Prospect Pool Overview: Boston Bruins
It is time to continue forward in the prospect pool overviews today with the Boston Bruins. This time around, the Bruins, the second team on this rotation. We’ll start getting more of these out now that I’m less busy with work and such, and we’re going to start prepping a lot for that as well through this next couple of weeks. The Boston Bruins are a team with a prospect pool that definitely is stronger than it’s been in the last couple of years, but there’s definitely one or two guys I would say who are going to have a real impact in the NHL. The rest are just kind of guys who are in the middle for me. So, we’ll start off with the biggest guy and the guy that they drafted this past year. James Haggins is a center from Hopog, New York, is 5 foot 10, 185 lbs. was drafted seventh overall in 2025 and had 37 points in 37 games played with Boston College. He had first overall potential when he was drafted as really good speed and really good skill. But honestly, I just think the way that Matthew Schaefer played and the way that Michael Misa played and just his overall size and maybe how the interviews went as well made him drop all the way down to seven. He was a guy for me. He’s like he’s in a way like Mitchkov. Not like the skill. I think Mitchkov is a better player than Hagens, but in a way Mitchkov had that first overall potential just didn’t go over well. He didn’t have that great of a year with Boston College and that’s why he’s dropped. I mean, honestly, I say he didn’t have that great of a year. He was point per game. It was still a very good year and just was a little bit underwhelming even then. still had a very good time in the World Juniors with the with USA. Again, like there’s a lot to like here with this kid. I don’t even really know why he dropped. This guy going to Boston changes a ton for them. They go from a prospect pool that was probably bottom five to bottom 10. They’re still not that great, but Hagens really does help out a lot with that pool. And to be honest with you, I think that he’s a player that we’re going to look down the road and say, “How did he go seventh overall in that draft?” That is just unbelievable. So, I’m a big fan of Hagens. You guys know me. You guys have been watching for a while. I love James Hagens. Now, we’re going to go to a guy who has been in the system for a while, and that is Fabian Lee Cell. Was drafted back in 2021. He was born in Godberg, Sweden. He’s 5 foot 11, 181 pounds, and this past year played games with the Bruins and also played games with Providence as well. Played 52 games, had 34 points just for him. Honestly, the Bruins just never gave him a chance to call him up until this past year. And we even said after last year, like he had 50 points in 56 games played. We’re like, how is this guy not being called up by Boston? And what’s really unfortunate is there were some people that were saying that this guy’s a bust. I just couldn’t disagree more to be honest with you. He’s not a bust. He just isn’t getting played by Boston. That’s the biggest thing. Like you look at his Providence Bruins numbers. He’s put up some great numbers down there this past year. 34 points in 52 games played. The year before that, 50 points in 56 games played. He’s put up some good numbers down below in the AHL. Just hasn’t gotten the call. And has really good scoring upside. again, he shows that he can provide some offense when it comes to passing and overall scoring. He’s got great pace as well. It just sucks because he’s not getting the chance up there with the Bruins because of the way that the Bruins are and they don’t really want to have roster spots to call him up. I think that’s going to change though. I I think with this new youth movement that they’re trying to push and with the team getting a lot worse, you’re going to have to start calling up some of these players. And I think Lee Cell is going to be the biggest one and he’ll probably be the first one that we see get called up uh this coming season. So you guys are going to see when we get to the prospect rankings that I am not high at all on Dean Lo. I don’t think he had that good of a season coming straight out of uh high school. Again, was drafted at that point. And I think the reason why he was drafted there was because of his size. He’s a center rightwing, so he can play both sides. He’s six foot seven, 214 pounds, which drafted 25th overall in last year’s draft. He had a really bad opening year with Boston College, only three assists for three points in 36 games played, playing alongside James Hagens. Now, that’s another positive that you can look at, too. Hagens will be there with LNO to kind of help him out, but to be honest with you, I’m just not high on him. I I I don’t like this pick. Um I don’t think it’s going to turn out good, but he’s still a project. there is still a chance for him to come out and play well. Just for me, personal preference, I’m not a huge fan of him. I think that there was many other better prospects that were on the market besides a guy like Lerno at that pick. You could have gotten him