Ranking Boston Bruins Top 10 Prospects: No's 6-10
Who are some of the top prospects for the Boston Bruins entering the 2024-25 season?
If there has been one knock on Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney during his tenure with the team he played for during his career, it's that his prospect pool has ranked near the bottom of the NHL. There are a lot of reasons for that, but one of the biggest has been their lack of drafting in the early rounds.
Sweeney has never been afraid to move a first or second-round pick in a deal at the trade deadline to make his team better for the stretch run and into the playoffs. At the time, it seems like the right move to make, but unless it works out with. championship, it has its downside come late June each year during the Entry Draft.
Still, Sweeney's scouting staff has done some good work drafting with the club starting to see results with younger players contributing with the Black and Gold. With the NHL in its downtime in August, let's take a look at the Top 10 prosepcts Boston has beginning with No.'s 6-10.
Boston Bruins Prospects No. 6-10
player. Goalie. Philip Svedeback. 10. 70. Boston Bruins. . . Philip Svedeback.
One area where the Bruins have had success drafting is with their goalies. Jeremy Swayman (who remains an unsigned free agent) appears to be the long-term goalie of the future in Boston, but over the years, Sweeney has built some depth between the pipes.
Philip Svedeback, selected in the fourth-round in 2021, is coming off a good year for Providence College where he went 18-13-4 for the Friars last season with four shutouts. He sported a 2.32 GAA and a .900 SV% for a team that struggled to score. He'll return for another season in Hockey East with the Friars.
. Brandon Bussi. 70. Boston Bruins. Brandon Bussi. . Goalie. 9. player.
You might be saying, what, another goalie? Yes, another goalie, and in the big picture, the Bruins need him to win the job as Swayman's backup this season so they have a reason to move on from Joonas Korpisalo who was acquired in the Linus Ullmark trade with the Ottawa Senators. Bussi has been good with the Providence Bruins and impressed last season in the preseason action he saw.
An undrafted free agent out of Western Michigan, he was an AHL All-Star two years ago and this past season he went 23-10-5 for the P-Bruins with a 2.67 GAA and a .913 SV%. He has proven that he's more than capable of being an NHL backup and holding down the fort in 25 or so games a season.
player. Boston Bruins. . John Farinacci. John Farinacci. 8. . 70. . Center
Another area where the Bruins have built some depth with their prospects is down the middle at center. One of those players is 23-year-old John Farinacci who was drafted by the Arizona Coyotes. After returning to Harvard to play for former Bruin Ted Donato, he signed as a free agent with the Black and Gold.
Last season in the AHL, he had a good season and played a strong two-way game, accumulating 12 goals and 26 assists in 71 games. He's not a big bruiser that the Bruins like in their bottom six, but he's very good at the face-off dot and can provide depth on the fourth line if needed.
. Dean Letourneau. Center. player. Boston Bruins. . Dean Letourneau. 70. . 7
This season the Bruins did not own a first-round pick, which was sent to the Detroit Red Wings in March of 2023 in a trade that acquired Tyler Bertuzzi. In the end, that pick was moved to the Senators who included it in the Ullmark deal right before the draft this June.
Letourneau is big at 6-foot-7 and is already drawing comparisons to Buffalo Sabres center Tage Thompson, which is impressive. He'll attend Boston College this season after scoring 61 goals and totaling 127 points for Saint Andrew's College, a Canadian Prep School.
. 70. Center. . . player. Boston Bruins. Brett Harrison. 6. Brett Harrison
One of the more interesting prospects in the Bruins pool is Brett Harrison. Drafted in the third round of the 2021 Draft, at the time, it seemed like Sweeney got a steal with the talented center who excelled in the Ontario Hockey League with the Oshawa Generals and Windsor Spitfires.
He racked up 61 goals and 69 assists in the OHL in two seasons after being drafted. With the Providence Bruins, his number dipped last season to five goals and 14 points in 47 games. There is no question that the offensive talent is there and it's just a matter of time before he puts it all together. He could be a sneaky-good bottom-six player in Boston.
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