With the NHL Entry Draft around the corner, that means it’s been almost a full year since the 2023 Draft where the Boston Bruins made five selections. Like this year, the front office did not have a pick in the first or second round, their first pick coming in the third round where they selected Christopher Pelosi at number 92.
The Bruins’ five selections join an NHL pipeline that hasn’t been highly ranked for several seasons now. The team’s prospect pool mainly consists of middle-of-the-draft picks who are still in the process of developing and with yet-to-be-determined ceilings. But, they did get some wins this year with prospects Matthew Poitras, Johnny Beecher, and Mason Lohrei seeing significant time in Boston. Drafting still remains the weakest area of general manager Don Sweeney’s tenure, but without a lot of high picks in recent seasons, it’s a good sign to see some of these “longer-term” prospects starting to become legitimate NHLers.
Overall, the Bruins’ 2023 Draft class heavily featured guys bound for the NCAA, with four out of the five committed to Division I programs. But out of those four, only one of them was actually committed to play for the 2023-24 season. With the one-year anniversary of their selections quickly approaching, it’s the perfect time to check in and see what the five of them have done this past season.
Christopher Pelosi
The Bruins’ first selection of the 2023 Draft came out of the United States Hockey League (USHL), one of the top junior leagues in the United States. At the time of the draft, Pelosi had already committed to play for Quinnipiac University, the 2023 NCAA National Champions. But he committed to start playing in the 2024-25 season, and stuck around the USHL this past season, playing with the Sioux Falls Stampede.
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In his second season with the Stampede, Pelosi served as an alternate captain and grew his game tremendously. In 2022-23, he appeared in 43 games, registering 13 goals and 19 points. But in 2023-24, he appeared in 56 games with 21 goals and 55 points. He finished second overall on the team in points.
The 19-year-old made a commitment to shoot more and it certainly paid off. He earned USHL Forward of the Week honors back in October and helped the Stampede end a three-year playoff drought.
After a good 2023-24 season in the USHL, Pelosi will certainly be someone to watch in the NCAA in 2024-25. Quinnipiac is coming off a second-round overtime loss in the 2024 NCAA Tournament to Boston College. They certainly have a talented locker room there in Hamden, CT and he’ll have his work cut out for him to get ice time and establish himself. But hopefully, this season’s momentum will carry over to a good start to his NCAA career.
Pelosi is realistically at least two seasons away from having a shot at cracking the Bruins roster. This upcoming season will certainly be a telling one for the 6-foot-1 center as he faces tougher opponents and more guys who are closer to making an NHL roster at the NCAA level. It will be an important season for his growth and development, and hopefully help shed more light on what his potential ceiling might be.
Beckett Hendrickson
The Bruins’ second selection of the 2023 NHL Draft came in the fourth round at pick number 124. Beckett Hendrickson came out of the United States National Team Development Program. In 2022-23, he appeared in 52 games for the US National U18 Team and 21 games for USNTDP Juniors. He had 13 goals and 34 points for the U18 team and seven goals and 16 points for the USNTDP.
Going into the 2023 NHL Draft, Hendrickson was noted as an intelligent, two-way player in scouting reports. But his lack of size and need for more offensive production pushed him down the draft boards.
A Minnesota-born player with a former NHL player father (Darby Hendrickson), Hendrickson committed to play for the University of Minnesota, but decided to spend the 2023-24 season in the USHL and will go to the NCAA this fall. He played with Pelosi for the Stampede, generating some chemistry with his potential future Bruins’ teammate. He had 43 points in 43 games, including 18 goals.
Hendrickson was traded at the USHL Trade Deadline to the Dubuque Fighting Saints, where he had nine goals and 21 points in 16 regular season games and three goals and seven points in 11 postseason games. The trade came after the Stampede lost eight games straight in an attempt to shake things up.
Hendrickson will be another player for Bruins fans to watch in the NCAA this year. Similar to Quinnipiac, Minnesota is coming off a second-round loss in the NCAA tournament. He certainly improved his offensive production in the 2023-24 season, but now the question becomes whether or not that will continue against tougher, bigger opponents in the NCAA.
Like Pelosi, he still needs more time to develop and has a few seasons before he could potentially push for an NHL spot. Still, one year out from his draft, there have certainly been positive strides in 2023-24.
Ryan Walsh
Ryan Walsh was the third center the Bruins selected in the 2023 NHL Draft. Like Pelosi, he was drafted out of the USHL. He was selected in the sixth round, pick number 188.
From Rochester, NY, Walsh was 19 when selected after being passed over in his first year of eligibility. But, a switch to the USHL where he played for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders got him the attention of scouts. In 61 games in 2022-23, he had 30 goals and 79 points. Additionally, in five playoff games, he had seven points. He earned a spot on the USHL First All-Star Team and a selection by the Bruins.
In 2023-24, Walsh played in his first season in the NCAA for Cornell University. He contributed to the team’s ECAC conference championship with 12 goals and 22 points in 35 games. In February, he won ECAC Rookie of the Week and had five game-winning goals, the most in Cornell’s program history.
He still has plenty of room to grow, but for a sixth-round pick, he had a good showing this past season and will be interesting to see if he can continue to grow in his second NCAA season.
Casper Nassen
The Bruins rounded out the 2023 NHL Draft with two picks in the seventh round. They used the first one to select Casper Nassen, a 19-year-old right wing from Sweden. He is a big body who came out of the J20 Swedish Hockey League. At 6-foot-4, he is certainly one of the bigger forwards in the team’s pipeline.
Nassen spent the 2023-24 in Sweden, playing for Frolunda in the under-20 league. In terms of points, he was scoring right around the same pace that he did in the previous season. He had 16 goals and 31 points in 41 games.
This upcoming season, Nassen will be making the switch to North American hockey to play in the NCAA at Miami University of Ohio. He is another addition to several Bruins’ prospects who will be in the NCAA this upcoming season.
Kristian Kostadinski
The final selection of the Bruins in 2023 was Kristian Kostadinski, a Swedish defenseman. He was selected at 220th overall, six picks after Nassen was selected. Similarly, he spent the season leading up to his draft playing in the J20 Swedish Hockey League.
This past season, Kostadinski and Nassen were actually teammates on Frolunda. The 6-foot-6 defenseman had three goals and 18 points in 46 games. His size is obviously a big draw to him as a prospect and is someone that could potentially have a lot of upside in a couple of seasons.
Kostadinski is the only member of the Bruins 2023 Draft class who will not be playing in the NCAA in 2024-25. He is set to stick around Frolunda, but will hopefully get a call-up to the Swedish Hockey League from the under-20 league.
More Room to Develop
The Bruins 2023 Draft class all had pretty solid seasons in 2023-24. None of them are going to be like Poitras making the NHL in their second season out from the draft, but there is still plenty to be impressed with. None of these guys were high picks, but are continuing to grow and develop, and who knows what their ceilings will eventually be?
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If anything, it gives fans even more reason to watch NCAA hockey if they aren’t already. In addition to four members of the Bruins’ 2023 Draft class, prospects Dans Locmelis, Ty Gallagher, and Cole Spicer will be playing college hockey next season. In total, the team will have over 10 prospects in the NCAA for 2024-25.
