Bruins Future Looks Promising With Prospect Group

Bruins Future Looks Promising With Prospect Group

Welcome back to the Hockey Hub. As mentioned before, we went to break. Connor Ryan of Boston.com joins us. Sophia and Natalie here with you. We’re continuing a conversation uh where it started with Connor’s excellent article. He had a one-on-one with newest head coach, new Bruins head coach Marco Sturm. And you guys can go to boston.com to read it. Lots of details in there. I feel like I want to address everything, but because we kind of dive into these topics, Connor, we won’t be able to get to everything. you just finished explaining the vibe you got of what Marco Sterm’s style might be and something that’s been consistent is that you said he’s been clear that of course they want to make the playoffs but this might be a little bit of a longer term uh goal of which how he’s going to take the team. So that being said the youth might have more looks or you know he’s really keen on developing them. So before we get there about his thoughts on it what were yours from development camp? I would, like I said, would love to see them make uh have some NHL time sooner than later, but I know that’s not always the smartest move. What have been your thoughts? Did anyone stand out to you in development camp? Yeah, I think you look at where this team was this year as far as their dev camp roster. I think Bill, there’s a lot of emphasis on skill. I think you saw that with this recent draft class. It helps when you have a guy like James Haggins as your headliner of your 25 draft class, but I even look at, you know, someone like Vashic Blar who is their fourth round pick, 6’4 defenseman. Uh, didn’t pop up in a lot of draft rankings. So, you wonder if this is a guy that they went really off the board for. But, uh, kind of reminds you a little bit of Mason Laurai, who wasn’t really ranked that high going into his draft year as well, but you see the the skills that they have, right? a 6’4 6’5 defenseman with really offensive instincts and he’s a guy blar that’s pretty raw like he’s still has to work on his Dzone a little bit more needs to add some weight but you like the skill set there and I think the Bruins where they’ve been hindered I think in the past by you know bringing up prospects that you know have a high floor maybe their ceiling isn’t impactful at the NHL level I think it’s maybe a little bit of a change of pace and probably something they need to do here. If you are trying to swing for the fences and bring up impactful players, it’s trying to find those guys like Blenar. It’s trying to, you know, target a guy like Dean LNO, who I know didn’t have a strong first year at BC, but he still like the skill set and what he provides. And I thought Dean Lerno actually had a really good end to dev camp where I think everyone knows about his stats. His first year at BC, he probably shouldn’t have been at Boston College as a freshman. going right from prep to Hockey East is a sizable jump. Um, but he’s a guy that you see the skill, you see the the puck work that he has, his ability to generate chances from in tight, but also a guy that’s 67. I think you saw him be a lot more assertive uh later on in the scrimmage of using his body. And I I think you look at what Dean Lreno can be. Is he going to be Tae Thompson like people said he was going to be right after he was drafted? No. That’s not fair to the player to compare him to a guy like that, a 40 goal scorer just because he’s also 67. But I think you see what Dean Lerno did during the scrimmage of uh fighting down low, winning puck battles. He had a good reverse hit on Christian Costadinsky who’s a 66 defenseman um in the Bruins system as well. um if he can translate that to uh his second year at BC and play more into grade A ice uh be more assertive down there, he has the the skill with the puck to, you know, generate chances and get rebounds and, you know, recover pucks and all that. So, I I think this is going to be a big year for LNO. I expect him to be a four-year player at Boston College. But if he can take a step forward this year, feel good about his game, score some goals, and just feel like he’s on the right track. I think that’s a guy that, you know, is he going to be a top six center? That remains to be seen. But I I look at even a guy like Brian Bole, right, who was at a Boston College 67, end up being a matchup nightmare in the bottom six for a lot of teams for a long time and had a very productive NHL career. If Gene Lerno can be that player for you a couple years down the road, that that adds value, right? Like as much as everyone wants a first round pick to be a top six franchise player, 30 goals, 40 goals, all that. If you’re able to fill out your roster with a couple of guys here and there, whether it’s Lerno, Hagens, uh Will Zellers, um it just makes the whole rest of your team that much better down the road when you have the pieces in place that can complement the usual suspects, right? The Posanox, the Makavoys, the Swayman. So, um, as you said, a couple years away for a lot of these players. Um, but I think there’s a lot to like about the upside that they have in their system, which wasn’t the case even a year, two years ago. It’s really exciting in someone who works in hockey East over here that Boston College has entered the conversation so heavily with the Boston Bruins. Uh, you know, you’ve got Hagens, Lerno, Gasso, a couple of other Eagles. Um, it’s just exciting and I think it’s been fun