation, nor is it anything four-plus days of mental retooling and practice and maybe a switch in the rotation could not remedy. At the same time, it is especially not the ideal start, considering slow stumbles early last season and the year prior preceded a non-playoff campaign.

6

Providence power plays, which again eclipsed its cumulative short-handed but was, again, utterly squandered. 

The first two man-up segments, in particular, proved to be an embarrassment of wasted momentum. Landry went to the sin bin for hooking only 38 seconds after Sauvé had drawn first blood.

Despite shaking that off, the Sound Tigers went on the kill again, courtesy of a too-many-men hiccup, a mere seven seconds after Landry’s jailbreak. Yet, the Bruins remained barren on the man advantage and could not enhance their advantage on the scoreboard.

On their third advantage of the opening stanza, they only took 16 seconds to surrender the equalizer through Brandon DeFazio’s shortie.

10

Shots on goal from the Sauvé-Spooner-Tardif line, half of them off the goal scorer Sauvé’s stick, constituting almost exactly one-third of the tests administered to Bridgeport backstop Kevin Poulin.

The other nine Providence forwards combined for 14 registered bids and an identical solitary goal. Other than Sauvé and Tardif, Knight and blueliner Colby Cohen were the only other individuals to pelt Poulin at least three times.

With a little more aggression from the other offensive troikas a la Sauvé and his wingers, the P-Bruins very well could have at least mustered points on Saturday. Maybe then, it would have been easier to absolve Sauvé’s overcommitment early in the second period that warranted a goalie-interference penalty and opened the door to Nino Niederreiter’s go-ahead goal.

15

Shots on Poulin and saves by Poulin in the second period. Not unlike Friday’s opening stanza, Saturday’s second segment was the P-Bruins’ busiest on opposing property but yielded a famine of finish.

In the interim, Niederreiter drew his team’s first lead on one of its eight stabs at Hutchinson in the period.

As it happened, just as Providence would do from the second to the third, Bridgeport went from taking 15 shots on net in the first to eight in the second. The crucial difference was that the Sound Tigers hatched all of Hutchinson’s 20-minute goose eggs.

Indeed, despite the blizzard of biscuits issued by the visitors, the only “zero” in Saturday's period-to-period box score is in the Bruins’ half of the second-period column.

The Albany Devils, the American Hockey League affiliate of the New Jersey Devils, are approaching the quarter mark of the 2010-11 season, as they have played 18 games of 76.

The Baby Devils are looking to get into the playoffs for the first time since they became the Devils last season. Albany last made the playoffs when they were known as the River Rats in 2009-10 and had an affiliation with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Here is a look at how the Devils are faring so far and what’s ahead as the team approaches a month of games before Christmas.

Key Stats

The Devils currently have a record of 9-7-2 for 20 points and fifth place in the AHL’s Northeast Division. This is their first year in the newly created Northeast Division after being in the East Division last season. Albany is also currently in 12th place in the league’s Eastern Conference and one point out of the last playoff spot.

They are scoring 2.5 goals per game (45 goals scored overall), but surrender about 3.05 goals per contest (55 surrendered overall).

Albany’s special teams are in the basement of the AHL, as their power play is ranked 25th with just a 14.3 percent success rate and their penalty kill is second-to-last at 74 percent.

Key Players

Matt Anderson, Right Wing

Anderson is in his second year with Albany and was the team’s leading scorer last year with 55 points. His performance earned him a trip to the 2011 AHL All-Star Game. He is also a Calder Cup champion, having won the trophy with the Chicago Wolves in 2008.

He currently leads the Devils with 10 points on the season.

Keith Kinkaid, Goaltender

Kinkaid was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Union College and has already spent time with New Jersey this year, but did not get to suit up in a game.

So far in his rookie year, he is sixth in the AHL in wins and has a record of 5-3-0. He has a 2.45 GAA and a .915 save percentage.

Matt Taormina, Defenseman

Taormina is looking to bounce back after a difficult 2010-11 campaign. He made New Jersey’s roster last year, but played just 17 games before missing the rest of the season with a lower-body injury. However, in those 17 games, he had five points and a minus-two rating.

He is currently leading Albany defensemen with eight points and has a plus-three rating.

Joe Whitney, Right Wing

Whitney is another undrafted player who was signed out of Boston College. He is currently tied for the team scoring lead with 10 points and leads the Devils with five goals this season.

Coaching

Rick Kowalsky is back for his second season as Albany’s head coach.

