Boston Bruins News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Will Zellers’ Bruins Future Looks Bright

Will Zellers shined with Team USA and showed what the Boston Bruins could be getting in the year future. (Matt Krohn-Imagn Images)

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Will Zellers’ Bruins Future Looks Bright

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Brandon Share-Cohen | Last updated Aug 24, 2026 3:40 PM ET

Add us as a preferred source on Google

The cost of being competitive in the NHL is high. The cost to remain competitive for a prolonged period of time is even higher and can often set a franchise back years as they look to recoup assets that were spent to put a talented team on the ice year after year. For the Boston Bruins, the bill came up during the 2024-25 season and forced general manager Don Sweeney to reroute the team. Sweeney didn’t take his foot off the gas pedal. Rather, he aggressively retooled the roster on the fly, acquiring a collection of assets that could contribute in the short term, pieces who were close to NHL-ready and could make an impact sooner rather than later, while also accumulating extra draft capital in the process.

This paid off for the Bruins when they returned to the postseason after missing it for just one season, but the moves Sweeney made at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline could also pay dividends for years to come. One such move that already seems to be aging like a fine wine was the move that saw Charlie Coyle traded to the Colorado Avalanche with Casey Mittelstadt, Will Zellers and a second-round pick going to the Bruins in return. While Mittelstadt has also proven to be a good player for the Bruins, Zellers always felt like the real prize in this trade.

Zellers Prospect Stock Keeps Rising

The Avalanche used the 76th overall selection on Zellers during the 2024 NHL Entry Draft before he broke out in the USHL with the Green Bay Gamblers to the tune of 44 goals and 71 points in 52 games during the 2024-25 season, making him the forward and player of the year. His production continued following the trade when he made the jump to the University of North Dakota where he scored 18 goals and 34 points in 38 games as a rookie. He also turned heads at the 2026 World Junior Championships, scoring five goals and eight points in five games for the United States.

Heading into his second season with the University of North Dakota, Zellers will continue to build on what’s made him so successful thus far while also fine-tuning other parts of his game. There have been many players over the years who have put up impressive point totals at various levels but never find their footing at the NHL level. Zellers’ ability to bury the puck, however, isn’t just luck. His excellent skating and skilled hands make him a joy to watch on the ice. It looks nearly effortless for him, but his combination of speed and agility is very difficult to cover on the ice. His NHL-caliber shot is another weapon that can give defenders fits and should give him an edge as he eventually looks to transition to the professional level.

If Zellers can reach his potential, he has the ceiling of a very good top-six scoring winger who can break games open on any given shift, something the Bruins still desperately need. A lot has to go right for any prospect to develop into an NHL-level player, but the pros in Zellers’ favor make it hard to imagine he won’t ever crack the Bruins lineup one day.

Zellers Has Legitimate NHL Potential

For now, working on adding some muscle to his frame could go a long way to allow his game to fully translate to the next level. This goes hand-in-hand with another thing he’ll need to work on if he hopes to make the Bruins lineup as a prospect. If recent history has been any indicator, he’ll need to grow his two-way game to become a responsible defensive forward in his own zone.

To succeed in the Bruins system, players don’t all need to be Patrice Bergeron. They do, however, need to be responsible and accountable while offering more than just a one-dimensional game. For better or for worse, it’s how the Bruins have operated over the years and that hasn’t seemed to change under Marco Sturm’s leadership of the team.

If everything goes well, Zellers could join the Providence Bruins next spring and he even has a chance to make the jump to the NHL depending on how his season unfolds. Realistically, though, seeing Zellers in the Spoked-B could come during the 2027-28 season and that’s something that should excite Bruins fans as the team looks to play a faster, more skilled style of hockey moving forward to compete with some of the NHL’s best teams.

This article first appeared on The Hockey Writers and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: