Rangers, Wolf Pack Extend Affiliation Agreement
The Wolf Pack will continue to be the top developmental arm of the Rangers for at least the next three seasons.
The New York Rangers and Hartford Wolf Pack have extended their affiliation agreement, the clubs jointly announced on Thursday morning. The extension will cover the next three seasons.
NEWS: The Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL) and New York Rangers (NHL) announced today an extension to their affiliation agreement. The agreement runs through the end of the 2028-29 season. pic.twitter.com/NaJg0zg8kf
— Hartford Wolf Pack (@HWPHockey) August 20, 2026
The Wolf Pack have been solely affiliated with the Rangers ever since the team moved to Hartford for the 1997-98 season. It's the second-longest continuous affiliation between an NHL and AHL team, with only the Boston Bruins and Providence Bruins (affiliated since 1992-93) holding a longer relationship.
"[The affiliation] is all we've known," Wolf Pack Vice President of Business Operations Erik Hansen told Blueshirt Banter on Thursday afternoon. "They've been with us for 30 years. It's great to have a team that is so big in the NHL which is also not that far away from us."
The extension comes after four straight seasons of year-over-year attendance growth for the Wolf Pack. The club has broken their single-season paid tickets record in each of the last four seasons, dating back to the 2022-23 campaign.
"It's been fun [to oversee the growth]," Hansen noted to Blueshirt Banter. "The staff has worked so hard on this. When the hockey is going great, we're gonna talk about the hockey. But on the business side of things, the hockey is the second part of everything. We're about people coming out here and having a good time. It's a win-win for everybody."
With the extension, the Wolf Pack will remain the top affiliate for the Rangers through at least the 2028-29 season. The relationship will enter it's milestone 30th season this year, as the Wolf Pack also celebrate their 30th season in Hartford.
"We want to take people through memory lane," Hansen told Blueshirt Banter when asked about the three-decade celebration. "We have a lot of good things that we're going to be announcing over the next two weeks, things that I believe everybody is going to be excited about."
The Wolf Pack will host their home opener on Saturday, October 10 at the PeoplesBank Arena, welcoming the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to town. It will be the fourth time Hartford has hosted the Penguins for their home opener in the last five seasons.