He was known to the Devils organization upon his hire, as he spent four years coaching the former Trenton Devils in the ECHL. His accomplishments include winning the 2009 John Brophy Award as the ECHL’s Coach of the Year and leading Trenton to the North Division Semifinals in the Kelly Cup playoffs.

Upcoming Schedule

Albany’s next five games are as follows:

Saturday, Nov. 26: at Adirondack Phantoms, 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 27: at Springfield Falcons, 3:00 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 2: vs. Bridgeport Sound Tigers, 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 3: at Bridgeport, 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 4: vs. Rochester Americans, 4:00 p.m.

This article also appears at The Hockey Writers.

So, the Providence Bruins will meet the yet-to-be-named St. John’s team, their newest divisional rival in the wake of last week’s AHL realignment, four times in the coming season.

Meanwhile, they are to engage their two newly interdivisional rivals from the Nutmeg State eight times apiece. And the Springfield Falcons, another constituent of the newly minted Northeast Division with the Connecticut Whale and Bridgeport Sound Tigers, are to face Providence 10 times just like when they were both in the seven-member Atlantic Division.

Is anybody else lost here? You should be. 

It’s a new alignment, yet the same old kind of slate. Just like in the past two seasons, P-Bruins fans will see their team lock twigs with fellow New England-based teams for more than three-quarters of the schedule.

And just like in both 2009-10 and 2010-11, there will also be two renditions of “O Canada” at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in the coming year. The only difference is that, whereas those previous occasions were for non-conference bouts with the Abbotsford Heat, this year it will be for two and only two divisional games.

In all, the P-Bruins will play 36 of their 76 regular season games against their four Atlantic Division cohabitants. Another 32 games will be against the Northeast Division. The remaining eight will be against three out of the five East Division teams.

Translation: There will be no non-conference action in 2011-12. Nor will Providence face either the defending Calder Cup champion Binghamton Senators or the Syracuse Crunch at any time.

This despite the fact that the B-Sens and Crunch are fellow Eastern Conference rivals. This despite the fact that Binghamton and Syracuse combined are less than half the trip to Providence than St. John’s. The two New York towns in question combine for 488 miles from Providence while the capital of Newfoundland is a 991-mile trek to the capital of Rhode Island.

The AHL might as well have stayed exactly as it was with a pair of eight-team and seven-team divisions. Or better yet, it could have slowed down and tried to make a tad more geographic sense when it made the right choice to emulate its parent league and divide its 30 constituents evenly into six five-member divisions. 

Early last week, this author petitioned for a Southern New England Division consisting of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Providence, Springfield and Worcester. Well, the way the P-Bruins have since detailed their list 2011-12 opponents, that arrangement might as well be the case.

But for some reason, it isn’t. What’s the matter? Is AHL president Dave Andrews worried about going over the sense-making cap that’s never been explained to the fans or the pundits but which clearly exists?

To be fair, divisional and regional rivalries are indispensable and it is a relief to see that every New England AHL fan base will continue to get its fill of one another. That being said, what exactly was the point of placing the Bruins time-honored foes from Hartford and Springfield in another division in the first place?

Furthermore, the 2011-12 distribution of matchups will only carry on the trend of giving teams and their followers a little too much of a good thing.

Take a look elsewhere and notice the lack of a get-together with Binghamton or Syracuse, only one encounter at each venue apiece with the likes of Hershey and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, not to mention the relatively close Western Conference teams who won’t be stopping by in the near future.

To be precise, 10 of the 15 teams based in the Western circuit are all closer to Providence than St. John’s. That includes Charlotte, Chicago, Hamilton, Rochester and Rockford, all of whom have traded past visits with the P-Bruins.

Knowing that makes it kind of hard to apply the M-word in defense of this format. If the Baby B's can afford one or two nearly thousand-mile ventures to Newfoundland, they could just as easily afford a 330-mile ride to Rochester and a 440-mile trip to Hamilton.

And for those partial season ticket holders waiting to select their games, it’s that much tougher to accept one of the slimmest menus in recent memory; perhaps the slimmest variety of opponents in the team’s soon-to-be 20-year history.

Well, at least there will still be a sufficient number of opportunities to see the Whale and the Falcons. But that still begs the question about the recent realignment and how exactly the unbalanced schedule is supposed to explain it.

Earth to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman: before anyone offers anymore traction to the notion of regressing from six to four divisions, look at what your top developmental circuit just did.

