Boston Bruins rookie camp is over, and it ended with the best outcome possible for the Black and Gold, headed into the main NHL camp later this week.
“Veteran” young players like Fraser Minten, Dans Locmelis and Riley Duran had strong weekends as the de facto leaders of a group of young players, and split games with a Sunday 6-4 win over the Devils' rookies and a Friday afternoon 2-1 loss to the Penguins prospects. Minten and Locmelis both finished with goals and multi-point efforts in the victory over the Devils, and Brett Harrison logged a couple of assists while also making his presence felt after being a bit of a forgotten guy with the P-Bruins last season.
Minty fresh 👌 pic.twitter.com/CdnfXEd4S8
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) September 14, 2025
"It was good to see a couple of guys that we were expecting to score…[they] scored. For some of our players that are going to push -- the Fraser Mintens, the Durans -- it was good to see the puck go in the net for them,” said Providence Bruins head coach Ryan Mougenel. “I hope it builds some confidence going into main camp.
"[Minten] is always in the right spots. Like I said to the guys the other day, ‘the fish don't just jump in the boat when you go fishing.’ It's great you guys put the work in, but now it's time to execute. He's in a real good frame of mind on what he's got to do in camp.”
The 22-year-old Minten is very much in the mix for the third line center spot in Boston after arriving via the Brandon Carlo trade to Toronto last spring, and brings a 200-foot game, faceoff abilities and penalty killing in addition to the kind of occasional offense that would be appropriate for third line duty. It has felt like the Bruins have been grooming Minten to be Charlie Coyle’s replacement on the NHL roster, and his performance last weekend did nothing to dissuade anybody of that notion.
Similarly, Locmelis has a bit of an X-factor offensively and could really push for NHL time quickly if he shows the same kind of offensive pop that he did during his AHL debut last spring, posting three goals and 12 points in six games for the P-Bruins after wrapping up his sophomore season at UMass.
The smart money says that Locmelis will start the season in Providence, and Minten could be in Boston based on their needs in the middle, but that all could change with a strong NHL camp performance after getting a little head start boost in the Prospects Challenge.
Generally speaking, it was a good weekend for a lot of the young B’s skaters as players like Harrison and Jackson Edward stepped up and played well after being lost in the shuffle during Providence’s playoff push at the end of last season in the AHL. New England Hockey Journal writer Mark Divver actually learned over the weekend that Edward had been dealing with family issues related to his mother’s health last season, and that situation has stabilized this year, allowing him to concentrate fully on hockey again.
“She’s doing good. She’s at home now. She’s got the care she needs. Everything is going well, managing it and pushing forward as best I can,” said Edward to Divver after the prospects team practiced on Saturday morning. “You can imagine (last season) was pretty hard, for sure. But stuff happens and you’ve just got to push through it the best you can. Stay positive and keep moving along.”
Edward potted a goal in the Prospects Challenge and also showed the abrasive, physical side that the B’s are looking for out of the former seventh-round pick. It should be a big season for him in Providence after suiting up for 31 games in Providence, and another seven games for the Maine Mariners in the ECHL last season.
“You got away with some things in junior. You can’t get away with them in pro. The things Jackson needs to work on is valuing different parts of it. He’s a physical D and we say it all the time: Things change in that there are limited opportunities to put licks on guys,” said Mougenel. “You don’t want to take that out of guys’ games, but to have success at the American League and NHL level, it’s about recognizing those opportunities when and where you can be physical.
“That’s what Jackson is figuring out.
“He’s put on some size, he’s put on some weight, he looks good. We’re expecting big things from him this year. Year One as a pro is always a huge learning curve and Year Two is where you put the rubber to the road.”
At the other end of the spectrum was a guy like 18-year-old Cooper Simpson, the 2025 third round pick out of Minnesota high school hockey that didn’t look out of place at all skating against guys that, in some instances, were four or five years older than him. Simpson will be headed to Youngstown in the USHL for the upcoming season and then will be playing for North Dakota after a season getting himself ready for big time college hockey.
“It’s a cool experience, first off. I’m a young player, everyone is bigger, faster, stronger. You’ve just got to think the game fast. You get the puck, you don’t have space. You’ve just got to be involved in the game and figure it out,” said Simpson to Divver. “I feel like the first period I settled in, tried to figure out what works and doesn’t work. Every guy is big so you’ve got to play physical, as well.”
Other standouts for the Black and Gold last weekend included massive D-man Loke Johansson, Czech goalie Simon Zajicek and Duran playing very well while wearing an “A” along with Minten and Harrison. Clearly no roster spots were won last weekend with a full NHL camp still not even started yet, but some of the younger guys got themselves off on the right foot with encouraging performances last weekend in Buffalo.