Bruins sign prospect Dans Locmelis to entry-level deal
Don Sweeney and the Bruins have already taken a couple of swims in the prospect pool this spring with a pair of signings in the aftermath of respective NCAA seasons. But Tuesday came with their biggest splash yet on that front, with forward Dans Locmelis signed to an entry-level contract.
The contract is a three-year deal worth $860,000 at the NHL level, and will begin during the 2025-26 season, with Locmelis finishing the year in AHL Providence on an amateur tryout agreement.
Drafted by the Bruins with a fourth-round pick (No. 119 overall) in 2022, the Latvian-born forward’s jump to the pro game comes after a two-year stint with at UMass, and after a 2024-25 campaign that featured eight goals and 33 points in 40 games for the Minutemen.
Locmelis was a factor throughout the program’s mini-run in the Frozen Four regionals last week, with two assists in their upset win over Minnesota as well as a goal in their loss to Western Michigan.
The signing was not out of left field by any stretch, with Latvia’s national program remarking on Monday that they expected that Locmelis would leave UMass and report to the P-Bruins. The belief from the Latvian point of view (at least based on a rough translation) was that Locmelis would essentially be out of sight, out of mind for their national program with the World Championships around the corner.
And that may very well be the case with Locmelis in the fold for Providence, who clinched their spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs last week, on an ATO. (The ATO will not prevent Locmelis and his eligibility to play for the P-Bruins on what the club hopes is a long postseason run for their farm club.)
Of course, there’s still a chance that Locmelis, who has played for Latvia in the last two World Championships and was the captain of their World Juniors team, could play for his country depending on how things shake out for his clubs in both the AHL postseason and Worlds.
The 21-year-old Locmelis is the fourth member of Boston’s 2022 class to turn pro, joining second-round pick Matt Poitras, as well as fifth-round pick Frederic Brunet and seventh-round pick Jackson Edward.
