Bruins
“We love looking at the upward trajectory of these players.”
Don Sweeney and the Bruins’ front office found themselves in unfamiliar territory on Friday night in Las Vegas.
For just the fourth time since 2017, the Bruins were on the clock in the first round of the NHL Draft, a byproduct of Boston dealing away a Vezina-caliber goalie in Linus Ullmark and re-acquiring the 25th overall selection.
When Sweeney and Boston’s personnel were focused on putting a core led by franchise fixtures like Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci over the top, short-term gains trumped long-term outlook.
Draft capital was often the primary currency Boston used to bolster their rosters, limiting their chances to develop homegrown, blue-chip prospects within their system.
Granted, even with that dearth of first-round talent, the Bruins’ pipeline has churned out some key cogs over the last few years. Jeremy Swayman is the latest internal prospect set to anchor Boston’s roster alongside names like David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy.
The 2023-24 season saw more youngsters set themselves up for larger roles moving forward, including Mason Lohrei, Matthew Poitras, and Johnny Beecher.
But beyond a strong preseason push from Fabian Lysell, Georgii Merkulov, and John Farinacci, Boston will need to wait a bit longer for their next wave of prospects like Oskar Jellvik, Chris Pelosi, and Beckett Hendrickson to marinate before making a legitimate push for NHL reps.
The Bruins will need to continue to restock their cupboard of prospects moving forward, with Boston holding onto its own first-round picks in 2025, 2026, and 2027. And if these last few drafts are any indication, Sweeney and Co. seem to have a strategy in place for how they plan to build up their prospect pool.
Up front, the name of the game is upside (and some risk) — while the back end is all about size.
“We love looking at the upward trajectory of these players,” Bruins director of amateur scouting Ryan Nadeau said of Boston’s 2024 draft class. “I think, when you take all of them, the strides that they made in the last year or two, they’re all sort of got a development trend that we tend to believe in.”
Boston’s four-player 2024 haul in Las Vegas stands as a proper encapsulation of the type of farm system the Bruins have been trying to cultivate over the last few years.
Dean Letourneau, a 6-foot-7 center, might be one of the most intriguing prospects in the entire 2024 draft class given the skating and playmaking skills present in his imposing frame.
Even with the questions surrounding Boston’s first-round selection as far as his upside and the quality of competition he feasted on at St. Andrew’s College last season (61 goals, 127 points in 56 games against prep opponents), Letourneau’s ceiling as a big-bodied, top-six stalwart a la Tage Thompson is a gamble worth taking for the Bruins — a team short on potential game-breaking talent within their system.
“You just have to continue to acclimate in all situations at the next level and realize that the challenge is in front of you,” Sweeney said of the expected growing pains for Letourneau, who will make the jump from prep to Boston College this fall. “You have to up your ante in terms of competitiveness and you just can’t get by with the size and the skill that he’s probably been able to do for periods of time at the level. … He’s going to face a much steeper depth of lineups, quality of competition, that’s going to be the adjustment.”
Add in Boston selecting 17-year-old, 6-foot-3 center Jonathan Morello out of the Ontario Junior Hockey League (57 points in 50 games for St. Michael’s Buzzers) in the fifth round, and it’s apparent that the Bruins are banking on potential over perhaps safer selections with floors that are easier to chart.
“It feels like every time we meet him — he’s taller. He’s bigger,” Nadeau said of Morello, who ended last season with 21 points over 11 playoff games in the OJHL. “We’re just banking on the upward trajectory here.”
In previous drafts, the Bruins opted for players that were a bit easier to project as NHLers, albeit in a bottom-six role like Johnny Beecher (2019, 30th overall) and Trent Frederic (2016, 29th overall).
But with Boston showing a knack for adding bottom-six regulars through other means like trades or free agency (Justin Brazeau, Morgan Geekie, James van Riemsdyk, etc.) the Bruins are clearly looking to swing for the fences when it comes to forwards in the draft — even if it results in a few whiffs.
The rewards could be worth if it a player like Letourneau lives up to his potential.
As for the blue line, the Bruins’ decision to bring in a pair of imposing, defensive-minded blueliners in 6-foot-2 Elliott Groenewold (Fourth Round, No. 110 overall) and 6-foot-3 Loke Johansson (Sixth Round, No. 186 overall) falls in line with Boston’s focus on adding more size to its D corps.
Over the last five draft classes, the Bruins have selected nine defensemen. All nine of them are at least 6 feet tall, while eight of them are at least 6-foot-2.
“The size thing is somewhat of a factor,” Nadeau acknowledged. “But it’s not like we’ve set a line or height line that they have to get over to get on the amusement park ride here. It’s just where we value these players, they just happen to fall on our draft board. And we’re not disappointed that we drafted a bunch of big players.”
If there’s been one overarching theme that has linked multiple Stanley Cup champions over the last few years, it’s been the presence of a hefty D corps capable of eating up pucks and clearing space in Grade-A ice.
The Panthers feature plenty of puck-movers and playmakers on their blue line like Brandon Montour, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Gustav Forsling.
But Florida’s six-man grouping of Aaron Ekblad (6-foot-4), Forsling (6-foot-0), Niko Mikkola (6-foot-5), Montour (6-foot-0), Ekman-Larsson (6-foot-2), and Dmitry Kulikov (6-foot-1) also have the means to withstand the punishment that awaits in the postseason.
How about the 2022-23 Vegas Golden Knights?
Alex Pietrangelo: 6-foot-3, 215 pounds
Shea Theodore: 6-foot-2, 197 pounds
Alec Martinez: 6-foot-1, 210 pounds
Brayden McNabb: 6-foot-4, 215 pounds
Nicolas Hague: 6-foot-6, 230 pounds
Zach Whitecloud: 6-foot-2, 207 pounds
2021-22 Colorado Avalanche?
Devon Toews – 6-foot-1, 191 pounds
Cale Makar – 5-foot-11, 187 pounds
Bowen Byram – 6-foot-1, 190 pounds
Josh Manson – 6-foot-3, 218 pounds
Erik Johnson – 6-foot-4, 225 pounds
Jack Johnson – 6-foot-1, 227 pounds
How about the 2020-21 Tampa Bay Lightning?
Victor Hedman: 6-foot-7, 244 pounds
Ryan McDonagh: 6-foot-1, 215 pounds
Mikhail Sergachev: 6-foot-3, 215 pounds
Erik Cernak: 6-foot-4, 224 pounds
Jan Rutta: 6-foot-3, 204 pounds
David Savard: 6-foot-1, 235 pounds
Spot any similarities there? While Boston certainty won’t hit on every blueliner they’ve selected in the last few years, it’s clear they’re putting a premium on size with that segment of the depth chart.
The Bruins have a long way to go when it comes to propping its farm system up as one of the best in the NHL.
But with an emphasis on high-end talent and size, the Bruins are starting the slow (but proactive) process of building the next wave of talent in black-and-gold sweaters.
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