The American Hockey League had operated under the same seven or eight-member divisional approach until Monday, when a cleaner arrangement of six, five-team divisions was unveiled. It will go promptly into effect for the 2011-12 campaign, and while the scheduling format has yet to be finalized, odds are an emphasis will be placed in increasing order on nonconference, intra-conference, and intra-divisional matchups.

On that note, there are a few key areas where Dave Andrews and Co. egregiously missed the net when they realigned their teams. Certain existing rivalries are not exactly in danger of diminishing but are not helped by the fact that their constituents are now in separate divisions.

Let’s start on the east coast. Until the realignment, the Atlantic Division might as well have been dubbed the New England Division as it exclusively carried all seven of the region’s AHL satellites.

Naturally, at least two had to be evicted when the league reached its decision at the annual meeting. Not an easy move to make, but there were a few lesser evils in this scenario.

Unfortunately, the wrong teams were nudged out. The new, five-team Atlantic Division still includes the Providence Bruins, Worcester Sharks, Manchester Monarchs and Portland Pirates, but has also enlisted the yet-to-be-named St. John’s team.

Meanwhile, both Connecticut-based teams and the Springfield Falcons are left to join the newly-crafted Northeast Division, opposite the Battle of the 518 Area Code between Adirondack and Albany.

As a result, the following matchups are bound to decrease in frequency: Providence-Connecticut, Providence-Springfield, Springfield-Worcester.

Again, no telling exactly how often divisional and non-divisional rivals will lock twigs, but you can bet all the contents of your CCM duffel bag that the P-Bruins are going to engage Manchester, Portland, and St. John’s more often than the Falcons and the Whale.

That’s just not right. Providence and Springfield are the most time-honored AHL bases in New England, and ever since the Connecticut Whale came along as the Hartford Wolf Pack in 1997, they have been the P-Bruins’ topmost rival.

And then there’s the Bay State Battle between the Falcons and the Sharks. How do you justify separating those two?

The way it should have been is as follows: simply swap out Manchester, Portland, and St John’s in exchange for Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Springfield. That way, all five of the teams based in the southern New England states can fan their flames of hatred to the fullest.

Meanwhile, out west, the Midwest Division makes 80 percent sense with the Chicago Wolves, Milwaukee Admirals, Peoria Rivermen, and Rockford IceHogs.

But just what are the Charlotte Checkers doing there? Why not the Lake Erie Monsters, or better yet, the Grand Rapids Griffins?

Not only are Cleveland and Grand Rapids both actual Midwestern cities, but they also have a rich history against the likes of Chicago, Milwaukee, and Peoria that dates back to final years of the old IHL.

The Checkers actually be a better fit for the East Division, which is home to their closest AHL cohabitant, the Norfolk Admirals. In fact, all of the East Division teams are closer to Charlotte than any of their Midwest cohabitants.

If Charlotte transferred to the East, then the Syracuse Crunch could move out west to the North Division and renew their intrastate rivalry with the Rochester Americans.

Again, like Providence and Springfield, you have two classic AHL cities there. And with Lake Erie in the equation, you could potentially have three of them in the North. Meanwhile, the Griffins could simply find a better home in the Midwest Division.

Other than that, this looks as good as can be. And it’s certainly a tidier alignment than what the AHL had before―and what the NHL is strangely considering.

Are you paying attention, Mr. Bettman?

Earth to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman: Before anyone offers any more traction to the notion of regressing from six to four divisions, look at what your top developmental circuit just did.

The American Hockey League had operated under the same seven- or eight-member divisional approach until Monday, when a cleaner arrangement of six, five-team divisions was unveiled.

It will go promptly into effect for the 2011-12 campaign and while the scheduling format has yet to be finalized, odds are that emphasis will be placed on increasing order on non-conference, intra-conference, and intra-divisional matchups.

On that note, there are a few key areas where Dave Andrews and Co. egregiously missed the net when they realigned their teams. Certain existing rivalries are not exactly in danger of diminishing, but are not helped by the fact that their constituents are now in separate divisions.

Let’s start on the east coast. Until the realignment, the Atlantic Division might as well have been dubbed the New England Division as it exclusively carried all seven of the region’s AHL satellites.

Naturally, at least two had to be evicted when the league reached its decision at the annual meeting. Not an easy move to make, but there were a few lesser evils in this scenario.

Unfortunately, the wrong teams were nudged out. The new, five-team Atlantic Division still includes the Providence Bruins, Worcester Sharks, Manchester Monarchs and Portland Pirates, but has also enlisted the yet-to-be-named St. John’s team.

