8 takeaways from Bruins’ 2024 Development Camp  (2025)

Bruins

Players like Riley Duran, Oskar Jellvik, and Dean Letourneau all impressed during the four-day camp.

By Conor Ryan

July 5, 2024

The Bruins closed out their four-day Development Camp on Thursday, with Boston’s next wave of young talent concluding this latest on-ice session with a full-squad scrimmage.

While the true test for most of these young players will come in the fall during rookie camp and several leagues across North America and Europe, Development Camp offers a sneak peek at some of Boston’s most intriguing prospects.

Here’s what stood out during Thursday’s scrimmage and earlier drills throughout the week:

1. Dean Letourneau showcases potential

There weren’t necessarily any surprises with 2024 first-round pick Dean Letourneau this week.

The 6-foot-7 center’s frame stands out immediately — with his strong skating strides, impressive reach, and sharp wrist shot painting the picture of a legitimately top-six force cut from the same cloth as Tage Thompson.

“Hard not to notice him at his size,” former Bruins defenseman and current player development coordinator Adam McQuaid said of Letourneau. “His calmness in and around the net, good hands. Just a big frame, but when you look at him, he’s still such a young kid. … You probably just get more of an appreciation when you’re on the ice for how big he is, and how smooth he is with the puck.”

Letourneau’s game isn’t necessarily predicated on him landing welts against opposing skaters like a prototypical power forward. Rather, he uses his wide reach and skating to protect the puck, fire off shots from tight quarters, and drive to the net.

He’ll clearly need to add some more muscle as he came up short in a few battle drills against smaller (albeit more seasoned) prospects. He also was tripped up in a few skating drills, but it’s pretty evident that patience will need to be preached as Letourneau matures as a hockey player.

Getting stronger stood out as the priority for Letourneau, who will make the jump from the prep circuit to Boston College this fall.

It’s easy to see why the Bruins were enamored with Letourneau’s high ceiling when they selected him with the 25th pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. But Bruins fans expecting him to be a one-and-done with the Eagles need to let him develop on his own timeline.

Given how unique of a prospect he is, Letourneau should be given all of the time he needs to find his footing — especially given the potential rewards that Boston could reap if Letourneau lives up to the billing.

2. Oskar Jellvik might be Boston’s most slept-on prospect

Names like Matthew Poitras, Mason Lohrei, Fabian Lysell, and Georgii Merkulov are all familiar to Bruins fans assessing the franchise’s next crop of talent.

But it might be time to add Oskar Jellvik into that group as a prospect with legitimate middle-six potential.

The Swedish winger has seen his stock soar since making the jump over to North America and playing for Boston College. A fifth-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, Jellvik had a breakout sophomore campaign with the Eagles, scoring 42 points (13 goals, 29 assists) over 41 games in a top-six role.

The 5-foot-10 wing is not the most imposing figure, but he regularly popped throughout Dev Camp — playing a fast and slippery game while routinely putting himself in Grade-A ice. He scored the first goal of Thursday’s scrimmage by out-muscling Mike Mastrodomenico and knocking home a loose puck while driving to the net.

Jellvilk’s growth has not been lost on the rest of the Bruins’ development staff, including McQuaid. Even though Jellvik’s scoring surge received a lift from playing alongside BC star (and 2022 fifth overall pick) Cutter Gauthier, McQuaid believes that Jellvik will take another step forward in 2024-25 regardless of the talent around him.

“He may have had one of the best growth seasons of the group,” McQuaid said of Jellvik. “It was a big transition coming over the first year, smaller ice, little things like that. But I think his consistency was the main thing. Like, he played well on a nightly basis. … Gauthier is a really good player, but so is Oskar. I don’t doubt that he can replicate what he did this year coming in next year.”

3. Riley Duran well ahead of schedule

Woburn native and 2020 sixth-round pick Riley Duran also earned high marks during his latest Development Camp for his high motor and a heavy shot. There was rarely a time where Duran wasn’t moving his feet during Dev Camp, with his 6-foot-2 frame making him a wrecking ball on the forecheck during Thursday’s scrimmage.

Duran is looking to make a push for Boston’s roster during training camp, with his speed and physical style making him a viable bottom-six contributor at the NHL level.

Of course, Duran is facing an uphill climb when it comes to beating out NHLers like Johnny Beecher, Justin Brazeau, Mark Kastelic, Max Jones, and Riley Tufte for a regular role in Boston.

But Duran’s confidence is also reflected in his coach’s comments, with Providence Bruins bench boss Ryan Mougenel stressing that Duran has continued to impress the organization’s development staff since making the jump from Providence College to the AHL ranks in March.

“For me, to be transparent, I think he was a lot better than what I was expecting,” Mougenel said of Duran, who closed out last season with 11 games with the P-Bruins. “Not saying that I had him at a different standard.“

“But we were really surprised at how well his game had grown. And how confident he was in the American League. He was absolutely excellent for us. And for me, he’s probably a little bit ahead of where I probably think he would be at this time. So we’re excited about his growth and development — the person, his work ethic, being a great teammate.”

4. Slow and steady for Poitras

Matt Poitras’ participation in Boston’s 2024 Development Camp was somewhat of a surprise, given that the 20-year-old already cut his teeth with 35 games in the NHL ranks last season.

But with Boston’s most promising young forward now in the final stages of his recovery from major shoulder surgery, this week marked a promising step forward for Poitras, who continues to shake off some of the rust while getting ready for training camp in the fall.

Poitras, who has put on between eight to nine pounds of muscle so far this season, was as advertised during the first three days of camp, showcasing his shifty skating style and east-west approach with the puck on his stick during drills.

