Prospect Info: 25th Pick in the 2024 NHL Draft - Dean Letourneau C | St. Andrew's College 6'7" 214

[Aussie Bruin]

Sounds like the Bruins are playing the long game with this one. Very few centres who have ever been that big. Already tells you that we're trying on something a little different here. That sort of size can be devastating if you can put the rest together, on the flip side it can be that much harder to join all the dots and find the sort of coordination and puck control you need to succeed at the top level.

One to watch in the coming years. Welcome aboard Dean. Good luck!!

 

[lopey]

Why are some people calling this a reach. It isn't. Not at 25.

No matter who we draft some will always critize. Christ we could of drafted Calabrini and these posters would find fault

 

[LouJersey]

I would expect a couple prep schoolers, an overager and a Swede today

 

[GlenFeatherstone]

Love this pick. There is some risk here but if this kid hits to his potential and growth this could be a home run pick. They will/ have to be patient with him but it could be so worth it in the end. Love it. Can’t wait to watch him at BC grow. The skill set is unreal for that size.

 

[GordonHowe]

5 things to know about Bruins’ first-round pick Dean Letourneau

The Bruins swung for the fences with a high-upside selection in the 2024 NHL Draft in 6-foot-7 forward Dean Letourneau.

www.boston.com

Letourneau making sizable impression heading into 2024 NHL Draft | NHL.com

6-foot-6 Ontario prep school forward 'could have a really high ceiling'

www.nhl.com

Just waking up.

WTF, 6'7"?

That's what I'm talkin' about.

 

[DKH]

He’s tall
He’s academically intelligent
He likes Boston going to BC
He skates very well
He has hands & can shoot
He’s well spoken
His family are all competitive athletes over multiple sports

He’s raw but he’s going to an elite program that should develop him well

I’m assuming he’s going right to BC not play in USHL

If he can keep up he’s going to end up a player

5 things to know about Bruins’ first-round pick Dean Letourneau

The Bruins swung for the fences with a high-upside selection in the 2024 NHL Draft in 6-foot-7 forward Dean Letourneau.

www.boston.com

Just waking up.

WTF, 6'7"?

That's what I'm talkin' about.

“He moves really well for a big guy,” St. Andrew’s coach David Manning told NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman. “His skating and his agility and his explosiveness are all very different for a bigger guy like him. … I think he’s going to shock a lot of people with his athleticism.

“He’s not your typical big, lanky guy. His athleticism is probably a little bit unknown. You watch him, you see it in his skating ability, he’s got good agility, he turns well, there’s no awkwardness to how he moves. He is long but there’s no awkwardness to him. He’s very athletic.”

We won the draft !!!!!!

 

[bruinsfan1968]

He’s tall
He’s academically intelligent
He likes Boston going to BC
He skates very well
He has hands & can shoot
He’s well spoken
His family are all competitive athletes over multiple sports

He’s raw but he’s going to an elite program that should develop him well

I’m assuming he’s going right to BC not play in USHL

If he can keep up he’s going to end up a player


Sweeney mentioned you and said ‘are we good? Can we be friends now ?’

Would he go to Development Camp next week?.

 

[Mick Riddleton]

A lower level is not the case, this was not a regular local high school league. They played and beat Junior B teams, and U20 international teams. I found 2 games with stats vs. Shattuck; our boy scored 5 goals. He reminds me of Lohrei, a rangy guy with good skating and puck skills. Think of him as a forward version.
this is the year-end schedule/results

https://sacsaints.ca/sports/mens-ice-hockey/schedule

 

[KillerMillerTime]

Trade up with what?

Also, the 25th pick in the draft almost always has several years of development ahead of them.

Eiserman ended up falling significantly because he appears to be a one dimensional player. Granted its putting the puck in the net but the fact he started the year top 3
and fell to #20 isn't good sign.

 

[KillerMillerTime]

Wish we had the 26th overall pick too and got greentree as well. I like that kid.

I watched Greentrees highlights and he looks more polished and could very well outperform Letourneau. If he was a center maybe Boston would have taken him,
who knows?

 

[DKH]

So between Lohrei & Letourneau we go a bit off the road for taller athletic guys who can play - not at top programs

Donny could jump Nill as best GM if this hits

Would he go to Development Camp next week?.

I’m assuming definitely

I watched Greentrees highlights and he looks more polished and could very well outperform Letourneau. If he was a center maybe Boston would have taken him,
who knows?

He was my guy I wanted at that pick 100% as I was watching

 

[KillerMillerTime]

feels like another project guy, i wish they traded up for eiserman

Eiserman dropped significantly from the beginning of the year so that looks bad on him.

 

[KillerMillerTime]

He’s tall
He’s academically intelligent
He likes Boston going to BC
He skates very well
He has hands & can shoot
He’s well spoken
His family are all competitive athletes over multiple sports

He’s raw but he’s going to an elite program that should develop him well

I’m assuming he’s going right to BC not play in USHL

If he can keep up he’s going to end up a player


“He moves really well for a big guy,” St. Andrew’s coach David Manning told NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman. “His skating and his agility and his explosiveness are all very different for a bigger guy like him. … I think he’s going to shock a lot of people with his athleticism.

“He’s not your typical big, lanky guy. His athleticism is probably a little bit unknown. You watch him, you see it in his skating ability, he’s got good agility, he turns well, there’s no awkwardness to how he moves. He is long but there’s no awkwardness to him. He’s very athletic.”

