NHL Notebook: Bruins Taking Good Kind of Gamble in Letourneau

“It’s awesome,” said Letourneau to reporters at the Sphere in Vegas after getting drafted. “It was an honor to hear my name called. I got lucky to be at a great spot like Boston so I’m really excited. I know [the Bruins] like to win and that’s a big thing for me too. I wanted to go to a team that likes to win, and I know that Boston has a history of winning. So I’m really excited to be a part of that.”

The 18-year-old Letourneau played high school prep hockey in Canada for St. Andrew’s College along with a couple of games for the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede and dominated as an oversized center that boasts a good skating and skill set for a player his size.

Letourneau led Canada’s U-18 AAA Prep League in scoring with 127 points and is slated to play for Boston College next season, where the B’s will be able to keep a close eye on their new prized prospect.

But there will be questions about the quality of competition and just how raw Letourneau is as an 18-year-old that in a best-case scenario will turn into a Tage Thompson-type player, or perhaps more of a worst-case situation could develop into a Brian Boyle-type player as a massive center with some offensive upside. Still, they drafted a player with a huge potential ceiling and a wealth of offensive talent, which is exactly what you should be shooting for in a late first-round pick in the NHL Draft.

“What obviously stood out is the frame of the player and his skill set, to tell you the truth,” said Don Sweeney. “It’s not so much the positional side of things, but he moves very well at that size, he’s got very, very good hands and he’s got an elite shot. It will be a big jump for him to go to Boston College next year, but the opportunity is right there for him with [Will] Smith leaving [the Eagles].

“We think that’s going to be a great opportunity for Dean to help develop his game and continue to grow. [As a player] you know you have to up your ante in terms of competitiveness and you just can’t just get by on your size and skill as he’s probably been able to do for periods of time at that level. He’s going to face much more depth in terms of lineups and quality of competition and that’s going to be the adjustment.”

It all speaks to a bit of a dice roll for the Bruins with the Letourneau pick that’s probably not going to pay NHL dividends for three or four years, but the 25th overall pick in the draft is exactly the place where a team like the B’s should take a gamble that they didn’t almost ten years ago in the same situation.

ONE TIMERS

*Best of luck to fourth-line grinder Jakub Lauko as he moves on to the Minnesota Wild organization in a deal that saw the Bruins move up 12 picks in the fourth round and select Vermont native and Quinnipiac-bound defenseman Elliott Groenewold and pick up Vinni Lettieri as a bottom-6 candidate after he posted five goals and nine points in 46 games for Minnesota last season. Bruins fans will remember Lettieri as a P-Bruins forward the season prior before signing with the Wild organization as a free agent a summer ago. Lauko showed flashes with the Bruins as a bottom-6 forward over the last couple of seasons and has the hardnosed approach and skating speed to continue to be a factor at the NHL level. It just won’t be in Boston and personally I’ll miss our fun dressing room chats about the MCU, the DC Universe and all kinds of sci-fi movies and TV shows that Lauko was truly into.

*The Bruins had a solid second day of the draft selecting the 6-foot-2, 201-pound Groenewold (110th overall, Clarkson-bound 6-foot-2, 187-pound forward Jonathan Morello (154th overall) and Swedish 6-foot-3, 201-pound D-man Loke Johansson (186th overall) with the remaining three picks after the first round. In general, it felt like drafting bigger, stronger players was the theme, even if B’s Director of Amateur Scouting Ryan Nadeau said it wasn’t a mandate of any kind.

“Certainly the size thing is somewhat of a factor, but it’s not like we’ve set a height line where they have to get over it to go on the amusement park ride here,” said Nadeau. “Where we value these players is just where they fell on our draft board, but we’re not disappointed that we drafted a bunch of big players.”

This is definitely a good thing as any team with realistic Cup aspirations like the Bruins needs size, toughness on and off the puck and physicality come playoff-time, and the B’s are finally valuing that in a big way. Solid undersized players will always be there for the taking as the undrafted supply of skaters that also finds their way to the NHL every single season.

*The latest name on the Bruins free agent rumor list is 6-foot-6, 248-pound defenseman Nikita Zadorov, who is coming off a solid season with the Canucks and brings the kind of heavyweight vibe that Boston should be looking for on their back end. He’d be a great fit for the Black and Gold as long if he’s coming in at the right price as the Bruins continue to focus on frontline center and defensive bruiser as the two places, they are going to beef up the lineup in NHL free agency.