Boston Bruins
“I think there’s a lot of weight off his shoulders. He knows where his next team will be.”
CHESTNUT HILL — The Bruins won’t officially begin regular-season play until next week.
But fans wanting to catch a glimpse at the next wave of Bruins skaters were able to take stock of Boston’s prospect pipeline over at Chestnut Hill on Friday night.
There was no shortage of Bruins prospects on the ice in Friday’s season opener between No. 6 Boston College and No. 13 Quinnipiac — with seven different skaters drafted by Boston taking to the ice at Conte Forum.
The Eagles rolled out five different Bruins prospects — headlined by 2025 first-round pick (No. 7 overall) James Hagens.
Joining Hagens as Bruins property on BC’s roster were fellow pivots Will Moore (2025 second-round pick) and Dean Letourneau (2024 first-round pick) — as well as wingers Oskar Jellvik (2021 fifth-round pick) and Andre Gasseau (2021 seventh-round pick).
BC also has another Bruins draft pick in 6-foot-6 defenseman Kristian Kostadinski (2023 seventh-round pick), but he did not dress for Friday’s game.
The Bobcats also had two Bruins skaters atop their depth chart in center Chris Pelosi (2023 third-round pick) and defenseman Elliott Groenewold (2024 fourth-round pick).
“It was pretty cool seeing everyone out there — knowing everyone out there,” Pelosi said of battling against several Bruins prospects. “But at the end of the day — it’s our team versus their team, and we just put our heads down and kind of forgot who knows who.”
Plenty of eyes were on Hagens in his first collegiate hockey game as a Bruins prospect. But it was the Bobcats who dictated most of Friday’s game, leaving Chestnut Hill with a 4-3 win.
The Bobcats held a commanding 30-15 edge in shots on goal, while six different Bruins prospects recorded a point on the night.
“We weren’t tight enough against a team that is outstanding at playing a team game, playing together,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “Quinnipiac, for years, has been a team that doesn’t beat themselves. They play together. They play well. They play simple hockey.
“You have to be really on your game to play against them, or they’ll be able to exploit your mistakes. And they were able to get a few tonight.”
Here are some observations from Friday’s Bruins-heavy bout:
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It was a solid, albeit unspectacular, showing from Hagens in his season debut. The skating and edge work were on display as expected, but the Bobcats made a concerted effort to take away time and space for the talented pivot on Friday.
Hagens had a few slip-ups in the defensive zone when pressured, with the sophomore needing to continue to work on withstanding the physicality that will only ratchet up as he advances up the ranks of pro hockey.
Hagens did record one assist on the man advantage in the second period, feeding a puck from the high slot over to Ryan Conmy — who promptly snapped an offering past Quinnipiac’s Dylan Silverstein to make it a 3-2 game at the time.
Hagens finished without a shot on goal, with Brown noting that BC’s top line of Hagens, Teddy Stiga and Conmy were “trying to do a little too much”, especially near the start of the game.
Even with a quiet showing on Friday, Brown believes that Hagens should benefit from having less scrutiny put on him this season in regards to his spot in the NHL Draft.
“I think there’s a lot of weight off his shoulders,” Brown said. “He knows where his next team will be. He knows what organization [he’ll play for]. That stuff was — probably overly critical [with how] people were because they had such a magnifying glass on him for the draft.
“When you’re being talked about in the top-10 draft position, if you watch long enough, you can find mistakes with everybody. So I felt like he went through a lot of that. Now that’s all behind him, and he can really just focus on hockey. We know what he can do. He’s going to be a huge part of this team, drive the offense for us.”
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Andre Gasseau should be a player to watch on this Eagles team entering his senior season.
There’s a lot to like about how Gasseau’s skillset could translate to the pro ranks as a big-bodied winger (6-foot-4, 224 pounds) with pretty good wheels. He uses that size to his advantage by regularly winning puck battles down low and clearing space in Grade-A ice, with BC’s captain recording three assists on the night.
It remains to be seen if that offensive ceiling will carry past collegiate competition, but Gasseau does a lot of the little things right when it comes to winning board battles, screening netminders, and contributing to a fruitful offensive-zone sequence.
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For all of the focus on the Bruins prospects in Chestnut Hill this winter, Bruins fans should be keeping tabs on the duo playing for Quinnipiac — as there’s a lot to like about both Pelosi and Groenewold’s floors as pro-hockey talents.
Pelosi has seen his stock soar over the last year, recording 19 points (11 goals, eight assists) over his final 23 games as a freshman last season with the Bobcats.
The 6-foot-2 center has a nose for the net and a high motor, as evidenced by his first goal of the season — where he jammed away at a loose puck in the crease to give QU what ended up being the game-winning tally.
Pelosi should also ingratiate himself to Bruins fans as he continues to rise through the ranks, considering that he was routinely getting mixed up in post-whistle scraps on Friday night. If he continues to produce at a steady clip in college, Pelosi could eventually develop into a Swiss Army Knife on a third line in the pros.
“It’s just a natural maturation process for him,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said of Pelosi’s development. “He started out last year, he was good at the beginning of the year and he got better and just climbed as the season went on.
“And I thought he was great in February and March for us. And went out to summer, put on 16 pounds of muscle, and he’s big and strong now. And I thought he was one of our better players tonight.”
Groenewold — a 6-foot-4, left-shot D — isn’t as flashy as some of the other Bruins prospects in the team’s pipeline. But that no-frills, steady approach is also why he’s easy to project as a potential second or third-pairing blue liner at the next level if he continues to round out his game.
Earning plenty of matchups against the Hagens’ line, Groenewold made several shifts uncomfortable for BC’s top skaters due to his size, reach, and sturdy frame.
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All eyes will be on whether or not first-round pick Dean Letourneau can break through offensively after scoring zero goals over 36 games last season as a freshman.
But as the 6-foot-7 center continues to try and round out his overall game, it was encouraging to see him throw his weight around more against the Bobcats with a few heavy checks.
It was a similar sight to what we saw from Letourneau during Boston’s final scrimmage of development camp — when the intriguing center was getting involved and being assertive down low while winning puck battles.
“Dean had a big summer in the weight room,” Brown said. “Got a lot stronger and was able to take advantage of that sometimes. I think we’ll see the offense come from him as well. But if he’s not creating chances, and he’s still being a physical force, then he’s getting back in the game, so it’s great for him to add that to his repertoire.”
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It looks like the Eagles don’t plan on easing Will Moore into an elevated role this season, as the freshman anchored BC’s second line alongside a pair of other Bruins prospects in Gasseau and Jellvik. Moore recorded a secondary assist on Drew Fortescue’s third-period tally, and had several promising puck touches in tight areas of the ice, especially down low.
A lot will be riding on Hagens’ development this season, but a two-way center like Moore also has considerable upside on a team like the Bruins that values his skillset down the middle.
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