There are several young players looking to elevate their prospect profile within the Boston Bruins organization during this 2024 Prospect Challenge this weekend in Buffalo. Some like Riley Duran and John Farinacci have already made a bit of a name for themselves during their collegiate careers and subsequent AHL body of work as well, and others are just at the beginning of their journeys to establish a body of work at the pro hockey level.
One of those players is Brett Harrison, a 20-year-old former third-round pick who had pretty modest numbers last season at the AHL level with five goals and 14 points in 47 games after some solid junior seasons at the OHL level. The 6-foot-3, 184-pounder has definitely lagged behind guys like Matt Poitras and Fabian Lysell in the prospect department, but has showed off a solid, dangerous shot and pretty good size during his development camp appearances in seasons past.
Harrison is exactly the kind of player that really needed a noteworthy performance at rookie camp this weekend, and he’s putting one of those together. Harrison has two goals in as many days and teamed with Duran on a score in Friday afternoon’s loss to Pittsburgh when Duran bull-rushed it to the net and Harrison popped in the loose change showing some grittiness around the front of the net.
“I really liked a lot of the guys that were in Providence last year,” said P-Bruins head coach Ryan Mougenel to Mark Divver, mentioning Farinacci, Harrison and Duran as players that stood out in the first rookie camp game.
Harrison also showed off a slick backhanded feed to Farinacci in the loss to the Pittsburgh prospects as its been mostly the P-Bruins contingent of forwards that have provided the offense for the Bruins thus far during rookie camp.
Brett Harrison with a nice feed to John Farinacci, who finds the back of the net.
— Jamie Gatlin (@JamieGatlin17) September 13, 2024
pic.twitter.com/OYKeHid5nK
"(Harrison has gotten) a lot stronger; he's going to continue getting stronger," said Bruins player development coordinator Adam McQuaid when asked about Harrison back during development camp in July. "He's been working on his skating, that's coming (along). So, we're happy with where he's at, He's getting really dialed in this year on the areas that he needs to improve on."
It seems like Harrison is showing off the product of all his work during rookie camp this weekend, and that bodes well for the youngster raising his name up in the requisite prospect rankings if he can translate that into a productive breakout season at the AHL level. He’s still got a ways to go to break into the Lysell/Georgii Merkulov level of pushing for NHL time, but Harrison is showing the kind of encouraging play to get beyond a nice young hockey player with a pretty good shot that needed to develop his game to become more of a legit NHL prospect.
ONE-TIMERS
*Mum is apparently the word when it comes to the Jeremy Swayman negotiations at this point after both Jim Montgomery and captain Brad Marchand pretty much sidestepped the subject during the Boston Bruins Foundation Golf Tournament earlier this week.
“Obviously it’s a big topic of conversation with the fans and the media. This is part of the business and we’re all looking forward to him being part of the group, but this is out of our hands,” said Marchand. “We don’t get involved in any of that. It’ll be great when everything gets done.”
*Marchand said he may not be ready to take the ice when the Bruins resume training camp on the ice on Thursday at Warrior Ice Arena, but he’s still very optimistic that his 36-year-old body will be ready to go on opening night next month.
The surgeries for the sports hernia and the groin procedure aren’t really the issues as he’s begun skating with the group, but it’s more about building up strength in his left arm after repairing a torn ligament, and then testing it with contact in practice. Only then will he be close to a “go” for game action at the NHL level, so that makes one wonder if he’ll even get in any preseason tune-ups before the real thing happens in the regular season.
"I would be very surprised if I wasn't ready to go for Opening night. I mean, I can't until I get into a battle situation where I can really test it. I don't know, but with, with how it's progressing, I should be fine for the season,” said Brad Marchand. “I think the concern coming back was my arm and kind of how long that would take, but I'm right there. I'm shooting and passing, and I got to skate with the guys today for the first time. So, yeah, it's been really good so far. I'm still going to have a little bit of time to have to catch up. Condition wise. It takes a little bit longer to come back, but all in all, I'm happy with where I'm at."
*Bruins GM Don Sweeney told FOH (Friend of Haggs) Mark Divver that it’s “highly unlikely” the B’s will be bringing in any other veteran players to training camp on tryout agreements, but that will be a little dependent on their overall health after this weekend’s rookie camp ahead of NHL camp next week.
“Highly unlikely, but we’re going to regroup after the weekend and see where our health is overall and make a decision then,” said Sweeney to Divver.
Nothing new today from Don Sweeney on Jeremy Swayman contract
— Mark Divver (@MarkDivver) September 14, 2024
Asked him if there’d be any more PTOs before NHL camp starts. His answer: “Highly unlikely, but we’re going to regroup after the weekend and see where our health is overall and make a decision then”
*Congrats to Ryan Johnston on being named the radio voice of the Boston Bruins as the new play-by-play guy with Bob Beers on 98.5 The Sports Hub. Johnston has paid his dues for over 20 years including stints as a play-by-play man at the AHL level and has filled in for both Dave Goucher and Jack Edwards in the past while acquitting himself extremely well in all instances. It’s great to see somebody like Johnston hang in there waiting for his dream job to happen and it absolutely has as he fills the vacancy left by Judd Sirott moving to the television play-by-play booth at NESN.