The Boston Bruins' prospect pipeline has been soaring this season, and a significant part of that is the play of some of their top players at the NCAA level. While Don Sweeney's love for players in college hockey has become a bit of a punchline, his vision to build up the pipeline with those players is starting to become the envy of every other franchise.
It has never been a better time to have prospects playing at the NCAA level. With the new NIL rules, some of the top prospects in hockey are going the college route sooner and with more regularity. The NCAA is quickly making a case to be the top developmental league in the world.
With the NCAA thriving like never before, the Bruins have some of the top prospects playing at that level. There are currently four Boston prospects who have 10 goals in the NCAA this season after Dean Letourneau hit double digits on Sunday to continue his hot start to the season.
The #NHLBruins now have FOUR prospects with 10 goals scored in NCAA ⤵️
— Marcussi (@Marcussi_MA) December 29, 2025
10 — James Hagens
10 — Will Zellers
10 — Chris Pelosi
10 — Dean Letourneau
No other team in the NHL can say that 📈pic.twitter.com/vILhfIPHff
Letourneau is now leading in goals for Boston's prospects, as he added another goal on Monday afternoon to bring his total to 11. He will be able to hold on to that lead for another while longer, as the other three players, Will Zellers, James Hagens, and Chris Pelosi, are all representing the United States at the International tournaments over the holiday season. With the way Letourneau is playing, it wouldn't be overly surprising if he holds the lead for the rest of the season.
Bruins' college hockey pipeline is stronger than ever
One of the biggest needs for the Bruins' roster is more depth scoring. The front office emphasized improving in that regard over the past couple of years, and adding Letourneau, Hagens, and Zellers to the franchise over that span is some tidy business. The Bruins should also get at least a couple more high-end prospects from the upcoming trade deadline and draft, where they have at least three picks in the first two rounds and could possibly add more with their expiring contracts.
It remains to be seen whether Sweeney will continue the NCAA trend during the rest of this rebuild. With the success he is having going that route, it'd be hard to argue if he did.