in a in an early second round choice in my opinion. Maybe I’m talking out of my butt there, but honestly, I’m not very high on LNO. I think there is some time for him to change. Again, as I said, he is still a prospect. there’s plenty of time to make an impact on that. But to be honest with you, with the season that he had, we’ll have to see how it goes. And again, sometimes, you know, kids come out straight out of high school, which is where Lerno came from, they take some time to just kind of develop. And Lo is that kind of player for me where he’s going to need to take at least two more seasons to really kind of develop. So, only time will tell, but I could change my opinion next year, but as of right now, I’m not very high on LNO. I just don’t think he is going to be that guy in my opinion. So, looking at some of the defensive prospects here, yes, I know we’ll get into Liam Patterson here in just a moment, but looking at Elliot Grownwald, who was drafted in the fourth round back in 2024. He’s a left shot defenseman, is 6’2, 201. Played his first year this past year of Quinnipic University, had 38 games played for 12 points. Um, not that bad of a year for a defenseman. Uh he has good good agility, good mobility, and he’s building up his offensive game. Again, his offensive game is going to take some time. Grownwall was drafted only last year, so there’s still time for him to develop. Honestly, I’m not terribly low on him. I think he has a chance to make the NHL as like a third pairing defenseman. My expectation, and I’m not so sure what exactly he wants to do. He’s likely going to go back for another season at Quinnipic. I don’t expect him to come straight to the NHL. I don’t believe he is under contract. So, he will likely play next year at Quinnipic as well. Or maybe he transfers to a bigger college. Who knows? He could go from Quinnipic to some of the other bigger uh schools in the NCAA. So, Grownwald I like. Um I’m not huge on him like becoming a big-time player. Like, he’s a fourth round pick. He’s not going to be no first pairing defenseman, but he could make the NHL as a best case third pairing guy in my opinion. But I don’t really see him doing anything much more than that. Again, had a good year of Quinnipic University. It’s kind of like with Dean Lo. Only time will tell with this type of player. Next up, and again, as I said with the Ducks prospect pool, there’s a couple of guys I could have went with here, but we’re going to try and lean towards previewing guys who were just drafted. Not only to help out you guys, but also to help out me because again, when you’re covering all 32 teams, you can follow the prospects as much as you want. But again, just like, you know, I would like to go through a lot of the guys who were recently drafted to kind of, you know, refresh my memory on some of these guys a little bit. So, we have Liam Pson here. Uh, is a left shot defenseman as well. Was born in Gizd, Sweden. Is 6’2, 170 lbs. Again, was drafted 61st overall in this past year’s draft. He played games in the Swedish league um in the Junior League as well. Had 39 games played uh 21 points, six goals uh with the Vajo Lakers U20. um had good offensive game and a good offensive speed for a defenseman. Again, that’s what I most not most notably noticed about his game. Uh we’re going to take a little bit of a look at his draft guide here as well. A lanky puck moving defenseman with strong transition results and a projectable set of feet. Possesses intriguing upside, but remains raw and and needs to tighten things up defensively. So, he’s a raw prospect from what I can grab from that. Uh, again, a C-grade from the Elite Prospects draft guide. Um, again, this guy didn’t make a single international appearance, so it’s a little bit hard to tell for him. Going as a second round pick, definitely interesting for sure for a guy who’s a raw prospect. It’s going to take a couple of years to develop, and we’ll follow that as as these pools go along over the years. But again, I think this kid has some good offensive upside that you can build upon. In the Swedish leagues, it’s a little bit hard to tell sometimes um how these players will be, but I like Person just from a personal perspective. Watching some of his highlights prior to this, I think that again he has some good upside there. And what’s funny is that he was actually involved in the uh Charlie Coyle trade, which was Will Zeers as well, who we’ll get into here uh in a little bit as well. But Patterson has some good upside and some good potential. Uh we’ll see how it develops uh with the uh Bruins organization. So, I had to improvise here a little bit for a goalending prospect. The Bruins do not have a lot of goalie prospects in their system. The guys that they did have uh left uh like Brandon Busussy, who I was going to cover, actually left for Florida. So, there’s that. I decided to go with a guy they recently just drafted, and I know him very well. You guys may know that I did work with the Reading Royals this past year, doing some like journalism work for me, uh covering the team, doing the games and