Bruins reportedly interested in one of top defensemen on market

Operating some sizable cap space to their name for the first time since 2021, the expectation is that the Bruins are going to go big game hunting when free agency opens at 12 p.m. on July 1.

And they may be looking at the biggest one of all, in fact, with the Bruins considered in the running for free-agent-to-be and 6-foot-6 defenseman Nikita Zadorov.

Word of Boston's apparent interest in Zadorov, who split last season between Calgary and Vancouver, came courtesy of Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman and his 32 Thoughts podcast with Jeff Marek.

In action for 75 games this past season, the Russian-born Zadorov is coming off a campaign that included six goals and 20 points, which was good for his third straight season of at least 20 points. In the addition to the offensive production, Zadorov racked up 177 hits and 68 blocks, and dropped the gloves on more than one occasion, with scraps against the likes of Pat Maroon and Liam O'Brien to name a few.

If you were going to use one word to describe Zadorov, it would have to be "exciting." Now, it's not always the right kind of excitement (his hockey senses can fail him at times in pursuit of a big hit, for example), but Zadorov has made some noticeable improvements when it comes to his ability to be more of a three-zone threat. This has been especially noticeable when it comes to his comfort when carrying the puck and sparking offense out of his own zone that way.

But penalties have been a massive problem for the 29-year-old, and 2023-24 was no exception there, as Zadorov took 39 penalties during the regular season, which finished as the fourth-most in the NHL and second-most among all defensemen. In fact, among the group of 131 NHL defensemen with at least 1,200 all-situation minutes of time on ice in 2023-24, Zadorov’s 1.79 penalties per 60 minutes trailed only Radko Gudas and his 2.05. And with just 14 penalties drawn, Zadorov's minus-25 penalty differential was tied for the worst in all of the National Hockey League.

The B's, for what it's worth, ended the 2023-24 year tied a league-high three defensemen to average at least 0.80 penalties taken per 60 (minimum 60 games played). And the idea of adding yet another penalty-prone defenseman to the mix may be a bit worrisome for the overall wellness of the backend.

But there's also no denying the jump that a player like Zadorov can bring to his team, be it with his on-ice presence, his reach as a 6-foot-6 defenseman, and his overall infectious personality.

The real question for the Bruins, however, is the asking price on a player like Zadorov.

Believed to have a hot market, reporting out of Vancouver indicated that the Canucks went as high as $5 million per year in their negotiations with Zadorov, but that Zadorov turned them down. The natural belief there — especially given the way that Zadorov seemed to genuinely enjoy being a Canuck — is that Zadorov and his reps feel that he can get more on the free agent market. That seems almost certain given his decision, as well as a hot postseason that featured four goals and eight points in 13 games.

Which then asks the question as to whether or not the Bruins, while a club that has always put an emphasis on size and physicality, should be the team to get in that kind of bidding war for his services.

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney has made it clear that his team is going to be 'aggressive' this summer. But their aggressiveness has seemingly come with the idea of reloading the Bruins' offensive bullets after a postseason run that ended with their scoring drying up on them at the worst possible time. And with Jake DeBrusk looking like a goner, the B's need for offensive help only intensifies.

But the B's also have a real need for a bit more certainty on the left side of their defense, with Hampus Lindholm, Mason Lohrei, and Parker Wotherspoon the only NHL-quality lefties signed for next season.

NHL free agency is set to begin at 12 p.m. Monday, with the Bruins kicking things off with just under $22 million in cap space and restricted free agent goaltender Jeremy Swayman still unsigned.

The NHL Draft? Or as I know it, the weekend where the majority of Bruins and NHL fans are thrilled or start flipping tables about players we were, for the most part, collectively unaware of last week.

(For real though, quick shoutout to the people who actually do the draft homework all year long. Your commitment to the craft is incredible, and speaking personally, my mind melts at the thought of trying to follow 20 leagues and LiveBarn feeds at the same time. So I hope you shined and got everything you wanted out of this weekend. You are the true savants of the industry, and your service is noted.)

For the Bruins, the 2024 NHL Draft brought about a change from recent drafts, with the Bruins back in the first round for the first time in three years.

The pick in Boston's possession was their own, though it took a 15-month detour through Detroit and then Ottawa, and remained in Boston's possession through the first night of the NHL Draft.

Consider it yet another reminder that the Bruins are no longer the 'win-now, cash every pick in for immediate help' club they were during the final years of the Chara-Bergeron-Krejci era of Black and Gold hockey.

Boston's move for that pick also gave them four picks in total in this year's draft, and kept the team out of what would've been their smallest draft class since 1968, back when the NHL Draft was only three rounds in total.

But let's take a closer look at the four newest members of the B's organization.

With their first pick of the 2024 NHL Draft, the Bruins went for the boom-or-bust potential of 6-foot-7 center prospect Dean Letourneau. An absolute specimen given his size and skating ability for a player so large, Letourneau is coming off a season that featured 61 goals and 127 points in 56 games for St. Andrew’s College (prep).

