Finally granted a clean slate, B’s prospect Johnny Beecher is eyeing a major bounce-back season

Fair to say, it’s not a stretch of the imagination to proclaim that just EVERYONE had a miserable 2020. 

Johnny Beecher can especially attest to such sentiment — with the B’s 2019 first-round pick regularly rolling with the punches during a season in which everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong.

Beyond just the challenges that COVID presented Michigan hockey and various other teams across the globe in terms of postponements, quarantine protocols and other snafus, Beecher’s sophomore campaign at Ann Arbor hit the snag before a compressed regular season could even get off the ground — with a freak incident in practice leading to a lingering shoulder injury.

“We were just doing a battle drill in practice and it was just kind of a freak accident, my arm got stuck on one of the guys and he kind of pulled one way, I pulled the other and my shoulder just subluxed,” Beecher said Monday via Zoom. “So it was just kind of a freak accident and just kind of happens with this sport. So I just kind of played throughout the year with it and dealt with it as it came.”

Despite that shoulder ailment, then 19-year-old pivot still seemed poised to join Team USA at the 2020-21 World Juniors for the second consecutive year — but was sent home from camp and was ruled out due to a positive COVID-19 test. 

Even though the Elmira, New York native, eventually rejoined his collegiate teammates for the home stretch of the NCAA slate, that shoulder injury eventually forced him to go under the knife in February — with an extensive labral repair ending his sophomore year after just 16 games.

Given how the last 12 months have transpired, Beecher is certainly more than happy to wipe the slate clean and start anew in 2021-22 — starting with an appearance at Boston’s Development Camp this week.

At this point in his recovery, Beecher acknowledged that he’s only skated about five or six times leading into Dev Camp, with the 6-foot-3, 209-pound forward donning a red, non-contact sweater during Day 1 of activities over at Warrior Ice Arena. 

Still, some of the hallmarks of Beecher’s game — namely that explosive acceleration — are still intact, even if he’s still obviously shaking off plenty of rust. 

Even with that massive vacancy down the middle in Boston’s lineup, a realistic path up to the NHL ranks isn’t expected to be carved out overnight for Beecher. Given both his lingering injury last season, the correlating drop in production (eight goals, eight assists over those 16 games) and the long layoff this summer, Beecher isn’t quite ready to make the jump up from the collegiate ranks — opting instead to return to Michigan and stick with what should be a wagon of a Wolverines squad. 

“I mean, our biggest thought with that was just kind of  — if we did (the surgery) when we did, I'd be back to 100% mid August,” Beecher said of the decision to remain in college for another year. “So that's basically right at the time that we get back to school. And I wanted to hit the ground running as soon as we got on campus. And I wanted to have a couple months there to kind of get re-acclimated to the contact and just get ready for the season.”

Of course, another season over in Ann Arbor would be awfully appealing to Beecher even if he was poised to move on up to the pros — considering the center is expected to serve as a veteran leader on a roster that could bring back Owen Power, Matty Beniers and Kent Johnson — the first, second and fifth overall selections in the 2021 NHL Draft. Oh, and incoming freshman Luke Hughes was the fourth overall pick in the same draft. Sheesh.

He may not be the featured offensive conduit in the Wolverines’ lineup, but Beecher still believes he has much more to give — and plenty to learn — before potentially factoring into Boston’s plans of an in-house replacement down the middle of the B’s roster.

"It's an exciting year coming up, for sure," Beecher said. "We have so much skill on the front end, and then got a lot of depth with our D. So I'm really looking forward to it. I'm coming back as a junior. I don't know how it's happened. 

“But the time is flying by, and I want to be a huge leader on this team — especially for the younger guys that are just getting on campus, and trying to get their footing in there. As my role on the team, I think it'll just kind of play out throughout the year, hopefully be a shutdown role, playing top minutes, PK, PP, and just do whatever I can help the team win.”

Gauging Beecher's ceiling?