stuff. And one of the guys that I noticed a lot was Luke Cavalin. Uh was a goalie for Tu Rivera this past year. Was 6 foot2, 196 pounds. He was undrafted but was just signed by Boston to a go to an NHL contract. He played 32 games this past year with Tu River. Had a 1910 and2 record with a 2.13 and a 0.929. He also had a 0.941 in the playoffs which helped Tuah River win the Kelly Cup. Again, whenever I’d see this guy come to Reading, you knew you were getting a good show. And talking to the people who were there in Reading, not even like Tu River themselves. The fact that he was in the ECHL this past year was absolutely criminal. He should have been up with Laval, but Laval had guys like Fowler and they also had a couple other guys in their system, too, that they just couldn’t fit. The goalie log jam in the AHL in minor league hockey is crazy sometimes. But for Cavalin, I’m really glad he’s getting a chance with Boston. I’m I’m really I’m really happy for him to be honest. As somebody who covered him in the ECHL, it’s it’s great to see. Again, this was the best guy in the ECL last year. The best goalie without a doubt and put up subpar numbers with Flint when he was in his draft year a couple years ago. So again, I think this guy really developed through the ranks in the ECHL, is going to get NHL games. He will get NHL games. I can confidently say that. There is no doubt in my mind that he’s going to play in the NHL next year. He may not get a lot, but he is going to get NHL games. And I just cannot see a world where he doesn’t to be just completely honest with you guys. So I’m in love with Cavalin. I wish nothing but the best for him and I’m very excited to see what he’s going to do with the Bruins. Now, we’re going to briefly go through some of the other prospects in the pool. You have Gorgi Murculof here, who may not even be considered a prospect anymore. He was undrafted, worked his way up through the system with Boston, has played very good in Providence. His numbers in the AHL, you can see him on screen here, are phenomenal. 30 goal seasons, 65 point years, just he’s been great in the AHL, just really hasn’t gotten a shot in the NHL. I would argue he’s probably around one of their I have him really low on my prospect board, but I just don’t know if that AHL game is going to translate to the NHL. That’s my biggest quill with him. Frasier men was most recently acquired in the Brandon Carlo trade. Played games up with Boston this past year. He is a top three prospect in my opinion. Uh just had really good numbers with Providence and Toronto last year, so there’s some upside there for him. He’s not as good as Toronto profiles him to be, but still going to be a good prospect. You have William Moore, was just drafted this past year uh in the second round. Put up great numbers in the US development program in point per game pace. Had some injuries in there, but played really well and I think that there’s plenty of excitement there for more and there’s going to be some time to develop, but there’s something good building there. Cooper Simpson as well uh played with the Tri City Storm was drafted in the third round. Uh not terrible numbers, but again, when you’re injured a lot of the time, you can’t really tell. Uh we’ll see how he’s going to do. And then last but not least, William Zellers, who was acquired in the Charlie Coyle trade as well, put up phenomenal numbers in the USHL, is going to go to college for a little bit. We’ll see how he’s going to do, but Zeers is looking like an underrated prospect there in the USHL and overall for the Boston Bruins. So, last but not least, let’s take a look at my prospect rankings here. James Hagens is the clear number one for me. Nobody really comes close. When I was talking to my Bruins friends, some people said that Lee Cell may not even be qualified as a prospect anymore. I disagree. You have to play enough NHL games to be a prospect or you have to be like 26 or something like that for me. Uh, Frasier Men, I think, is the third best. I think he’s a little bit overrated by some people, but he’s still very good. William Zeers, there’s not a lot to really know about him. We’ll have to see how he develops, but I really like him as well. More is more as well, I think, has good upside. Uh, LNO, you guys know my opinion on him, but I wasn’t too too low on him. Uh, Cavalin, we’ll see how he is. Honestly, those undrafted goalies, they can really, it really depends, but he could be something of a gem for Boston. Mercury, I’m a little lower on. I just don’t know if that NHL game is going to translate from the AHL. I just don’t know. Uh Liam Person, solid defensive prospect. And then Brett Harrison, who we did not mention, uh is a solid B minus, C++ level prospect there as well. But that is your Boston Bruins prospect pool. Let me know your thoughts in the comment section down below. Thank you all very much for watching. Next up will be the Buffalo Sabres. We’ll do that in the next couple of days or so. But thank you all for watching and I will see you guys in the next video.
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