because whenever I get to cover the Eagles down at BC, it’s like, okay, I’m keeping an eye on some of the the Boston draft picks, too, and seeing how they’re doing. And, you know, there was a little bit of a question mark with Dean Lerno this year. Talking with with Greg Brown, he said it’s a huge jump for someone of his age to come from Canadian Prep to go to Hockey East. You know, early on, I think it was about November, he was saying he’s done a nice job easing in, but, you know, we’re hoping that he will be that offensive contributor soon. mentioned uh you know he’s finding a way to be more assertive, physical. Uh what’s interesting, I talked to Sophia about this is I didn’t realize he had a broken hand all season with BC too. Went home during the Christmas break, got surgery on it, came back and continued to play. So I mean tough kid, young kid, but tough and he’s got his head uh you know his his laser focus on the goal there. So I think it’s really cool to see what he will be doing. Uh as well as James Hagens, too, just to stick with with BC there. think, you know, something I read in your article as well was just that a lot of the players with the Bruins are asking Marco, hey, what about the Hagens kid? Or they’re showing excitement for the next wave of prospects. You know, how encouraging is that when you talk about developing some kind of like future excitement for this team? How exciting is it to know that the team is also excited in return and that they’ve got their eyes on the younger generation? Yeah, I think it’s really encouraging because especially if you look just from, you know, the perspective of a guy like Hagens, like it’s not set in stone what he’s going to do next year. I imagine probably the best path for him is to go back to BC. I think dominate like a lot of people expect him to as a sophomore now that he has a year under his belt, feel good about his game, and then potentially join the Bruins once BC season’s over in, you know, March or April. I think that’s probably the most realistic course of action kind of following what Ryan Leonard did this past year going, you know, having a Hobie Baker level campaign and then jumping into the Capitals at the end of the season. And I think if you’re a Bruins player, right, and you’re looking for optimism for the long-term outlook of this franchise, yeah, having a guy like James Hagens, who a lot of players know about, it’s not just the fact that, you know, you see him at Def Camp and you see the skating, you see the edge work, especially um just how dynamic of a skater he is, but this is a guy that for two years, right, was considered the consensus number one prospect. I still find it pretty wild that he dropped all the way to seven because the talent is evident. And this is a guy that again, you look at how he fared as a freshman at BC. You know, getting knocked for being only a point per game as a 17 going on 18-year-old against the toughest competition, you know, in in college hockey um in Hockey East. Uh I I feel like he’s going to be a player that um even early on this fall a lot of other teams going to be like we probably should have taken him, huh? because I I mean I don’t think it’s a stretch to look at just what he did this past year, what his track record has been with the national development team, you know, in international competition and not expect him to put up a 50point season as a sophomore. on again a still very good BC team where yes he doesn’t have Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perau as his linemates but I think it’s going to benefit him of being maybe more of a puck dominant assertive type of player because uh I think when you have guys like Leonard you’re naturally going to defer to them quite a bit especially in the offensive zone but Hagen is a guy that’s so effective with the puck on his stick and he’s so deceptive especially with his skating that the more he just has puck touches he’s going to make stuff happen and I I think having him be more assertive going into a second year BC is going to benefit him and I think it’s going to be encouraging for the Bruins when you see him probably stuff the stat sheet uh going forward this year. He’s just he’s a very special talent and a guy that I didn’t think could be up with this team by uh the very end of the season. I really like that trajectory because I’ve been kind of back and forth. At first when he was drafted, I was like, “Okay, there’s no way he’s going to play in the NHL next year. Everyone chill out.” And then in spending time at development camp and then obviously talking to writers or assistant coaches then I was like well actually maybe there is an opportunity here and maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. But I think that’s a I mean, we’ll see how it plays out, but I think that’s a perfect medium, right, where he finishes his season in BC, hopefully puts up good numbers, develops a little more, continues to put on weight, all that kind of stuff, and then maybe makes an appearance at the end of the season, as you mentioned, or nearing uh towards the end of the present.

After a promising Bruins Development Camp the fans are excited to see the season after the rejuvenated prospect group. Boston.com writer Conor Ryan joins Sophia Jurksztowicz and Natalie Noury to discuss who stood out the most during Bruins Development Camp and what to expect for the future from players like Dean Letourneau and James Hagens!

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