Meanwhile, both Connecticut-based teams and the Springfield Falcons are left to join the newly-crafted Northeast Division, opposite the Battle of the 518 area code between Adirondack and Albany.

As a result, the following matchups are bound to decrease in frequency: Providence-Connecticut, Providence-Springfield, Springfield-Worcester, Connecticut-Springfield.

Again, no telling exactly how often divisional and non-divisional rivals will lock twigs, but you can bet all the contents of your CCM duffel bag that the P-Bruins are going to engage Manchester, Portland, and St. John’s more often than the Falcons and the Whale. 

That’s just not right.

Providence and Springfield are the most time-honored AHL bases in New England and ever since the Connecticut Whale came along as the Hartford Wolf Pack in 1997, they have been the P-Bruins’ topmost rival.

Likewise, the Hartford/Connecticut and Springfield franchises have enjoyed their moments of mutual animosity, partially stemming from their geographic proximity (25 miles) and the fact that the old NHL Whalers based their prospects in Springfield for many years.

And then there’s the Bay State Battle between the Falcons and the Sharks. How do you justify separating those two?

The way it should have been is as follows: Simply swap out Manchester, Portland, and St John’s in exchange for Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Springfield. That way, all five of the teams based in the southern New England states can fan their flames of hatred to the fullest.

Meanwhile, out west, the Midwest Division makes 80 percent sense with the Chicago Wolves, Milwaukee Admirals, Peoria Rivermen, and Rockford IceHogs.

But just what are the Charlotte Checkers doing there? Why not the Lake Erie Monsters, or better yet the Grand Rapids Griffins?

Not only are Cleveland and Grand Rapids both actual Midwestern cities, but they also have a rich history against the likes of Chicago, Milwaukee, and Peoria that dates back to final years of the old IHL.

The Checkers would actually be a better fit for the East Division, which is home to their closest AHL cohabitant, the Norfolk Admirals. In fact, all of the East Division teams are closer to Charlotte than any of their Midwest cohabitants.

If Charlotte transferred to the East, then the Syracuse Crunch could move out west to the North Division and renew their intrastate rivalry with the Rochester Americans.

Again, like Providence and Springfield, you have two classic AHL cities there. And with Lake Erie in the equation, you could potentially have three of them in the North. Meanwhile, the Griffins could simply find a better home in the Midwest Division.

Other than that, this looks as good as can be. And it’s certainly a tidier alignment than what the AHL had before―and what the NHL is strangely considering.

Are you paying attention, Mr. Bettman?

When the Providence Bruins last conducted business at the Dunkin Donuts Center on April 10, the pregame refrain from the Spoked-P masses was “Re-sign Whitfield!” as team captain Trent Whitfield accepted one team award after another.

Hours later, as the Baby Bs served up a stick salute upon defeating the Manchester Monarchs, 3-2, the chorus rang “Re-sign Anton!” in appreciation of the game’s No. 1 star, goaltender Anton Khudobin.

It all made sense at the time. Whitfield had returned from an Achilles ailment on Jan. 7 and buoyed the Bruins to a near-miracle return to playoff contention

Likewise, Khudobin had been a member of the organization for merely six weeks, yet already had a sound 9-4-1 transcript with Providence.

It all continues to make sense.

Peter Chiarelli, general manager of the parent Boston Bruins, fulfilled the parting wishes of his Providence buffs by locking in both men for an additional two years Friday afternoon.

And it will continue to make sense if and only if Whitfield and Khudobin can both fulfill the hype. But by all counts, that shouldn’t be a harrowing task.

Nothing but a slew of injuries is likely to warrant either of them a promotion to Boston in the immediate future. Thus, with a multitude of late-season acquisitions from college and major junior figuring to return, it is on Whitfield and Khudobin to team up with new head coach Bruce Cassidy and pilot a carry-over from the 2010-11 homestretch.

Whitfield proved an offensive, minor-league equivalent of Tim Thomas upon his return from injury. In 45 games, he crammed 18 goals and 18 assists en route to repeating team MVP honors while the P-Bruins posted a 24-19-3 record.

By contrast, they were 14-17-3 in their leader’s absence, including a rancid 4-11-2 record at home.

Obtained from the Minnesota Wild organization on March 1 to make everyone forget about Nolan Schaefer, Khudobin consumed 78 percent of the P-Bruins' crease time as the team finished strong at 12-6-1.

