Boston Bruins first round (30th overall) draft pick, John Beecher has been on the ice the past few days as a member of Team USA in the World Junior Summer Showcase.
John Beecher, who impressed at the recent Boston Bruins development camp, netted a beauty of a goal on the breakaway on Saturday, showing great acceleration to pull away from Team Sweden’s defense before getting the job done putting the puck past their goalie.
The future is certainly looking bright down the middle for the Boston Bruins if the eighteen year-old, who has committed to the University of Michigan can continue to develop his skating speed and clear eye for goal.
It’s fair to say that he was heavily overlooked in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, in part due to being part of the US National Team Development Program, where he found his ice-time limited by even more talented forwards, first overall pick Jack Hughes among others.
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That led to him dropping to thirtieth, with many analysts expected him to go even later than that. Fact is, not only does he play center, but he has size and speed which isn’t always a combo you find nowadays, given the propensity for the smaller guys to be the better skaters.
It’s plain to see for Boston Bruins fans that John Beecher has quite the turn of pace; this most recent breakaway goal is proof of that. Given he should likely enter the league as Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci may be showing signs of age, there are big, big expectations on the young man’s shoulders.
He also showed a comfort with putting shots on net; his personal tally of four in the game matched only by teammate and Montreal Canadiens draft pick, Cole Caufield and Team Sweden’s Lucas Raymond.
We've seen this a few times!@JohnWbeecher put USA Blue up by two with this slick breakaway tally against Sweden at the #WJSS 🚨 pic.twitter.com/B69TJrVnP2
— USA Hockey’s NTDP (@USAHockeyNTDP) July 27, 2019
It’s worth noting that Beecher wasn’t the only Boston Bruins prospect to tally a point in that game; Axel Andersson grabbed a primary assist on one of Team Sweden’s two goals, though wasn’t able to help them as they went down 4-2 to the Team USA Blue side.
The more we see of John Beecher, the more we think the Boston Bruins have a truly safe bet on their hands. Let’s hope we see more of these impressive goals from him as the World Junior Showcase continues.