The Bruins own 30th overall pick in this year’s NHL Entry Draft. There are many different opinions as to what they could do with this. Here are some of them:
- Corey Pronman, The Athletic: Jayden Struble, a defenseman from St. Sebastian’s, (a U.S. high school).
- Adam Kimelman, NHL.com: Samuel Poulin, a hard-working power forward, specifically left wing.
- Mike G. Morreale, NHL.com: Lassi Thomson, who has high-end skill and skating ability and is a dynamic right-hand shot defenseman.
- Guillaume Lepage, NHL.com: Robert Mastrosimone from Chicago of the USHL. He’s a smaller forward who can contribute on offense but is also an agitator, similar to Marchand.
- TSN’s mock draft: John Beecher, a center and left wing from the USNTDP.
All these players have the potential to be great, and the Bruins would be justified in picking any of them. However, I believe they should pick John Beecher. The Bruins system lacks a lot of quality center prospects, and the team needs to begin looking ahead to the years beyond Bergeron and Krejci. Yes, that is many years down the road, but late-round picks tend to take a few years to develop, and the Bruins look to be picking late for many more years. So, they would be smart to pick one now and begin the process. Beecher is a USNTDP product, and that alone says something about him. The program has produced many star NHL players, namely Patrick Kane, Auston Matthews, Charlie McAvoy, John Gibson, and Jack Eichel. He is a strong skater, earning one of the NHL Central Scouting’s highest grades in that category with a 9.0 out of 10.0, and has the potential to be a great penalty killer at the NHL-level. He is nearly a lock to play in the league eventually because he does not have to score to be an effective player, but also has the potential to be a good offensive player.
It is hard to tell exactly what his offensive ceiling is, as he had 43 points in 63 games this year, which aren’t eye-popping numbers, but when put in context are impressive. He never played above third-line center as he was playing on a team with the likes of Jack Hughes, Alex Turcotte, Trevor Zegras, and Matthew Boldy, all of whom he rarely played with, if ever. His power play time was also severely limited. So, his numbers would most likely have been much better if he had played more minutes, with better players, or on the power play, but there is also a slim chance that isn’t true. Therefore, it is difficult to project his offensive ceiling based on last year’s numbers. He has good size, listed at 6’3” and 209 pounds, and because of that has the potential to be a good, smart, physical player. Beecher is also a good-two way center, often finding himself in the right places defensively. All of these things make him unlikely to be a bust, and a good fit for the Bruins system which values hard-working, good skating players who are not afraid to play physical. His role this year was to support the incredible talent ahead of him on the roster, and it is promising that he was still able to impress the scouts the way he did in that role.
Hockey Addict 