Since 1987-88, the Boston Bruins have called Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington their home rink for practices. By the fall of 2016, they’ll have a new place for training.

On Tuesday, the team announced that it signed a letter of intent for a long-term lease with Boston Landing to build a new practice facility in the Allston-Brighton area to serve as their new practice home in two years. The new rink will stand approximately 6.8 miles from TD Garden compared to the less than 17 mile trip between the B’s home on Causeway Street and Ristuccia Arena.

“I am thrilled that we have found a new practice home within the Boston city limits,” Bruins principal Charlie Jacobs said in a press release. “Our goal is to set the industry standard in everything that we do, and we are confident that our new practice facility will do just that. As we enter the design phase of the project, we look forward to sharing details as they become available.”

Construction of the new practice rink will begin in the Spring of 2015. The agreement includes approximately 25,000 square feet of locker room, training and office space in addition to ice time.

Additionally, the rink will be one of the tenants in the New Balance Pavilion, which is slated to be completed next fall. The development area will include a commuter rail station on the Framingham-Worcester line (scheduled to debut in the Fall of 2016) as well as more office buildings, retail and restaurant space, a sports complex and a hotel.

Bruins President Cam Neely envisioned a state of the art when he joined the team prior to the 2007-08 season. It’s safe to say that he is excited to share this bit of good news to The Hub of Hockey.

“Since joining the Bruins in a front office capacity, a goal of mine has been to move the Bruins into a first-class practice facility and this agreement moves us closer to accomplishing that goal,” Neely said in the press release. “The vision that New Balance has for the Boston Landing project is exactly what we are looking for, and we are confident that through this partnership, we will build a facility that our entire organization will be proud of.”

The Bell Sports Complex in Broussard, Quebec (the practice home of the Montreal Canadiens) and Kettler Ice Plex in Arlington, Virginia (home of the Washington Capitals) are considered the standard bearers of training facilities in the National Hockey League. By the Fall of 2016, the Bruins’ new rink in the Allston-Brighton area could very well raise the bar even higher across the NHL.

Here’s a pic of the construction of Boston Landing via Joe Giza of WBZ:

This is the #Boston Landing complex under construction where the new #Bruins practice facility will be pic.twitter.com/mbcprTeq42

— Joe Giza (@JoeGiza) July 8, 2014