Bruins first-round draft pick Dean Letourneau had his heart set on playing in Boston.
Not in the pros necessarily. He was smart enough to realize that was obviously out of his control heading into Friday’s draft. But when the Ontario native, who played at St. Andrews College, a prep school in his home province, was being recruited for college, he fell for the city and its hockey tradition.
Letourneau first committed to Northeastern and then as his reputation grew, he re-opened his recruiting and signed with Boston College to be a freshman in 2025-26.
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But a series of events over the past two months will bring him to Boston sooner and he hopes for much longer.
When BC freshman Will Smith signed a professional contract in May, Eagles coach Greg Brown reached out and offered Letourneau a chance to skip his year in the USHL and enroll at Chestnut Hill right away.
Then on Friday, the Bruins picked Letourneau with the No. 25 overall pick.
“It’s awesome. It was just an honor to hear my name called and I got lucky to be at a great spot in Boston,” he said and later added. “I loved the Boston city. That’s where I always knew I wanted to be with my college hockey decision. I was originally committed to Northeastern in Boston. I wanted to play in the Beanpot and then I made the decision to open my recruitment and then went to BC. I wanted to stay in Boston because I love that so much.”
While getting from BC to TD Garden is just a few stops in the Green Line, making that jump from a hockey standpoint is much longer, especially for Letourneau, who is making a big step up from Canadian prep school where he was a superstar (127 points – 61 goals, 66 assists in 56 games) to elite Division I competition.
But at 6-foot-7 with good skills and skating ability, Letourneau arrives with a unique tool kit.
“What stood out is obviously the frame of the player and his skillset to tell you the truth. He moves really well at that size. He’s got very, very good hands. He’s got an elite shot,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said. “Most people talk a little bit about the quality of the competition, the level he’s played at. It’ll be a big jump for him to go to Boston College next year, but the opportunity is right in front of him, with Smith leaving, so we think that’s going to be a great development opportunity for him to continue to grow and fill in the gaps in his game.
“You just can’t get by with the size and skill you’ve probably been able to at that level,” Sweeney said. “St. Andrews is generally a team that is fairly stacked. They put players in college at a very consistent rate. So they have a good team, they’re dominant on a lot of nights. … He’s gonna face much steeper depth of lineup and quality competition. That’s gonna be the adjustment.”
Letourneau had specific goals in mind for his development.
“I just to get bigger and stronger. Maintain my speed,” he said. “I want to play a bigger boys’ game where I’m using my size more. I’m still learning how to do that and that’s something I’m trying to work on this offseason.”
That was part of the appeal of BC.
“Their track record of development of elite NHL talents. It’s pretty huge,” he said. “They got a lot of guys that develop to be great NHL players So that was kind of the biggest decision for me.”