Of course, even if Beecher is poised for a bounce-back campaign in college with a clean bill of health and plenty of talent surrounding him, it remains to be seen what exactly a true "bounce-back" is for Beecher — given that we still don't have a clear picture of what the youngster's ceiling is and how he projects at the next level. 

When the Bruins selected him in the first round back in 2019, Beecher's offensive totals (43 points in 63 games with the U.S. NTDP U-18 team) may not have correlated with the usual production displayed by first rounders — but the argument could be made that Beecher was simply buried further down the lineup on a loaded U.S. U-18 squad that also features names like Jack Hughes, Cole Caufield, Trevor Zegras, Matt Boldy, Alex Turcotte, Cam York and others. 

But so far, Beecher's offensive totals in the NCAA ranks might have tempered expectations about his ideal role on a NHL club — racking up 24 points over 47 games at Michigan. Still, Boston does believe that Beecher still has untapped potential in the offensive zone, while the more tangible aspects of his profile when it comes to his speed, frame and physical play should give him an easy floor to map out when it comes to viability as an NHLer. 

So what exactly could Beecher be in the coming years? A two-way, second-line pivot? An effective middle-six stalwart? An elite fourth liner? As of right now, Bruins Director of Player Development Jamie Langenbrunner isn't going to pigeonhole Beecher into one set role. Because as once pesky fourth liners like Brad Marchand can show us, there's no set timeline when it comes to a player's offensive game rounding into form. 

"I think time will tell with him — his skating is obviously high-end," Langenbrunner said. "I mean, we were actually laughing about it out there today, (skating and skills coach Kim Brandvold) and I, that it almost looks like he's not skating at times. But when you're standing there, he actually is going really, really fast, because it's so effortless. So I think for him, whether he's going to end up as a second-line guy, or a third-line guy, or fourth-line guy will depend on how quickly he gets those details in, how his consistency is there night in and night out that's going to make a coach happy and give him opportunity. 

"His skating and his size are always going to be there. And he's learning how to do those pro habits and we're going to continue to work with him. It's gonna take a little bit of time and good on Johnny on how he's bought into that. If I knew the answer to your question — it would make life a lot easier. But we're going to continue to work with him and get him to the highest point he can and to make him as good a pro as as he can be."

Familiar face at Warrior 

The next wave of Bruins talent might been the primary focus of Development Camp, but a few familiar faces from years past did manage to steal a couple of headlines on Monday. While the presence of Chris Kelly on the Warrior ice was far from a surprise given his current role as Bruins Player Development Coordinator — he was joined by his former teammate and fellow 2011 Stanley Cup champion in Adam McQuaid. 

McQuaid, who retired back in January 2021, does not have a formal role within the Bruins' organization, but Boston could change that in short order if the organization believes that the former defenseman has a future in coaching / management. 

"I think Adam's been around a little bit last year, and is continuing to try to figure out what makes sense for for Adam," Langenbrunner said of McQuaid's future with the franchise. "And we're lucky enough to have him available for this week and to come down and get a chance to be around some of our guys. And we'll see where it goes both for Adam and for us. I think he'd be a welcome addition to to any role. He has a lot of experience in a lot of different areas. And he's a great human being, to boot. "So it's something I'm sure Sweens and the rest of the group is looking at and where everything shuffles as coaching positions get filled and whatnot."

Held out 

Even though four of the Bruins' seven selections from the 2021 NHL Draft are present at Dev Camp in Andre Gasseau, Brett Harrison, Ty Gallagher and Ryan Mast — the B's three Swedish picks in Fabian Lysell, Oskar Jellvik and Philip Svedeback will not participate in the week-long camp due to COVID protocols. 

"Protocols for these camps were vaccination protocols because of the need for quarantine and separation," Langenbrunner said "The three Swedes had not yet been vaccinated so that's why they were unable to attend. I was actually in Plymouth, [Michigan] for the World Junior [Summer Showcase] the last few days and did spend some time with Fabian. He definitely wanted to come, he just wasn't able to with the rules in place."