The Boston Bruins are facing quite a conundrum. In the wake of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retiring, the team has lost their top two centers and does not have the cap space to bring in outside talent. They will be relying on Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle to step up along with some potential help from rookies to fill in the bottom-six. The front office, led by general manager Don Sweeney, has quite the work ahead of them to continue to develop their prospects at the center position.
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In the realm of boosting their depth down the middle with young, cheap talent, the Bruins signed John Farinacci this past week. The 22-year-old is coming off of a college career at Harvard and signed a two-year, two-way entry-level contract. While he is expected to start his professional career playing with the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League (AHL), he is certainly an intriguing prospect to add to the Bruins’ center pipeline.
Leading Up to the NHL Draft
Farinacci was born on Feb. 14, 2001, and grew up in New Jersey. Both his cousin, Ryan Donato, and uncle, Ted Donato, are former members of the Bruins, so he has grown up with plenty of familiarity with the team. Though, he was a Pittsburgh Penguins fan growing up due to his admiration for Sidney Crosby (from ‘Farinacci family affair: What got New Jersey native John Farinacci to the 2019 NHL Draft’, northjersey.com, 6/21/19).
Farinacci had a unique path in his junior career. After his freshman year of high school in New Jersey, he transferred to Shattuck St. Mary’s, a Minnesota prep school that has been attended by some of the top hockey talent in the world, including Crosby, Amanda Kessel, Nathan MacKinnon, and Jonathan Toews. He put together a good season there, scoring 63 points in 53 games, but unlike many of his teammates, he did not make the U.S. National Development Program Team.
Following his cousin’s example, Farinacci relocated to Boston for his junior and senior years of high school, playing for Dexter Southfield School, where he put together two good seasons and even wore the “C” in his final season leading up to his draft. While primarily playing for Dexter, he also made appearances playing for the Muskegon Lumberjacks in the United States Hockey League (USHL), the USNTDP Juniors team, and the Boston Jr. Eagles AAA team.
Internationally, Farinacci got the attention of US Hockey during his junior year. He played five games for the U.S. National U17 Team and appeared on the roster for the 2018 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup. During the 2018-19 season, he also appeared in two games for the U.S. National U18 Team.
While he may have not spent as much time playing for the “major” programs during his junior career, Farinacci still got noticed by scouts around the NHL. He was selected in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft by the Arizona Coyotes with pick number 76.
Farinacci’s Collegiate Career
Farinacci stuck around Boston for his collegiate hockey, playing for his uncle at Harvard University. He had a terrific rookie season in 2019-20 where he had 10 goals and 22 points in 31 games. He was named to the ECAC All-Rookie team that season, along with Harvard teammate and Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Nick Abruzzese.
With Harvard and the other Ivy League schools deciding not to hold sports during the 2020-21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Farinacci returned to the Lumberjacks in the USHL. He only played seven games, but registered eight points and wore the “A.” He also made the roster for Team USA at the 2021 World Juniors where he played in seven games and had five goals and seven points, contributing to Team USA’s gold medal. He finished fifth on the team in scoring behind the likes of Trevor Zegras, who was tournament MVP, Alex Turcotte, Arthur Kaliyev, and Matt Boldy.
When sports at the Ivy schools resumed, Farinacci returned for two final seasons in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He missed the first half of this past season due to a herniated disc in his back, but still managed to close out his collegiate career on a positive note. He was the captain of the squad and had 20 points in 19 games, including five goals.
While his exclusive rights were held by the Coyotes, it ultimately didn’t work out between the two parties. Farinacci was one of several young free agents to hit the market this past week after the expiration of exclusive draft rights. While he received a number of offers, he decided to stick around Boston and sign with the Bruins.
What Farinacci Brings to the Bruins
The right-shot center is certainly an intriguing prospect to add to the Bruins’ pipeline. He’s been praised for his two-way game throughout much of his career, and is good in the faceoff circle. He’s someone who models his game after Bergeron, though the 22-year-old is obviously not at that level yet nor should he be expected to be.
But there is clearly room for him to develop and become a legitimate NHL center. He joins a group of center prospects led by 2022 pick Matthew Poitras. It is unlikely that he’ll make the Bruins’ roster out of training camp. While there are certainly opportunities for forward prospects to make the roster this season, expect Jakub Lauko, who got a number of looks in the NHL last season, John Beecher, and Marc McLaughlin to get the first chances.
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Farinacci has shown throughout his career that he can hang with the top talent. With the start of his professional career, it’ll be interesting to see how he grows and adapts over the next season. It will be a telling season to see how fast and how likely he is to develop into an NHL talent.
The Bruins made the right decision signing him and continuing to focus on bolstering their center depth with guys like Farinacci who may not be one of the top names out there, but have had solid careers in juniors and the NCAA, and could really continue to develop. While we may not see him in the spoked-B this season, he is someone to keep an eye out for in the coming years.