Bruins Prospects: How draft picks are playing in juniors

In our second installment of our midseason Bruins prospects check-in, up next is the junior kids.

This offseason, I previewed the six Bruins draft picks playing juniors in North America. Three are playing major juniors in Canada while three are playing Tier I juniors in the United States.

Let’s take a look at how those players are performing.

Fabian Lysell

Arguably the top prospect in the Bruins organization, Lysell has been ripping it up in the WHL with Vancouver Giants. The 2020 first-round pick is averaging over a point per game, with 28 points in 23 games. He’s second on the team in points, tied for first in goals with 11 and third in assists with 17.

He’ll be stepping away briefly from the Giants to play for Team Sweden at the upcoming 2022 World Juniors, the Bruins lone representative in the tournament. Lysell is performing exactly at the rate Boston hoped for out of him. He’ll be in a Bruins jersey, either Providence or Boston, in no time.

Brett Harrison

Perhaps the sneaky best value pick for the Bruins in 2021 draft was Harrison. Taken in the third round, Harrison is having a great second season in the OHL with the Oshawa Generals. The 18-year-old center has 28 points in 23 games. He previously had 37 points in 58 games with Oshawa during the 2019-20 season, so he’s producing at a higher rate this season.

Eerily similar to Lysell, his points rank second on Oshawa, his goals (15) rank second and his assists (13) rank third. Harrison finished the final five games prior to the holiday break with nine points.

He’s a big body center who is good in the corners as well as in the face off circle (54% success rate this season). Harrison may not be well known with Bruins fans now, but he’s a name to look out for in the coming years.

Ryan Mast

Another player in his second season in the OHL, Mast was taken in the sixth round in the 2021 draft by Boston. The defenseman already has more points in 25 games this season (12) than he did the entire 2019-20 season with the Sting (11).

He leads all defensemen on Sarnia in points and has been an integral part of the blue line. Mast broke a four-game pointless skid with an assist in his final game before the holiday break. He continues to develop into a strong two-way defender.