By: Neil Simmons | Follow me on Twitter / X: @NSimmz
Hundreds of hockey players have donned the Boston Bruins iconic Spoked B sweater throughout the team’s one-hundred-year history in the National Hockey League. Some went on to lead Hall of Fame careers, playing well over one thousand games and becoming franchise icons. Many more Bruins alumni led careers with varying levels of success, some spending most of their playing days in the American Hockey League. Seth Griffith has played nearly his entire career in the AHL but broke into the pro ranks with Boston and put together an impressive highlight reel.
The Bruins drafted Griffith 131st overall in the 2012 NHL Draft, following his second season with the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League, where he scored 85 points in 68 games. He followed up his draft year with 81 points in 54 games and captured his second consecutive OHL Championship before jumping to the pro ranks.
Griffith hit the ground running with Providence in the 2013-14 season, scoring 20 goals and 50 points in 69 games and earning a promotion the following year. He made his NHL debut with the Bruins in October 2014 and quickly established himself as a dynamic young forward with a flair for his game. He added panache to several goals, and his solo effort against New Jersey made the NHL end-of-season Top-10 Goals list.
Griffith’s dazzling audition with Boston would end after ten points in 30 games, finishing the season in Providence with a near-point-per-game pace. He would make four appearances with Boston the following year, chipping in a single assist, but racked up 77 points in 57 games with Providence. At this point, it was apparent that Griffith was more of an AAAA-style player: dominant in the AHL but couldn’t quite reach that same level with Boston.
Griffith was waived as part of roster cuts on the eve of the 2016-17 season and claimed by the Toronto Maple Leafs. He would play most of the season with the Toronto Marlies in the AHL after a series of waiver claims saw him join the Florida Panthers for 21 games and then be re-claimed by Toronto. A brief run with the Buffalo Sabres would be Griffith’s last sizeable run of NHL play in his career, as he’s played all but one game in the AHL since March of 2018.
Since his last NHL run, Griffith has found a home with the Edmonton Oilers’ AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors. Joining the club in the COVID truncated 2020-21 season, Griffith has 231 points in 243 games, including a career-high 30-goal, 80-point season in 2021-22. As of the 2024-24 preseason, Griffith has 572 points in 619 career AHL games and 19 points in 80 career NHL games. His time with the Boston Bruins was brief, but there are far worse ways to leave your mark on an Original Six team’s history.
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