When the Boston Bruins had a fire sale at the trade deadline back in March, it was a series of moves that brought back a mix of current NHL players, prospects, and even draft picks.
General manager Don Sweeney moved some very important roster pieces in Charlie Coyle, Brad Marchand, Brandon Carlo, Trent Frederic, and Justin Brazeau, getting a mixture of the three pieces mentioned above in return. One deal that sent Coyle to the Colorado Avalanche got a return of Casey Mittlestadt, prospect Will Zellers, and a draft pick in the second round of this past June's NHL Entry Draft.
The centerpiece of the trade was not Mittlestadt, but Zellers, a rising prospect who had a breakout season with the Green Bay Gamblers in the USHL with 44 goals and 27 assists in just 52 games. Those are some eye-opening numbers, but he is getting ready for his freshman season at the University of North Dakota before he thinks about making the jump to the Black and Gold. However, he revealed a conversation he had with someone close to him after the dust settled on the trade while joining Evan Marinofsky on CLNS' "Burins Beat" podcast.
Boston Bruins prospect reveals message he got from his agent after the March trade from the Colorado Avalanche
When the dust settled on the March 7 trade from Colorado to Boston, Zellers spoke with his agent, who opened his eyes about his opportunity to crack the NHL lineup with the Bruins, faster than he would with the Avalanche. It makes total sense.
“Talking with my agent after the fact and after everything settled down, he said, ‘Overall, I mean, that Colorado team is pretty stacked. They’ve got their guys. They have unreal players,'” said Zellers. “Of course, I’m not scared of any competition either at the same time, but also looking into it, the Bruins are kind of a little bit in a rebuild area right now, which is good for young players like me coming up and being able to make that roster sooner than I maybe thought.”
He's not wrong. This offseason was supposed to be a retool for the Bruins; however, currently, Sweeney hasn't made many moves to push his team over some of the teams that finished ahead of them in the standings for a playoff berth. Now, unless some other moves happen, the Black and Gold could be heading down the road of nowhere again in 2025-26, and that could open the door for some younger players to crack the lineup in the not-too-distant future.
Colorado has a very good core in place and one that will be in place for a while, which might block some of their prospects from getting to the NHL. Boston, however, is heading in the other direction with a few core players in place, and the opportunity to open the door each year for younger players to crack the lineup. Zellers and 2025 first-round draft pick James Hagens might not be too far off from joining Boston and making an impact. For Zellers, he's a lot closer in Boston than he would be in Colorado.