“What stood out, obviously, is the frame of the player and his skillset, to tell you the truth," Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said of Letourneau. "He moves really well at that size, very, very good hands, elite shot."

The obvious 'knock' against Letourneau is the fact that he played his season playing prep and not in the higher competition of the CHL, or even the USHL beyond a two-game sample with Sioux Falls to end the year. Letourneau himself doesn't agree with that assessment of his team and league, noting that he was able to play in all situations with St. Andrew's College, and that his team played U-20 teams from around the world over the course of the year.

Sweeney called Letourneau's next step at Boston College a 'big' one in terms of the competition and the level that'll be required out of him, but this was clearly the Bruins' guy at No. 25 as the board broke late in the first. So much so that the Bruins had legitimate thoughts of trading back from No. 25 overfall had Letourneau not been there for them.

So, what's next?

"Get bigger and get stronger, [and] maintain my speed," Letourneau, who again stands at 6-foot-7 and has an absolutely gigantic wingspan, said of his goals. "I want to play that bigger boy's game where I'm using my size more. I'm still learning how to do that, and something I'm gonna work on this offseason."

Letourneau himself sees himself spending two years at Boston College (it's worth noting that he's going to BC a year early following the departure of Sharks prospect Will Smith from the Eagles' program) before turning pro, but patience will ultimately have to be the name of the game when it comes to a prospect as tantalizing as Letourneau.

Should he hit his ceiling, Letourneau projects to be a Tage Thompson-esque presence as a big man who can play the middle of the ice, skate well, and score with the best of 'em.

Sitting out the second and third rounds of this year's draft, the Bruins actually decided to make a trade-up to ensure that they were able to Elliott Groenewold with the No. 110 overall pick.

A 6-foot-2 blue liner, the Vermont-born Groenewold posted five goals and 16 points, along with a minus-1 rating and 77 minutes in penalties, in 57 games for USHL Cedar Rapids in 2023-24. Groenewold’s season was also enough to earn him USHL All-Rookie Second Team honors, with most scouting reports projecting him as a solid defense-first defender who's capable of using his frame and physicality to get his desired results.

The Bruins are also impressed with Groenewold's status as a 'fast riser' of sorts from a program standpoint.

"Groenewold has had a huge jump from Bishop's College in Quebec. You know, Vermont kid who played there quickly, [had a] quick transition to the USHL and Cedar Rapids and then right to Quinnipiac next year," Bruins director of amateur scouting Ryan Nadeau acknowledged. "Like that's a pretty quick timeline."

Groenewold said that he tries to model his game after Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm as a two-way defenseman who can impact the game at both ends of the ice.

"It's always good when you model your game after a real solid NHL player like that," Nadeau said of Groenewold's comparison to Lindholm. "He's a Bruins fan, so he grows up and he's watching our team play a lot. Certainly for him, it's a combination of a lot of different things that he may have somewhat in common with a Lindholm and a Carlo type. He's got a frame, he's got good feet. He likes to play, likes to impact, he likes to get up the ice. He can play an aggressive style. Puck play's pretty good. He was used at times on the power play this year in Cedar.

"It's a kid that we just really like his game. Good human, and we're just really excited to add him."

Back on the clock in round five, the Bruins decided to go with a speed demon, with OJHL forward Jonathan Morello brought into the fold after a breakout year with the St. Michael's Buzzers.

On the board with 25 goals and 57 points in 50 games for the Buzzers during the regular season, the 17-year-old Morello exploded in the postseason, with 12 goals and 21 points in 11 postseason tilts. Morello, who stands at 6-foot-3, also posted one goal and six points in six games for Canada East at the World Junior A Challenge, and won the fastest skater competition at the OJHL All-Star festivities.

While the OJHL isn't the OHL, and similarly to Letourneau and his plans, the Bruins appear to be more than comfortable with Morello's current development path, with the lefty-shooting forward slated to spend next year in the USHL with Dubuque before jumping to the NCAA game with Clarkson University in 2025.

"He's going to be in Dubuque this year and is committed to Clarkson. I think Dubuque has done a good job. They've had some turnover lately that's happening with their staff, but that's a path that we believe in," Nadeau said of Morello's future plans. "We've obviously done it before with other guys. I think the USHL is a really good development league, and then with his college plans, it works pretty well."

I gotta tell you, finding any sort of footage on sixth-round pick Loke Johansson has been impossible. You search his name on YouTube and you just get about 25 profiles of men named Loke Johansson. To be this much of a mystery in the year 2024 is actually incredible, and I have to respect the hell out of it. But this is a player that's certainly familiar to the Bruins, with top European scouts P.J. Axelsson and Victor Nybladh getting multiple viewings of him.

In fact, Johansson played right in the Stockholm-based Nybladh's backyard as a member of AIK.

"We like his physicality, [he] closes down space pretty well," Nadeau said of Johansson. "You know, like any kid you're picking late, there's a bit of development here left. But, you know, we have a development staff that we really believe in [with] their ability to get the most out of players. You know, we've seen enough with, with puck moving to think that this kid handles the puck fine. We really appreciate the grit and the hardness in his defending."