The task of readying Bruins prospects for the NHL now falls upon new Providence coach Trent Whitfield
PROVIDENCE — Coaching kids up — specifically, up the 50 or so miles from here to Causeway Street — is the mission of every person who takes charge of the AHL Providence Bruins’ bench.
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That charge was placed Monday in the hands of Trent Whitfield, and he desperately needs to yield better results than what has transpired for far too many years.
Whitfield didn’t say that Wednesday at his introductory presser, but he knows it. Everyone knows it. It’s as obvious as that loveable, protruding nose for goals on Brad Marchand’s face — the one he crafted long ago as a P-Bruin and went on to be one of the NHL’s most dangerous, determined goal scorers (451 and still counting).
The Black and Gold varsity roster is in vital need of young, fresh blood, willing and eager hands and noses, particularly among the forward corps, where one-time Providence alums Patrice Bergeron, David Krjeci, Marchand and others ultimately graduated and contributed with great NHL distinction.
Bergeron’s full season in Providence, during the NHL’s 2004-05 lockout, provided a foundation for him to build his two-way game and plot his Hall-of-Fame fight path (induction this November).
Other than short visits by Alex Steeves and Fraser Minten in Providence, last season’s Boston roster included only two forwards — David Pastrnak and Sean Kuraly — who spent some time cultivating their game in the AHL. Pastrnak required 28 games in “Rhodie” before routing north permanently a decade ago, blossoming into one of the game’s elite goal scorers (420 and counting). Kuraly spent 54 games under Kevin Dean’s watch in 2016-17 before he, too, made the NHL jump.
Otherwise, the pickings have been slim across the many intervening years. The hopes that forwards Fabian Lysell and Georgii Merkulov would make the grade after four developmental seasons in Providence fell flat. High-end prospects, lower than low yield.
Lysell, the club’s first-round pick (21st) in ’21, was dished in June to the Avalanche after his failure to launch despite 219 games in Providence.
Merkulov, a coveted free agent signee out of Ohio State in the spring of ’22, posted impressive numbers (94-146–240) during his 271 AHL games. But he contributed a paltry 0-1–1 in his 11 games with a Spoked-B on his chest. He departed as free agent in July and will be in Colorado’s camp, perhaps again with Lysell as a linemate.
So, does the 49-year-old Whitfield have the juju to tease more out of the troops, particularly the forwards, sent his way by general manager Don Sweeney and president Cam Neely?
That’s what all three are hoping, along with the upward of 18,000 ticket buyers who file into TD Garden for almost every game in hopes of seeing the next best thing arrive from The Ocean State.
The earnest Whitfield has been coaching with Providence for 10 seasons, serving as an assistant to Dean, then Jay Leach, and most recently Ryan Mougenel (who left to be an assistant with the Canucks). Whitfield knows his No. 1 job, even more important than winning AHL games and chasing the Calder Cup, is teaching up the kids and shipping them up to Boston … albeit with the accompanying demand to win games and fill seats at Amica Mutual Pavilion.
“We practice the power play all day on Thursday and Friday morning, then your quarterback gets called up to the NHL,” said Whitfield, noting the inherent frustration in the coach-as-developer role “It happens all the time, right?”
Rarely did it happen for Merkulov and Lysell. Both barely spent enough time in Boston for their skate blades to accumulate a frost.
“Those guys did a lot of good things for us here, right?” said Whitfield. “Fabian was a really good offensive player for us. I’m not going to get too much into that. You know, we would have liked him to dig in a little bit more defensively, but he was a really offensive, highly-shifted kind of player.”
Translation: The speedy Lysell flashed some legit NHL skills, topped by speed and scoring sense, but did not grasp the grind game on either side of the puck.
“Merk’s the all-time leading scorer for the Providence Bruins,” added Whitfield. “He was awesome for us … a great American League player. I wish nothing but the best for those two guys.”
That said, I asked Whitfield, the guy now in charge of producing better crop yields, if he’s not left to wonder why those two top prospects could not get over the hump. Lysell and Merkulov combined for nearly 500 AHL regular-season games, were the franchise’s two premier forward prospects … and now they’re out of here, the organization netting nothing for four years of development.
“Yeah, sometimes maybe it’s a little bit of opportunity … or didn’t really fit the mold,” mused Whitfield. “I can’t really answer that as to why they really didn’t make it. But sometimes the size, the strength … but those are two really gifted offensive players. Of course it leaves you wondering a little bit, but that’s part of it.”
No question, it’s part of it. Percentages show the majority of AHL kids don’t get to the next level. The development piece is a pricey, oft-frustrating proposition.
But the wait in Boston has been far too long, so something has to change. Now we’ll see if Whitfield can figure it out.
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