10 players Bruins could target with 25th overall pick

Thanks to the Linus Ullmark trade, the Bruins now have a first-round pick. Remember those? They’re the ones made on the first night of the draft instead of Day 2. The Bruins haven’t had one the last two years. They’ve only had two in the last six. They weren’t scheduled to have one this year until they acquired the 25th overall pick Monday night.

Of course, Boston general manager Don Sweeney could turn around and trade away the pick. The Bruins are searching for offensive upgrades. Those could come in free agency, or Sweeney could find a trade that makes sense and include the 25th pick as a key piece in the deal.

Keeping the pick would also be valuable, though. The Bruins could desperately use an injection of high-end talent into their prospect pipeline. Sure, a higher pick would, in theory, be even better, but a late first could still land the Bruins a very good prospect if they hit.

Finding a star in the mid-20s may not be likely, based on history, but there are impact NHLers to be found there. And, occasionally, a star – the Bruins themselves drafted David Pastrnak 25th overall 10 years ago this week.

So, who might the Bruins take at 25 on Friday night if they keep the pick? Everyone’s first instinct is naturally going to be “a center” given Boston’s clear need at the position. Well, the good news is that there actually are several interesting centers who could be available in that range, as well as some defensemen and wings who could be good value.

Here are 10 potential targets. And for more draft coverage, listen to the latest episode of The Skate Podcast above, with guest draft expert Chris Peters of FloHockey.

Michael Hage, C, Chicago (USHL)

Hage has the wheels and hands to make plays in high gear and the offensive skill to be both a finisher and playmaker. He started slow this past season after missing most of 2022-23 with a shoulder injury, but turned it on from December on, posting 61 points in his final 38 games to finish fourth in the USHL in scoring with 75 points (33g, 42a) in 54 games for the season. Hage, who is listed at 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, is heading to the University of Michigan this fall. He’s 20th in Elite Prospects’ consolidated ranking (the highest player on this list, as that’s what I used as a cutoff), so there’s a good chance he’s off the board before 25, but some experts do have him going a little later than that.

Sacha Boisvert, C, Muskegon (USHL)

Boisvert (pronounced bwah-vair) is also coming off a productive USHL season, ranking fifth in goals (36) and 11th in points (68) in 61 games. He’s a two-way, goal-scoring center with high hockey IQ, good size (6-foot-2) and the physicality to be a power forward type if and when he bulks up more (he’s currently just 176 pounds). The Quebec native and Mount St. Charles (Rhode Island) product is heading to the University of North Dakota in the fall.

Dean Letourneau, C, St. Andrew’s College (Prep)

Letourneau, who is heading to Boston College in the fall, is one of the most fascinating players in the late-first/early-second range. Why? Because he’s 6-foot-7, and you just don’t see many centers that size. He’s also coming straight from Canadian prep school, which isn’t a usual draft-year path for a player projected to go this high. He’s raw and will require patience, with multiple years on Chestnut Hill expected, but the combination of size, skating, offensive skill and physicality is tempting. The hope would be that he follows a similar trajectory as fellow big Tage Thompson, who broke out with a 38-goal NHL season in 2021-22, five years after being drafted 26th overall. But as Corey Pronman of The Athletic put it , “He could be Tage Thompson, but he could be Joe Colborne or Riley Tufte.”

Cole Beaudoin, C, Barrie (OHL)

Beaudoin is one of the strongest, most physical forwards in the draft. Multiple scouting reports that I read describe him as a “nightmare” for opponents. He has a non-stop motor and wreaks havoc on the forecheck and at the net-front. He’s also 6-foot-2, 209 pounds, and has some playmaking skill and a good shot. His skating needs work and his skills are not elite. It’s possible, even probable, that he tops out as a bottom-six forward, but he plays a style every team is always looking for. This would be more of a “winning player” swing than a “high upside” swing.

