Welcome back.
It’s time to kick off Daily Faceoff’s second annual NHL Prospect Pool Breakdown, looking at the best all 32 teams have to offer. We’re highlighting the top 10 prospects for every franchise, their biggest strengths and weaknesses and so much more.
The criteria for being labeled a “prospect” are simple: players generally have to have played in 50 or fewer NHL games or spent more time outside of the NHL than in it last year. Skaters over 23 years old are not included, with goaltenders needing to be 25 or under.
Today, we’re looking at the Boston Bruins.
Everything I wrote about the Bruins last year for this exercise still holds true: in the pursuit of excellence, their pipeline has suffered.
Still, last year saw the debuts of Matthew Poitras, Mason Lohrei and Johnny Beecher, among others. The Bruins still fell short in the playoffs to the eventual Stanley Cup champions from Florida, but they were aggressive to open up free agency in an attempt to keep this team in contention.
But in the team’s pursuit of glory, the Bruins find themselves with one of the weakest pipelines in the NHL. I do like the addition of Dean Letourneau with their first-round pick, but then things were a bit bare after that, and will be again in 2025 with just two picks in the first four rounds. GM Don Sweeney isn’t too worried about the future, and rightfully so.
I elected to keep Poitras off the team’s top 10 prospects list because he only played in the NHL last year and was expected to go the distance before his injury. Lohrei, meanwhile, bounced around between the NHL and AHL and was overall a borderline option for this list, but I kept him on because he wasn’t married to any particular league last year. Lohrei played more games in the NHL than Poitras, but he still played a third of his season in the minors, while Poitras was unlikely to return to Guelph. If you still count Poitras as a rookie due to only playing just over 30 games, that’s fine.
The Bruins will continue to prioritize the now for the near future, and that’s OK. But based on the group below, I feel confident that Lohrei will continue to improve and be a key piece of Boston’s long-term future. Beyond that? I have my concerns for both Letourneau and Fabian Lysell, the only other two players I feel like have better than a 50 percent chance of becoming full-time NHLers.
It’s grim, to say the least. But Bruins fans know that already.
Biggest Strength
This team might have too many centers, funny enough. That’s not something many teams can say, but the Bruins have a boatload of players with some bottom-six potential who primarily play down the middle. Many of them will switch to the wing if they were to make the NHL, but it’s never a bad thing to load up here. The Bruins also have a handful of decent goaltending options. Jeremy Swayman is the obvious No. 1, but 26-year-old Brandon Bussi is intriguing, and Michael DiPietro is coming off as the best pro season to date. Both are too old to be considered prospects at this point, though.
Biggest Weakness
Beyond maybe Lohrei, Lysell, and Letourneau, there aren’t many players with legitimate NHL upside here. I like Georgii Merkulov, but he left a lot to be desired during his four-game NHL stint, and at 23, time is ticking. Oskar Jellvik still has a few more years of development left, but I’m wondering how much of his increase in scoring this year was solely due to having one of the best players in college hockey by his side. After that, we’re talking about depth players at best – which, fine, you need guys like that – but nobody I’m fully confident will be a full-time player for more than a year or two. But, again, this is all by design.
TOP 10 PROSPECTS
1. Mason Lohrei, LHD, 23 (Boston Bruins)
Acquired: Drafted 58th overall, second round in 2020
There’s an argument to not include him here, but the fact that Lohrei still spent a significant portion of the year in the AHL will keep him on this list. The 6-foot-4 defenseman seemed like a longshot to make the NHL when he was originally drafted but an excellent two-year run with Ohio State made him hard to ignore. Lohrei has shown some skill with the puck for a defender his size and put up a solid 13 points in 41 NHL games this past year. While I’m not sure he’s a long-term top-pairing option for the Bruins, I think his base is good enough to at least be a solid third-pair defender at worst. As a second-round pick in a draft impacted by COVID, the Bruins found a good player in Lohrei.
2. Fabian Lysell, RW, 21 (Providence, AHL)
Acquired: Drafted 21st overall, first round in 2021
Lysell improved in the AHL last year, bouncing from 37 points as a rookie to 50 in 56 games last season. There’s still room for him to grow to be a more effective point producer, especially as a player lacking pure muscle, but he needed a good sophomore campaign after his growing pains in 2022-23. At 21, I would have liked to see Lysell step into some NHL action by now, especially since he started in the AHL earlier than most. But there’s also no point in dumping a creative player like him in the bottom six and ruining his confidence when that’s so important for a high-risk, high-reward playmaker. Hopefully, we will see Lysell take another big step forward this season.
3. Dean Letourneau, C, 18 (Boston College, NCAA)
Acquired: Drafted 25th overall, first round in 2024
As a 6-foot-7 center, Letourneau was one of the most fascinating forwards in the 2024 NHL Draft. He can hit, makes plays, snipe shots, win faceoffs and beat players with his speed, helping him draw comparisons to Tage Thompson. Letourneau decimated the Canadian prep hockey ranks with 61 goals and 127 points in 56 games with St. Andrew’s College, making him a rare player to go in the first round out of the Prep Hockey College. There are still some questions as to what type of player he’ll become because very few NHLers have his skillset, and the jump to the NCAA will be a difficult one for him next year. But there’s definitely some intrigue as long as the Bruins are patient here.