He did not participate in Thursday’s scrimmage, a move that doesn’t come as a surprise given the physical play involved.

“I think the pros and cons of him playing today, just decided to keep him off and he’s on the right track,” McQuaid said of Poitras. “There were no setbacks or anything like that. We knew coming in that we were going to kind of try and stay away from the contact, so he’s doing good.

“It was a great week for him. I know he enjoyed it gettingback out there with the guy and probably being around some guys closer to his age was nice for him.”

5. Lysell ready for the next step?

After headlining Boston’s development camps for the previous three summers, 21-year-old winger and 2021 first-round pick Fabian Lysell graduated out of the Bruins’ latest summer session this year.

But the dynamic forward was still a primary talking point of camp, especially with Boston currently expected to enter training camp with a vacancy in the team’s top-six unit.

And while Boston’s top development personnel have regularly preached the need for Lysell to incorporate more defensive accountability into his high-octane skillset (50 points in 56 games for Providence last season), Mougenel said that Lysell made major strides in rounding out his overall game last year.

Based on Mougenel’s comments, Lysell might be ready to push for NHL reps come the fall.

“Fab had huge steps this year,” Mougenel said. “Again, we forget how young Fabian is at times. We had him as a 19-year-old and the maturity that he’s shown in his game has been great to see … It’s been two years for Fabian where the light started to go on really early on this year that — you play well in your own end, it translates to offense. He’s such a special player.

“He’s a special kid and all these offensive-gifted players, they have some sort of deficiency, especially defensively and I think, his is really starting to come along. I think he’s gonna push.”

6. Plenty of heft on Boston’s roster

Jackson Edward might hold court as the most physical player in Boston’s current crop of prospects, but the 6-foot-2 defenseman’s profile is starting to become the standard within the organization.

For years now, the Bruins have crafted a strategy to replenish their farm system by targeting upside, high-motor forwards, and a whole lot of heft.

That formula was evident upon glancing at Boston’s Dev Camp roster.

Of the 35 players who took part in Boston’s four-day camp, only four (Poitras, Jellvik, Dans Locmelis, and Cole Spicer) were under 6 feet tall. The Bruins welcomed 11 defensemen to camp, with seven of those skaters measuring out at 6-foot-3 or taller.

Despite those imposing frames, McQuaid was impressed with the overall skating ability and conditioning of this latest camp roster.

“It was a great group,” McQuaid noted. “I was really, really happy. I knew that coming in. And I know the guys all fairly well, but just their commitment to try new things and getting to know one another — super respectful group of young men.

“So I was impressed with obviously — it was a big camp from a size standpoint, physically, and how well all of them moved. And also the execution. Like we had practice yesterday. And I’m joking around that it looked like they’re in midseason form.”

Big-bodied wingers like Andre Gasseau (6-foot-4, 2021 seventh-round pick) and Chris Pelosi (6-foot-1, 2023 third-round pick) closed in on skaters in a hurry during Thursday’s scrimmage, while 6-foot-5 defenseman Kristian Kostadinski (6-foot-5, 2023 seventh-round pick) made some major strides in his skating when compared to last summer.

Even if the Bruins may not necessarily be stocked with high-end, top-six talent up and down their farm system, the team’s abundance of beefy blueliners and energetic, physical wingers gives Boston plenty of young players whose skill sets should eventually cater to a useful role in the pro game.

7. The next jump?

Jellvik might be the Bruins prospect who took the largest stride forward outside of the pro game last season, but McQuaid believes another European-born forward will follow a similar trajectory in Hockey East this winter in UMass’ Dans Locmelis.

“He’s a guy that I can see potentially having that Jellvik-like jump from one year to the next,” McQuaid noted. “I think he’s gonna have a great season.”

A fourth-round selection in the 2022 NHL Draft, the 20-year-old Locmelis is another shifty scoring forward like Jellvik who finds soft areas of the ice and has an active stick that intercepted several pucks this week during competitive drills.

He had a solid start last season with the Minutemen, scoring seven goals and 14 points over 30 games, and also played 12 games with his native Latvia in international competition. After captaining Latvia at World Juniors (five points in five games), he also competed against much older competition during World Championships in May.

Even with some expected growing pains after making the move from Europe to North America, Locmelis has the ceiling of a cerebral, middle-six playmaker at the NHL level if he continues to grow his game at UMass.

“He’s an offensive guy,” Mougenel said of Locmelis. “I think coming over here was probably one of the best things for a lot of our European guys, especially to get acclimated to the college game. I think the one thing he does is he values the puck.

“His game is growing, he’s getting stronger. He’s an undersized guy. But he does a lot of good things inside. I think he enjoyed his year here. He definitely feels like he’s gotten better. And it’s pretty evident.”

8. Odds and ends

Along with Letourneau, Boston’s 2024 draft class all had solid showings during Development Camp. Fourth-round selection and Vermont native Elliott Groenewold might project as a steady, stay-at-home blueliner at the next level, but he picked the top corner on several three-on-three sessions at Warrior Ice Arena. Fifth-round pick Jonathan Morello will need to bulk up a bit, but the 6-foot-2 forward had no qualms driving to the net on Thursday, even if he was pushed wide against several stronger defensemen.

Jonathan Myrenberg might have one of the more promising floors among right-shot D in Boston’s system, but the 21-year-old skater isn’t heading to North America quite yet. Acquired from the Canucks in the deal that sent Jack Studnicka out west, Myrenberg ended last year playing against older competition in the SHL, Sweden’s top pro league. He’ll play overseas in Sweden once again in 2024-25, but Boston will need to sign him to entry-level deal before his draft rights expire on June 1, 2025.