Jett Luchanko, C/W, Guelph (OHL)

Luchanko and Beaudoin were Canada’s top two centers on their gold medal team at the U18 World Championship in Finland in May. I love this description of them from Dobber Prospects’ Hadi Kalakeche, who called them “Mario and Wario.” Luchanko is the more polished, skilled, well-rounded and quicker player, but he’s also smaller (5-foot-11, 180 pounds), less physical and more of a pass-first playmaker, posting 20 goals and 54 assists in 68 games for Guelph. Wait, a smaller, pass-first center from Guelph? Yeah, there are some similarities to his former teammate and current Bruin Matt Poitras – and Luchanko had a more productive draft year after taking over as Guelph’s No. 1 center when Poitras made the Bruins. It worked out pretty well for Boston two years ago; would they double down on Guelph centers?

Stian Solberg, LHD, Valerenga (Norway)

Big, mobile, physical. The three keywords every team is looking for when building their blue line. Solberg isn’t huge – 6-foot-2, 200 pounds – but he is a good skater, and he might be the most physical player and hardest hitter in the draft. Solberg is a bit of a wild card given that he was playing in Norway – a country that isn’t exactly known for hockey development – but he finished the season with a great showing for Norway’s national team at the IIHF World Championship, where he played big minutes against NHLers. His stock skyrocketed as a result and he now appears to be a clear first-rounder, with some rankings even moving him into the teens. Elite Prospects’ consolidated ranking still has him 26th, though, so there’s definitely a chance he’ll be available when the Bruins are on the clock.

Charlie Elick, RHD, Brandon (WHL)

Big, mobile, physical. Elick is 6-foot-3, 194 pounds, a great skater, and, like Solberg, one of the most physical defensemen in the draft. He is a shutdown, defense-first player. What will keep him from going any higher than the 20s is his offensive game, which will need to improve if he’s going to develop into a 200-foot player. Elick has a promising foundation to build on, though, and the Bruins’ recent drafts suggest a shift away from small, offensive defensemen and towards blue-liners more in the Solberg/Elick mold.

E.J. Emery, RHD, U.S. Under-18 Team

Big, mobile… kind of physical, but could probably do more there as he bulks up. Emery is 6-foot-3, 185 pounds, a very good skater, athletic, and a smart, effective defender. He can start breakouts with his skating and first pass, but like Elick, there’s just not enough there offensively right now to push him any higher than the 20s. He had zero goals in 61 games this season. Emery is heading to the University of North Dakota in the fall – a program that knows how to develop defensemen into NHLers.

Yegor Surin, C/W, Loko Yaroslavl (MHL/Russia)

The Bruins haven’t drafted a player out of Russia since Roman Bychkov in 2019. They haven’t drafted a Russian in the first two rounds since Alex Khokhlachev in 2011 – and he played a junior year in Canada before the draft. Surin would seem an unlikely choice given that history, but he’s the kind of player the Bruins could be drawn to. He’s 6-foot-1, physical, never stops moving, and can play all three forward positions. According to Peters , his 52 points (22g, 30a) in 42 games made for the sixth-most productive season in terms of points per game by an under-18 player in the history of the MHL (Russia’s top junior league). He then added 23 points in 19 playoff games, nine more than any of his teammates.

Nikita Artamonov, LW/RW, Torpedo (KHL/Russia)

Artamonov played a level up from Surin in the KHL, Russia’s pro league. There he had one of the most productive seasons ever for a draft-eligible player, posting 23 points (7g, 16a) in 54 games. He’s under 6-feet (5-foot-11), but he’s a creative offensive player, especially as a passer, and is considered a hard worker all over the ice who consistently makes good decisions with and without the puck. NHLe, a formula that uses a prospect’s development path and production to project their likelihood of making the NHL and of becoming a star, actually has Artamonov as a top-five prospect in the draft, with a 99% chance of becoming an NHLer (which they define as 200-plus games with a positive WAR) and an 85% chance of becoming a star (top 18.5% of WAR per 82 games). With expert rankings generally having him more in the 20s, there's a chance for Artamonov to be a major steal if the math wins out. As we already established, the Bruins drafting a Russian at 25 seems unlikely, but it would be foolish to not give Artamonov serious consideration if he’s still on the board.