When you start sorting through the Boston Bruins’ college pipeline, the obvious headliners are already on the board: Dean Letourneau and Will Zellers. But there’s more brewing in that group than just the two names fans already know, and a few other prospects deserve a closer look as the 2026-27 season approaches.
One of the more interesting ones is Will Moore, who is back at Boston College and now entering his sophomore year. Drafted in the second round of the 2025 Entry Draft, the 6-foot-3 forward posted four goals and 10 points as a freshman for the Eagles.
He’ll be trying to take a real step forward this season, the kind of jump Letourneau made from freshman to sophomore year. With a bigger role expected at BC, Moore should get more chances to show what he can do.
Ryan Walsh is another Bruins prospect worth tracking, and he’s heading into his senior year at Cornell. Boston took him in the sixth round of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, and he’s already put together a solid college resume with 39 goals and 47 assists over three seasons with the Big Red.
The 6-foot-1 New York native has built his game on simplicity and attention to detail, traits that helped him put up 30 goals and 49 assists for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in the USHL during the 2022-23 season. He’s also serving as captain this year for Cornell.
Then there’s Cooper Simpson, who will be a freshman at North Dakota this season alongside Zellers. The Bruins selected Simpson 79th overall in the third round of the 2025 Entry Draft, and he arrives after a huge year with the Youngstown Phantoms in the USHL, where he scored 34 goals and added 40 assists.
North Dakota is looking to get back to the Frozen Four, and Simpson will have to prove his game can translate to the college level. If he can follow the kind of freshman impact Zellers had last season, that would be a strong sign for Boston’s future.
In Other News...
Bruins May Have Found A Draft Sleeper Worth Watching Closely
Matvei Kotkov is already giving the Bruins something to track after their 2026 third-round pick opened his professional career with a goal in his first Kontinental Hockey League game for Yaroslavl Lokomotiv. The Russian forward, taken 104th overall, arrived with some buzz after a strong MHL season that included playoff success and postseason MVP honors, and his early jump to the KHL only adds to the intrigue around a player Boston clearly believes has more upside than his draft slot suggests.
Kotkovs profile has the kind of traits that tend to translate if everything comes together, with evaluators pointing to his shot and his speed as the obvious selling points. The question is whether the rest of his game will catch up quickly enough, because the same reports that praise his skill also note the areas he still has to clean up as a pro, especially when the game gets heavier along the walls and the physical battles start to matter more. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Prospect Matvei Kotkov Just Flashed Why Hes Worth Watching
Matvei Kotkov is starting to give the Bruins something to track beyond draft-night optimism. The Boston prospect, picked in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, has already shown well in junior competition and at Bruins Developmental Camp, and now he is beginning to translate that promise into pro production with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in the KHL.
For a fourth-round pick, every small step matters, especially when it comes in a league that can test young players against older competition every night. Kotkovs first goal of the season is the kind of early marker Bruins fans and development staff will keep circling, because it offers another reminder that there may be more upside here than his draft slot suggested. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Have A Repeat-Performance Question Fans Wont Ignore
A year after a season that gave the Bruins reason to feel better about a few new faces, the conversation has already shifted to what comes next. Boston is looking at the kind of repeat-performance question every contender eventually runs into, with some players carrying a heavier spotlight because their recent production helped stabilize the roster in ways that were not always expected.
Casey Mittlestadts first full run with the Bruins, Mark Kastelics breakthrough output, and Marat Khusnutdinovs work after arriving from Minnesota all give the front office something useful to evaluate, but also a reminder that not every useful season is easy to duplicate. For Boston, the issue is not just whether those players can help again, but whether the same level of impact can be counted on when the schedule turns and the margin for error gets thinner. [Read more 🡒]