Boston Bruins
James Hagens and Dean Letourneau have combined to score 39 goals so far this season at Boston College.
The Boston Bruins didn’t take to the ice at TD Garden on Friday night.
But on Commonwealth Avenue, the next wave of potential Bruins fixtures clashed at Agganis Arena.
In total, seven different players drafted by the Bruins took part in the 301st meeting between Boston College and Boston University on Friday — with the Terriers defeating the No. 10/11 Eagles, 3-1.
Six of those prospects donned maroon and gold, with Boston’s top-two prospects in James Hagens and Dean Letoureanu both landing on the scoresheet.
Letourneau scored BC’s long goal of the evening, while Hagens jumpstarted the tic-tac-toe passing sequence that ended with Letourneau rifling the puck into twine from the slot.
It’s been par for the course for a duo who have spearheaded Boston’s resurgent farm system.
The 2025-26 Bruins are seemingly ahead of schedule when it comes to the Original Six franchise’s retool — with what was once thought of as an arduous, multi-year endeavor now potentially wrapping up after one year of misery.
The Bruins — now 13-2-3 since Dec. 31, 2025 — have already punched above their weight in Marco Sturm’s first year as head coach.
But the Bruins’ optimistic outlook in 2026 and beyond isn’t just rooted in this current team’s overachieving effort — nor is that sunny forecast just a direct correlation with the emergence of younger NHL players like Fraser Minten, Jonathan Aspirot, and Marat Khusnutdinov.
After years spent hemorrhaging draft capital in hopes of putting win-now rosters over the top, it was all but inevitable that Boston’s prospect pool was set to dry up. That sentiment seems to be changing, just as Boston seems to be ready to reassert itself as a playoff club.
Boston’s roster teardown last March marked the final nail in the coffin for a Bruins squad that plummeted near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. Their consolation prize was Hagens, taken seventh overall in the 2025 NHL Draft.
Once deemed as the top prospect in the ‘25 draft class who drew comparisons to Team USA Olympic hero Jack Hughes, Hagens saw his stock slip as a freshman at BC after still registering a point-per-game scoring pace with 37 points (11 goals, 26 assists) in 37 games.
This year, the sophomore forward has seen his scoring production take another step forward — albeit since getting shifted from center to wing. With his power-play helper on Letoureanu’s tally against the Terriers, Hagens is now up to 39 points in 29 games (20 goals, 19 assists) — including 26 points in his last 16 matchups.
It shouldn’t necessarily come as much of a surprise that an established talent like Hagens is shifting the sentiment of Boston’s burgeoning pipeline of talent. Hagens could don a black-and-gold sweater as soon as next month once BC’s season comes to a close.
Be it at center or wing, Hagens’ crisp edge work and playmaking capabilities paint the picture of a future top-six fixture with Boston.
But Letourneau’s emergence in his sophomore season has shifted plenty of the sentiment about just how deep Boston’s prospect pool might be.
A first-round pick by Boston secured in the Linus Ullmark trade in June 2024, Letourneau was always viewed as more of a project — given his 6-foot-7 frame, high ceiling as an offensive threat, and limited reps against elite competition entering the 2024 NHL Draft.
Those growing pains were evident during his freshman year at BC in 2024-25. Accelerated up to Hockey East competition a year ahead of schedule, Letourneau labored as a freshman, scoring zero goals and just three assists in 36 games.
This year, he has emerged as one of the top players in Hockey East — scoring 19 goals and 34 points over 31 games this season. Beyond utilizing his larger frame to wreak havoc in Grade-A ice, Letourneau’ willingness to utilize his sharp wrister more and more has allowed his offensive capabilities to shine with the Eagles.
“He knows where to find the soft ice and get himself into free spots to get looks and he has a good shot,” BC head coach Greg Brown said of Letourneau. “He’s been able to capitalize. A lot of the early ones were tips and rebounds closer to the net, but now he’s kind of finding that niche in that bumper role and being able to get to spots and [Andre] Gasseau and James have been able to find them.”
Even if Letourneau might be another year away from making the jump to the pro ranks, a 6-foot-7 forward with top-six upside could be a game-changer as part of Boston’s next wave of young talent.
Eagles captain Andre Gasseau continues to present strong value as a 2021 seventh-round pick by Boston, with the 6-foot-4 center now up to 21 points in 17 games this year.
Two-way pivot Will Moore — a 2025 second-round selection — has been steady as a freshman earning bottom-six reps for the Eagles (10 points in 28 games), while 2023 seventh-round pick Kristian Kostadinski will likely need four years at Chestnut Hill to marinate as a big-bodied, physical defenseman.
BC senior forward Oskar Jellvik stands as more of a wild-card. The Swede — taken in the fifth round of the 2021 NHL Draft — was once looking like a steal for Boston after posting 42 points as a sophomore. But injuries have derailed his career, with the poised forward limited to just four games this season.
The Terriers boast one Bruins prospect in 2024 fifth-round pick Jonathan Morello, who has chipped in with six goals and 12 points through 32 games as a freshman. He nearly tallied his seventh goal on Friday against BC, but it was waved off due to goaltender interference.
Beyond the Bruins’ prospect-heavy presence on Commonwealth Ave, Boston has had several other collegiate-level assets take major steps forward during the 2025-26 campaign.
Will Zellers — the shot-first winger acquired as part of the Charlie Coyle trade with Colorado last March — has tallied 17 goals and 27 points as a freshman at the University of North Dakota. Cornell junior Ryan Walsh (2023 sixth-round pick) is up to 26 points in 27 games.
Quinnipiac sophomore forward Chris Pelosi (2023 third-round pick) is up to 17 goals and 32 points this season with the Bobcats, while fellow QU skater Elliott Groenewold projects to be a steady, left-shot D at the NHL level — especially in the midst of a sophomore year where he’s logged heavy minutes, added 19 points from the blue line, and sported a plus-36 rate.
And with Boston in possession of four first-round picks in the next two seasons, the Bruins should have several opportunities that further bolster their pipeline in the coming years.
It’s a sizable shift in fortunes for the Bruins, who now have the means to both retain their assets and await an influx of affordable, intriguing talent — or potentially package some of those prospects and picks into proven NHL players in the coming year
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