4. Georgii Merkulov, C/LW, 23 (Providence, AHL)
Acquired: Undrafted free agent signing in 2022
After a 55-point rookie season in 2022-23, Merkulov upped the stakes with 30 goals and 65 points to take a nine-point stranglehold in Providence’s scoring fight. Merkulov also got into his first NHL action, failing to register a point in four contests. You do have to wonder if Merkulov would have made the team last year had Matt Poitras remained in junior, but Merkulov instead got extra time to develop. But at 23 and in the final year of his entry-level contract, it’s time for Merkulov to make a serious push for full-time NHL duty. He’s bordering on just being an AHL star at this point, but if he can find a way to be a better 200-foot player in the NHL, he might be able to make the most of it.
5. Oskar Jellvik, LW, 21 (Boston College, NCAA)
Acquired: Drafted 149th overall, fifth round in 2021
Jellvik is turning out to be quite the fifth-round pick. After a decent freshman season, Jellvik benefited from playing alongside some quality competition at Boston College and scored 13 goals and 42 points as a sophomore. He’s not big at 5-foot-10, but he can play center and the wing, moves well, and boasts a solid enough hockey IQ to allow him to be paired with Cutter Gauthier, one of the best players outside the NHL this year. I think Jellvik is the most improved Bruins prospect over the past year, and it’ll be interesting to see if he turns pro at the end of the coming season and whether he projects to be more than just a mid-range producer in the AHL.
6. John Farinacci, C, 23 (Providence, AHL)
Acquired: Free agent signing in 2023
Originally drafted by the Arizona Coyotes, Farinacci didn’t sign with the team out of Harvard and instead elected to join the Boston Bruins. He had a decent first year with 38 points in 71 games, showing value as a two-way forward who likes to shoot. He’s not big, but he’s got some muscle, although I wish he’d use it to be a bit meaner in puck battles. He’s an older prospect at this point, but the 2022 ECAC champion is versatile enough to at least challenge for a role-player spot over the next two years.
7. Brett Harrison, C, 21 (Providence, AHL)
Acquired: Drafted 85th overall, third round in 2021
If Harrison makes the NHL, it’s going to be in a bottom-six role. And that’s fine; you need guys like that. He probably wishes he had more than the 14 points he put on the board in his first AHL season, but he showed his two-way game and his ability to be difficult to play along the boards. Harrison does read plays well at both ends, although his skating is still a work in progress. Harrison is a good penalty killer who likes to get in the way of shots whenever he possibly can, and guys like him can be valuable in the playoffs.
8. Frédéric Brunet, LHD, 20 (Providence, AHL)
Acquired: Drafted 132nd overall, fifth round in 2022
Brunet had a solid transition to the pro game, putting up 12 points in 48 games with Providence this past season. Brunet is a good skater, which allowed him to adjust to the AHL quickly. He’s strong, built tough and his defensive game has evolved in a big way the past three years. I don’t think he has enough offensive upside to be a full-time NHLer any time soon but the fact that he continues to add new elements to his game every season gives him a chance at least fighting for a bottom-pairing spot.
9. Elliott Groenewold, LHD, 18 (Quinnipiac University, NCAA)
Acquired: Drafted 110th overall, fourth round in 2024
Groenewold isn’t huge, but he has a mean side that Bruins fans will love. After playing prep hockey the year prior, he had a big first year in the USHL, putting up 16 points in 57 games. He’s set to head to Quinnipiac University, which boasts a stout coaching staff and is two years removed from becoming NCAA national champions. They don’t have much in terms of future NHL talent on the lineup, but they offer a great environment for players to flourish at their own pace. For Groenewold, a mobile, physical, shutdown defender, that’s a good thing.
10. Philip Svedeback, G, 22 (Providence College, NCAA)
Acquired: Drafted 117th overall, fourth round in 2021
The Bruins have built themselves quite the goalie factor, and Svedeback is a big part of it. His stats might not seem like they’re anything special, but the 6-foot-4 keeper had four shutouts and a record of 18-13-4 for a Providence team that often struggled to deal with high-danger scoring situations. It’s hard not to like his big frame and how in control he is in the crease. Svedeback isn’t the quickest lateral goaltender, but he routinely gives his team a fighting chance every night, no matter the level he’s playing. That’s a good sign in the Wild West that is scouting goaltenders.
Other notables: Riley Duran, C (22) , Trevor Kuntar, C (23), Ryan Mast, RHD (21), Jackson Edward, LHD (20), Christopher Pelosi, C (57), Cole Spicer, C (20), Jonathan Morello, C/LW (17), Ryan Walsh, C/RW (20), Andre Gasseau, C (21), Casper Nassen, RW (20), Dans Ločmelis, C (20), Jonathan Myrenberg, RHD (21), Mason Langenbrunner, RHD (21), Loke Johansson, LHD (18), Ty Gallagher, RHD (21), Kristian Kostadinski, LHD (19)
