It has been quite the 12 months for Will Zellers. At last year's trade deadline, he was in the deal at the trade deadline that sent Charlie Coyle to the Colorado Avalanche. He wasn't a forgotten piece in the trade by any means, but the Boston Bruins didn't have a whole lot of reason to believe he would turn into one of their best prospects. He was tearing up the USHL, but the league is still a long way from being a productive pro.
Zellers was the USHL MVP last season, leading into his enrollment at the University of North Dakota. After winning the MVP and having a solid development camp, Bruins fans were starting to take a closer look at him as the NCAA season began. Zellers didn't disappoint, breaking out right away and nearly scoring a point-per-game in his freshman season.
The NCAA wasn't the only place he shone, as he was also a late add to Team USA at the World Junior Championship, where he and James Hagens were the best players on a team that unfortunately had an early exit. It wasn't the finish that the pair hoped for, but Zellers had put his name on the map as a prospect to watch around the league. He had a bit of a quieter return to the NCAA, but he now has the chance to shine this upcoming weekend again.
Zellers played a massive role in UND reaching the Frozen Four, which starts on Thursday with a game against Wisconsin. As a sign of his ever-developing game, the shoot-first winger recorded two assists in each of UND's tournament wins this past weekend. The belief when the Bruins acquired him was that if he could become an elite scorer, then the addition would pay off, but the rest of his game was a work in progress.
The game is progressing nicely, as he has shown an ability to get into the dirty areas, and barring a goal-scoring outburst this upcoming weekend, will finish the season with more assists than goals. He has already drawn comparisons to some elite players for the way he now plays the game, including Brad Marchand.
With him and Dean Letourneau likely turning pro at the end of next season, and Hagens already in his first pro season by then, it's hard not to see the future trending in a positive direction for the Bruins.