For anyone expecting a big jump in the Bruins’ prospect stock, The Athletic didn’t exactly hand out a surprise.
Boston’s under-23 pool came in at No. 20 in the outlet’s NHL rankings, which is the same place the Bruins sat a year ago. For a franchise that has spent plenty of time dealing with thin prospect reviews under general manager Don Sweeney, that result lands right in familiar territory.
The top five Bruins prospects on The Athletic’s list are James Hagens, Fraser Minten, Matthew Poitras, Dans Locmelis and Dean Letourneau. Minten’s inclusion comes with a little twist: he was originally drafted and developed by the Toronto Maple Leafs before Boston acquired him in the Brandon Carlo trade at the March 2025 deadline.
The bigger question now is what Boston actually gets from this group in the near term. The Bruins need some of these names to force their way onto the roster in training camp, and Hagens and Poitras are the two that stand out most.
Minten already looks set for a spot after a breakout season last year, but Hagens and Poitras still have plenty to sort through. Hagens got a taste of the NHL late last season, skating in the final couple of regular-season games and the first three games of the first-round playoff series against the Buffalo Sabres before ending up as a healthy scratch.
Poitras is even murkier. He remains unsigned a month before camp opens, and Boston already has a crowded center group along with veteran wings in place.
He could move to the wing, but that only creates another question: whose job would he take? He is not going to crack the top six, which leaves the bottom-six competition as the most interesting place to watch younger players and veterans battle it out.
At some point, the Bruins are going to need young players to seize a role and make themselves useful. Based on The Athletic’s ranking, that’s not going to be an easy task.
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