The Boston Bruins have learned their lessons, sometimes the hard way, about player development and building an effective youth pipeline to the NHL.
It was eye-opening for Don Sweeney a couple of years ago to learn about the frank, outside opinions of the Bruins organization – and their perceived shortcomings -- when they conducted the global coaching search that ended up with the hiring of Marco Sturm a year ago.
Sometimes the hot B’s takes may have been off the mark, but clearly some also zeroed in on a series of fallow draft classes and top B’s prospects like Fabian Lysell and Georgii Mekulov that stalled out in the American Hockey League. This summer the Bruins effectively turned the page on players like Lysell and Mekulov who didn’t work out in Boston and have repositioned themselves to start partially building around talented young guys like James Hagens, Frederic Brunet, Matt Poitras and Mikey DiPietro that’s adding to a Boston core group that put together a 100-point playoff-worthy season last year.
Notably, a handful of young players cracked the NHL roster to start this season after suiting up for either Providence or Boston College at this time last season, and the Bruins intend to use them moving forward. Instead, veteran players like Henri Jokiharju, Alex Steeves and Jordan Harris were shipped off to Providence to make room for them, and Mikey Eyssimont might be headed there as well once Poitras (lower body) is removed from the injured list.
It all signifies a new era in Boston where they’ve put a renewed emphasis on drafting and developing players, and guys like Hagens, Dean Letourneau, Will Zellers and Elliotte Groenewold represent an expected influx of young talent over the next few years that’s going to arrive in waves. The first wave is here this season, and it will be up to them to make enough of an impact that optimism will keep growing for the future NHL players to follow in Boston’s system.
“We acknowledge that some of the younger players, as we hoped, would push our older players and established players and now, we will set our roster this [Monday] afternoon and be excited about the direction of our hockey club,” said Don Sweeney, during the Boston management press conference ahead of Tuesday night’s regular season opener against the New York Rangers. “As Cam [Neely] referenced, we want to maintain the competitiveness that we built and reestablished last year with our group overall.
“But we certainly have to have an eye towards improving the overall skill and speed and the attack mentality that is required to play in different environments throughout the 84-game schedule.”
While both Brunet and DiPietro are expected to sit out opening night against the Rangers, Hagens will be the first big impact from the youth movement this season. The 19-year-old is expected to start on the wing on a “kid line” with 24-year-old Marat Khusnutdinov and 22-year-old Fraser Minten, and those three players represent a major youthful infusion to established B’s veterans like newly minted captain David Pastrnak, hardnosed D-man Charlie McAvoy and other established leaders like Morgan Geekie, Nikita Zadorov and Vezina Trophy finalist Jeremy Swayman.
Both Sweeney and Neely talked a lot about adding speed and skill to the B's lineup this season, and adding JJ Peterka is certainly a step in both directions. But the No. 7 overall pick in the draft from a couple of years ago, Hagens, is the real X-Factor that could bring something entirely extra to the Black and Gold fold this season. It won't be easy as the Bruins look to keep pace with a number of Atlantic Division rivals that have clearly improved heading into this season, but Hagens is expected to play a significant role in helping them do that.
“Whether it's James [Hagens] or Freddie [Frederic Brunet], and I talk about Matty Poitras, Fraser’s [Minten] still young, [Marat] Khusnutdinov’s still young. So, we're excited about that band of players, mixing with our even more established guys to the internal growth that they're going to be capable of and pushing,” said Sweeney. “If they can rise up the lineup, that's only going to deepen our hockey club. James [Hagens] obviously carried over productivity and confidence that he had in the two prospect games.
“It wasn't productive in the same light [in preseason], obviously, but he had chances, looking to shoot, playing with puck possession and intent is going to be important now. The regular season will present challenges. It goes harder as you get along, so he'll have to continue to adapt to that.”
Certainly, Hagens is ready for the challenge, but to Sweeney’s point, it should be noted that