By: Chris Nosek
Andre Gasseau
Grade: A
It was another great season for the 2021 7th-round selection at Boston College. His scoring stayed strong and he held pace with the teams biggest names; Ryan Leonard, Teddy Stiga, and Gabe Perreault. No official word seems to have come down, but it looks like Gasseau will return to BC for his senior season. This won’t be a bad thing for him, but his development is going very well overall.
Beckett Hendrickson
Grade: B
Hendrickson had a great first season at the University of Minnesota. He spent a lot of time lower in the lineup, but still showed an ability to create offense. Next season will tell us a lot more about how he could truly project to the NHL, but this was a solid start to his NCAA career. You’d like to see a little more scoring from him over the course of the season, so we’ll have to see if he takes that next step in his second collegiate season.
Casper Nassen
Grade: B+
One of the biggest things that stuck out from Nassen this season was his relentless compete. The team went a miserable 3-28-3 over the season, but Nassen competed the whole season and put up 10 points over the 34 games. Another first year player in the NCAA, he had a great start to his college career, but we’ll have to see how he does next season and how the team might be able to improve.
Christopher Pelosi
Grade: A
Pelosi wasn’t overwhelmed by the jump from the USHL to NCAA, and stood out in his first season at Quinnipiac. He even won the Rookie of the Year from his teammates. At only 20-years-old, his second season in the NCAA will be a lot of fun to watch as he put up 24 points over 38 games this season.
Cole Spicer
Grade: A+
Spicer has always shown a lot of promise, but his path to try to make the NHL has been one to watch. He struggled for two seasons in the NCAA, so this year he went back to the USHL and played for the Dubuque Fighting Saints. He was just shy of a point-per-game player, but most importantly he got himself into the University of Arizona for next season. Hopefully, this season was truly the chnace he needed away from the NCAA so he could fully reset. It looked like it was when it came to his on-ice game.
Dean Letourneau
Grade: Incomplete
This grade will confuse many as his scoring line of 3 assits over 36 games has made many start to question this draft selection. He was supposed to spend this entire season in the USHL, but made the jump from Canadian High School Hockey directly to the NCAA. He was given less than 10 minutes of ice time per night and no time on special teams. This season was all about learning. Next year we’ll see just how much it paid off having him skip the USHL.
Elliott Groenewold
Grade: A
Another first year stand-out at Quinnipiac, Groenewold played over 20 minutes per night and didn’t show any signs he didn’t belong. He was mature defensively and made great decisions quickly. An 18-year-old for most of the season, the 2024 4th round draft pick showed he could be one of the biggest steals of the draft.
Jake Schmaltz
Grade: B+
The 7th-round selection completed his NCAA with the University of North Dakota with another strong season. He’s not an constant scoring threat, but his defensive game showed through during his 4 game sample size in Providence. His projection as a bottom-6 forward would be much worse if he was a much higher draft pick, but his game looks like he could ready for the NHL after just a year or two in Providence.
Jonathan Morello
Grade: B+
Morello had a solid first year in the USHL with the Dubuque Fighting Saints as he posted 28 points over 59 games. He scored at crutial times, and was constantly helping to generate offense or finding himself in adventagious positioning. He will be heading off to the NCAA next season and playing for Boston University. A strong one-and-done season in the USHL, but we’ll have to see how quickly his game will translate to the NCAA.
Jonathan Myrenberg
Grade: Incomplete
The 22-year-old Swedish defender who came over from Vancouver as part of the exchange for Jack Studnicka came into this season injured. He only played 18 games and never registed a point during his return. Once he hit the ice he looked labored and like he lost a step, but by that time Linkoping was barely avoiding relegation from the SHL. Despite this, the Bruins brought him over to look at him in Providence in person, but seem to have decided not to offer him a contract. Next season, which looks like will be back in Sweden, will show whether the setbacks were phsyical, mental, or both.
Kristian Kostadinski
Grade: B
The 6’6″ defenseman was a 7th round pick back in 2023 with a massive knock against his ability to skate. Over the past couple of seasons he has made improvements to his skating abilities. He’s never going to skate like Fabian Lysell, but this year showed that he just might be able to become a bottom pairing NHL defender. He’s committed to BC for next season, seeing how he adjusts will be critical, but this season with Dubuque was a solid year to build on for him.
Mason Langenbrunner
Grade: B
For some reason Langenbrunner started off the season with very little ice time overall and he struggled mightily. Then seemingly out of nowhere, his ice time returned and he was back to being a top defenseman. I almost want to give him an incomplete, but we did learn that when he gets the ice time, his game should be just fine. Until we know why his playing time was cut early in the season, we have to operate under the assumption it was a decision by the coach since we haven’t heard anything about the player causing a disruption of any kind.
Oskar Jellvik
Grade: B
This season was a rough one for Jellvik as he only managed to get into 23 games. He spent most of the season injured, but when he did play for BC, he played well. He’ll likely return next season for his last NCAA season, and be the team Captain, as he should.
Philip Svedeback
Grade: C
Overall it was a rough season for Svedeback. His numbers don’t look too bad with a 2.42 goals-against-average and a .911 save percentage, but if you watch his play there were significant steps back for the Providence College goaltender. He forfeited a lot of weak goals and struggled with starting multple games in a row. He really needs to step up next season, because the goaltending depth in the Bruins organization is extremely weak.
Roman Bychkov
Grade: C
The Russian defender had another rough season. He managed to get 22 games with Spartak Moskva of the KHL, but couldn’t stick there the full season. He also played 12 games for their VHL affiliate. He’s had a tough time sticking with a team over in Russia and didn’t do anything this season to stand out this season that would push his career forward with the Bruins. If he can have a strong defensive showing then maybe he’ll work toward the NHL, but this year wasn’t great for that.
Ryan Walsh
Grade: B
Walsh had a great second season at Cornell University. He works hard and finds the gritty areas from which he is able to consistently score. He led Cornell in scoring in just his second NCAA season. It was a great season to build on for the 6th-round draft pick and we’ll look to see even more from him next season.
*William Zellers
Grade: A
*Zellers was a key part of the return from the Colorado Avalanche when the Bruins sent them Charlie Coyle. He finished 3rd in the USHL in points while finishing 1st in goals finishing with 11 more than Aidan Park who was 2nd. He is committed to the University of North Dakota for next season, but most importantly his game was great. He showed to be a solid skaters, puck handler, passer, and shooter. Fans should be excited to see him enter the NCAA.
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