The Bruins must look towards the future after their abysmal 2024-25 season, and this year's development camp is a promising start.
Boston Bruins fans were sad to see Charlie Coyle leave the team at the trade deadline. The hometown kid had a special place in Boston's heart, and he had given the team some good years of service since being a part of the team that went to the 2019 Stanley Cup Final. At the deadline, the Bruins traded Coyle and a fifth-round pick to the Colorado Avalanche for Casey Mittelstadt, Will Zellers, and a second-round pick. The Bruins will get their first look at Zellers at development camp, which starts on June 30.
The haul for Coyle is a steal when you look at the production he ended up having for the Avalanche. Mittelstadt had some inconsistent play for the Bruins down the stretch, but the second-round pick could come in handy, and Zellers has the potential to be a steal. While we haven't seen Zellers play at a higher level than the USHL, he was an elite scorer with 44 goals in 52 games this season.
The elite goal-scoring wasn't an anomoly, as he scored 57 goals in 54 games at Shattuck-St. Mary's in his draft year. It was good enough for the Avalanche to take him in the third-round. He also demonstrated elite goal-scoring against the best of the best at the Hlinka Gretzky Tournament in his draft year, with five goals in five games.
Will Zellers' future with the Bruins
Bruins fans will have a close eye on the University of North Dakota this season as Zellers moves on to play against some better competition. We saw that it could come with an adjustment, as last year's first-round pick Dean Letourneau struggled in his freshman season at Boston College.
If Zellers demonstrates that he can carry over his elite goalscoring to the NCAA, it'd be a great sign for his future. The Bruins are desperate for some more high-end scoring to surround David Pastrnak, and Zellers could be that player who comes out of nowhere and finds a spot in the Bruins' top-nine in the next 3-4 years.
We've seen the NCAA scorer to NHL blueprint before with players like Ryan Donato, and the Bruins would have no complaints if that's the player Zellers became. It'd be a great consolation prize after the trade deadline's teardown if they can turn Zellers into a player, along with Fraser Minten, the first-round pick in the Brandon Carlo deal, and the first-round pick in the Brad Marchand deal.
