Boston Bruins: John Beecher could be this team’s next great American

When you look down the middle of the Boston Bruins team, it’s not quite all-American. John Beecher will eventually, we hope, help to tip the balance a little.

In the Boston Bruins top-six, where John Beecher projects to hopefully one day be, you’re looking at a Canadian center on the first line, Patrice Bergeron and a Czech center on the second line, David Krejci.

Beyond that pair, in the bottom-six you have, depending on who lines up where, Charlie Coyle and Sean Kuraly as the Americans, though Par Lindholm could slot in as a center next year maybe, bumping Coyle up the line-up. If that were the case, you’re going from two American centers to just one and a Swedish-born one stepping into his place.

Looking around at the teams’ prospects, you’d probably assume that by the time Trent Frederic steps up to the main Boston Bruins’ roster, he’ll be slotting into the bottom-six rather than the top-six, so he’d hardly be tipping the balance beyond half of the centermen in the line-up each night.

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This is where John Beecher comes in. Having seen at the Boston Bruins Development Camp, the speed at which this man moves, despite his size, you’d say he’s already looking a strong bet to fit right into the style of the modern NHL. His release didn’t look half-bad either! If he can focus on his 200-foot game in the NCAA, he’s going to eventually make his way to the NHL as the perfect long-term replacement for David Krejci.

John Beecher was unfortunate in his time with the US National Development Program team. Unfortunate in that he found himself relegated to the duties of fourth-line center purely due to the strength of those in front of him. Looking at that team, we’re talking 1st overall pick Jack Hughes, 5th overall pick Alex Turcotte and 9th overall pick, Trevor Zegras.

All three ended up drafting in the top ten of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, that sums up just how competitive that roster was this season. However, this came as a blessing in disguise, you could argue; it meant that John Beecher was working harder to earn his ice-time and makes the fact he finished ninth in scoring on that team all the more impressive.

Just to put it in perspective, first line center Hughes grabbed 112 points in 50 games, the fairest comparison as a center is Trevor Zegras, who played 60 games tallying 87 points. Beecher played 63 games, albeit lower down the lines a lot of the time, or playing on a wing instead of his preferred spot down the middle; he netted 15 goals and added 28 assists for a total of 43 points.

You could also argue that John Beecher was fortunate to play with such talents, at his young age, he no doubt was absorbing knowledge and skills from them, not only that, he’s no doubt been practising against them which is fantastic for the development of his defensive acumen.

The Boston Bruins historically have had a lot of Canadian heroes; think Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, even in the present line-up you’re looking at Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron. It’s about time they had an American hero!

John Beecher could well be just the man for the job, given some time to develop and grow into a player ready to be pushed into the Boston Bruins line-up.

As we celebrate the fourth of July, it’s nice to see that the Boston Bruins made the choice to pick the American-born center rather than grabbing a Canadian-born one. Raphael Lavoie was still available when they picked up Beecher at number thirty – he ranked significantly higher on most draft boards.

Let’s just hope that John Beecher does pan out as one of this team’s centers of the future now!