By dusk, Providence was only six points shy of a playoff berth, a scenario no one could have realistically placed on their holiday wish list in December.

A healthy Whitfield earlier in the year, and the added dose of leadership that comes with it, might have supplemented the balance in that department. On the other hand, perhaps everyone needed the initial adversity in order for Whitfield to be the spark plug that he was after the New Year.

But Khudobin’s instant impact most indubitably had Bruins fans asking “Where was this 18 months ago?”

After all, the core culprit behind this team’s failure to qualify for each of the last two Calder Cup brackets was a gross failure to fill big pads when Tuukka Rask earned a permanent slot in Boston at the start of the 2009-10 campaign.

That vital endeavor bottomed out this past season when the veteran Schaefer, a would-be feel-good story as a renowned Providence College alum, went 9-16-1 with a .897 save percentage and 3.10 goals-against average.

A save percentage anywhere south of the .900 line and a GAA of 3.00 or beyond are virtually cardinal violations in this game.

Schaefer maintained the dishonorable double crown and was gone after the final weekend of February.

Professional sophomore Matt Dalton had the same problem with a 3.20 GAA and .894 save percentage in 16 appearances. The best the Bruins could do to him, though, was relegate him to the back-up role.

Conversely, Khudobin made 16 starts himself and finished with a .920 save percentage and 2.40 GAA, easily the best numbers in both categories between seven different Providence stoppers in the last two seasons.

Going forward, it’s tempting to hunt for a caveat when you have an arrangement like this. But for the first time since Rask graduated, the P-Bruins have a stopper who has kept his numbers within respectable range.

It’s more than just a case of not fixing what isn’t broken. It’s a refreshing case of the goalie’s guild not being broken for a change. Schaefer’s ineptitude was an anomaly. If anything, Khudobin stands a decent chance of posting better data in 2011-12.

On the offensive and leadership front, there is no cause for concern that Whitfield’s hunger will somehow taper off next season. He knows as well as any member of the Providence faithful that there is something to be built upon.

That is why―along with Khudobin and Cassidy―everyone expressly wanted him to stick around a while longer. And that is why Chiarelli has made that happen.

Mike Loftus, the longtime Boston Bruins beat writer for the Quincy Patriot Ledger, has reported that general manager Peter Chiarelli will settle on his new American League coach whilst wrapping up this weekend’s NHL draft on Saturday.

Assuming Chiarelli follows through on that, he will end a 10-week wait for the word on who replaces Rob Murray, who was discharged after three seasons behind the Providence bench and on the heels of two straight Calder Cup playoff no-shows.

The most logical move would be to simply elevate Murray’s assistant, Bruce Cassidy, to the head coaching position. After all, that was how Murray, predecessor Scott Gordon’s sidekick for five years, claimed the job when Gordon accepted an offer to lead the New York Islanders in August 2008.

Although it is a far less plausible scenario, Craig Ramsay’s recent release from the NHL’s new Winnipeg franchise is bound to have at least a few Bruins Buffs speculating his return to the organization. Ramsay was the topmost assistant during Claude Julien’s first three years in Boston before he was lured to the Atlanta Thrashers last summer, granting him his first head coaching gig since a one-year stint in Philadelphia (2001-02).

On the one hand, in addition to those years in Atlanta and Philadelphia, Ramsay has 16 solid seasons of experience as an NHL assistant. That could make for a viable AHL head-coach candidate.

By the same token, though, such a lengthy run in The Show makes Ramsay an enticing choice to fill a void on another NHL staff, of which there are plenty.

For the P-Bruins, some of whose fans questioned the reasoning behind Murray’s dismissal, Cassidy is a more sensible choice for every reason. He has a sliver of NHL coaching experience with the Washington Capitals, who ultimately fired him in December 2003 after he had only logged 107 games.

But that was not before he guided the Grand Rapids Griffins to the best regular-season record in the final year of the IHL, then won the Louis A.R. Pieri Award in the Griffins’ first AHL campaign in 2001-02.

One could argue that Murray, whose first season as head coach saw Tuukka Rask backstop the P-Bruins to the Calder Cup semifinals, did not deserve the fall guy tag when Providence plummeted.

But in a sense, forking Murray out of the locker room in favor of Cassidy could be akin to benching an overcooked goalie even when the opposing onslaught is due to defensive breakdowns. A slight change in personnel positioning is simply needed to wake up the rest of the squad.

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