While the Boston Bruins make their final push towards the NHL playoffs, the future of the Bruins organization is battling in the college hockey ranks in March. 12 Bruins prospects will lace up in the college hockey playoffs in the next couple of weeks, and plenty of them will be close to home when they do it.
The Boston College Eagles have turned into a de facto Bruins pipeline in recent years; six Boston prospects will don the maroon and gold this Friday in the Hockey East playoffs at TD Garden. Included in this sextuple are two highly touted first rounders, James Hagens and Dean Letourneau.
Fellow Hockey East opponent Providence hosts a goaltending prospect in Phillip Svedback.
Also playing in the northeast are Quinnipiac standouts Chris Pelosi and Elliott Groenewold and Cornell star Ryan Walsh.
To round out the final two, you have the highly touted Will Zellers playing for North Dakota and the less touted but still talented Cole Spicer playing for the reigning NCAA Champion Western Michigan Broncos.
Six Bruins Prospects Lacing Up For Boston College
Half of the Bruins prospects playing college hockey that are still playing are on the Boston College roster. The Eagles had a rather disappointing year after a couple seasons of pure collegiate domination, but their national title hopes are still very much alive as they get ready to play in the Hockey East Semifinal on Friday, March. 20.
It will be a true battle as both BC and their opponent UConn need the win to advance to the National Tournament; neither team will finish high enough in the rankings to earn an at-large bid.
Leading the way for the Eagles is Hagens, who was selected No. 7 overall by the Bruins in the 2025 NHL Draft. Hagens has 23 goals and 22 assists in 33 games this season, and may very well be with the Bruins the second BC’s season is over. He’s been playing on a line with Letourneau, a fellow sophomore and No. 24 overall pick of the Bruins in the 2024 Draft. Letourneau has 20 goals himself, a wild turnaround after he went scoreless in his freshman season.
An underrated Eagle is Andre Gasseau, who was a Bruins seventh-rounder in 2021. He’s been a key player for Boston College in all four of his seasons with them, and will almost certainly be playing pro hockey with either Boston or Providence as soon as the Eagles are eliminated.
The other three BC players in the Bruins system who will be playing this Friday are Will Moore, Oskar Jellvik, and Kristian Kostadinski.
Six Other Bruins Prospects Playing in College Hockey Playoffs
The highlight of the Bruins yard sale at the 2025 NHL trade deadline may have been Will Zellers, a prospect they acquired in the trade with the Colorado Avalanche. Zellers will lace up in the NCAA Tournament for North Dakota; he has 18 goals as a freshman for the No. 2 team in the country.
Ryan Walsh is another guy that Bruins fans have been clamoring to see. A 2023 sixth-round selection, Walsh has outperformed expectations at Cornell, putting up 75 points in his three seasons with the Big Red. He and Cornell will play in the ECAC semifinal on Friday, March 20. at 7:00 p.m.
Quinnipiac was upset in the ECAC quarterfinals by Clarkson, but will have a shot at revenge in the NCAA tournament as an at-large bid. Pelosi and Groenewold are both immensely talented players for the Bobacts, Pelosi a goal-scorer with a nose for the front of the net and Groenewold an elite puck moving defenseman.
Phillip Svedback was hurt for the majority of the second half of the season but should be the Friars starting goaltender when they play in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
12 Bruins Prospects to Watch in College Hockey Playoffs