In Cooper Zech, Bruins might have found their latest playmaker in long line of undersized, overlooked defensemen

Cooper Zech has heard the comparison plenty of times already. 

A 5-foot-9, playmaking defenseman who hails from Michigan? Signed on with the Bruins as a college free agent?

Even with the multiple correlations between Zech and Torey Krug, the 20-year-old skater has never had the chance to meet the Bruins’ veteran blueliner,  despite growing up just 20 miles west of Krug’s hometown of Livonia. 

Zech does, however, have a bit of history with Krug’s father, Kyle. 

“He was coaching the Belle Tire (Under-16 AAA minor midget team) one year,” Zech said of Kyle Krug. “He actually cut me.” 

That news didn’t seem to hamper Zech all too much, as the left-shot D has only continued to torment opposing clubs since then, even with his underwhelming frame. 

Much like Krug, Zech uses his standing as an “undersized” presence on the blue line as an effective chip on his shoulder. And as one of the latest additions to an organization that has already thrived with smaller D-men like Krug and Matt Grzelcyk, Zech could very well stand as the next in line to make his presence felt on the Bruins’ D corps. 



“The big, 6-foot-2-plus guys get the first look every time,” Zech said Wednesday at the Bruins’ Development Camp. “And it’s just a little bit of adversity. I think it made me better. Having to prove myself over and over again.”

On paper, Zech is entering his first development camp with the Bruins with much less fanfare than one might expect from a player that dominated at the NCAA level last winter. 

Overshadowed by fellow prospects bolstered with high-draft status like Axel Andersson or Urho Vaakanainen, Zech signed a deal with the Providence Bruins back in March after just one season with Ferris State. 

On a rebuilding Bulldogs program, Zech was given heavy minutes and the keys to his club’s power-play unit — an opportunity that few teams likely would have handed to a freshman right out of the gate.

“(Other interested college programs) were saying — small minutes, power play,” Zech said of choosing his collegiate destination. “It didn’t seem like, to burn a year, not play much, didn’t know if a contract would be available the next year. So I decided I’d go get stronger for a year.”

Perhaps undrafted due to his stature, Zech nonetheless made the most of his one year down in the collegiate ranks — scoring eight goals and posting a team-high 28 points over 36 games with the Bulldogs. Zech became the first rookie to lead Ferris State in scoring in 31 years, while his 0.78 PPG led all freshmen defenseman across the D-I ranks. 



Going from 58 games in the BCHL in 2017 to just 36 contests in college allowed Zech to focus more on adding some bulk and increasing his off-ice reps, but when the time came to weigh his options for 2019 and beyond, Zech felt he was ready to move on to the pro ranks. 

“I had a couple of offers,” Zech said. “School really wasn’t for me. I just decided to take the other route. I wanted to revolve my life around hockey.”

While Zech is expected to spend a fair share of his 2019-20 season adjusting to a heavier game in the AHL, he didn’t look out of place during a stint in Providence following the conclusion of Ferris State’s season, recording four assists over 12 games while scoring a pair of goals over the P-Bruins’ four-game series against the Charlotte Checkers in the Calder Cup Playoffs. 

“I think he stepped in at Providence and quite frankly, surprised us all with where he was,” Bruins player development coordinator Jamie Langenbrunner said of Zech. “I saw him four times maybe in college … He was putting up good numbers on a team that struggles to score. His mobility and his ability to see the ice and it all translated very quickly in the American League."

A full year down in the AHL should be telling for an intriguing prospect like Zech, who was quick to praise the efforts of Providence bench boss Jay Leach when it came to letting Zech play to his strengths in his first taste of pro hockey. 

“He’s a player’s coach,” Zech said of Leach. “But he lets you do your thing and then makes adjustments from there. He doesn’t just fit you in as a piece of the puzzle. He lets you play your game and once you start doing that, he tells you what you need to work on and what to get better at. It’s an awesome way of coaching.”

Zech hasn’t hit a whole lot of road bumps so far in his blossoming career, especially as of late. Those seem destined to manifest at some point during a long winter down in Providence.

But based on what Zech has showcased so far in front of Langenbrunner and the rest of Boston’s top brass, it certainly isn’t out of the realm of possibility that the young blueliner could be making contributions up in the NHL level sooner than most would expect. 

The Bruins can certainly speak from experience when it comes to their smaller crop of blueliners. Overlook them at your own risk.

“I think the biggest surprise for us is how much courage that kid has,” Langenbrunner said. “He’s an undersized defenseman, but you wouldn’t know with the way he plays. He takes hits, he throws the body. Some similarities to Torey in that competitiveness of him. … He’s going to get every opportunity. He helped us a lot down there running the power play. He’s a good hockey player.”