We won the draft !!!!!!

Ceiling is Pete Mahovolich light to Brian Boyle and lots of people thought Boyle was a
project.

 

[LouJersey]

He’s tall
He’s academically intelligent
He likes Boston going to BC
He skates very well
He has hands & can shoot
He’s well spoken
His family are all competitive athletes over multiple sports

He’s raw but he’s going to an elite program that should develop him well

I’m assuming he’s going right to BC not play in USHL

If he can keep up he’s going to end up a player


“He moves really well for a big guy,” St. Andrew’s coach David Manning told NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman. “His skating and his agility and his explosiveness are all very different for a bigger guy like him. … I think he’s going to shock a lot of people with his athleticism.

“He’s not your typical big, lanky guy. His athleticism is probably a little bit unknown. You watch him, you see it in his skating ability, he’s got good agility, he turns well, there’s no awkwardness to how he moves. He is long but there’s no awkwardness to him. He’s very athletic.”

We won the draft !!!!!!

I know people don't want to hear it but he seems to have a very high floor as well. Great pick at this point of the draft. He was their guy all along. They were offered the Carolina /Hawks offer but Sweeney said our guy is there and no way they deal down

 

[DKH]

I said to Joe aka Glorydaze (who was still pissing and moaning Stolberg went) gotta take Greentree here - if not my fav Vanacker

But @LouJersey had told us for days in our text group it’s going to be Letourneau and because of that I had deep dived and when Joe said ‘what about Lou’s guy?’ I said yes I am good with that but Greentree is the guy who fell in their lap and he’s exactly got the Bruins car fax designed in a manufacturing plant

So I like it but in full disclosure didn’t like the Lohrei or Poitras picks lol my guys were Cuylle & Goyette so I will add Greentree to the list as guys I will watch

 

[GordonHowe]

Something to get excited about.

Look at this kid's quotes.

He's a confident realist.

I like it.

 

[BigGoalBrad]

I like the pick he just needs time and could be a candidate to play 4 and sign elsewhere. A little worried he won’t be a point producer as a freshmen and I’m not really into the excuse train when draft picks struggle after their draft year. Sweeney didn’t have the chops to trade up for Eiserman too bad.

 

[DKH]

Ceiling is Pete Mahovolich light to Brian Boyle and lots of people thought Boyle was a
project.

Pete Mahovolich was a stud - but yes sounds like if

Boyle always should have been on Bostons bottom 6 - I’d have grabbed him the first inkling Kings would move him

He just didn’t have hands

BC kid as well

 

[dafoomie]

I mean…you said you don’t know anything about these guys (which is fine. Most don’t). But yet…


Kind of seems like you have an opinion on him no?

My preference was to trade the pick or take a player who would turn pro earlier.

It's an interesting contrast. One of them is on a pretty well understood path, has a pretty strong statistical case for why he'll at least be an OK pro at some level, but also has an eye test case for why his ceiling could be limited (footspeed, lack of separation). His range is probably between James Van Riemsdyk and Michael Dal Colle. The other can only be evaluated based on eye test and tools, and even eye test is limited to a degree. Is his potential greater or do we just have less ability to measure it? I don't know.

I'm concerned that Letourneau is a longer term project and they're going to have a gap in the system but that doesn't have anything to do with the player.

 

[Drift]

I find it interesting he was going to go to Sioux Falls but will now be going to BC with people leaving. Not sure which I would have preferred for his development, possibly going to Sioux Falls first for a year then BC, going straight to BC might be a pretty big jump and he might be playing in the bottom 6. Obviously can't really know the answer here but going to be interesting watching him develop.

 

[Kalus]

At least it wasn't a reach. Phew.

Depends on your definition of “reach”, but they definitely took him earlier than most the publicly-available rankings had him. But the story of this draft is that the players ranked from high teens to mid 50s were all pretty close, so likely doesn’t mean too much.

Scott Wheeler had him at 45
Bob McKenzie at 32
McKeen’s - not in top 32 (rest not publicly available)
Craig Button - not in top 32 (rest not publicly available)
Elite Prospects had him at 24
NHL central - 23 for North American players, so much later for the combined int’l / NA

 

[LouJersey]

I was just about to bring him up. Not to complain about the pick, I don't know anything about these guys, but they seem to have a preference for the unknown over players like Greentree who are more solidly projectable to be good but not necessarily great prospects. Letourneau could be said to have a higher ceiling because it's much more difficult to evaluate him. Maybe he's a unicorn, or maybe he's Joe Hulbig, dominating the prep school level because he's so much bigger than everyone. These scouting reports give me a lot of optimism but we're not really going to know for a long time.

Greentree has compete and skating issues. He's also solely a winger. While I certainly would not have minded him, I am always for taking the center (unless you're looking at a Pastrnak type) at this point in the draft because it doubles your chance at success (centers can slide over, not vice versa)

Vanacker is another guy I would have been on board with.

 

[KillerMillerTime]

My preference was to trade the pick or take a player who would turn pro earlier.

It's an interesting contrast. One of them is on a pretty well understood path, has a pretty strong statistical case for why he'll at least be an OK pro at some level, but also has an eye test case for why his ceiling could be limited (footspeed, lack of separation). The other can only be evaluated based on eye test and tools, and even eye test is limited to a degree. Is his potential greater or do we just have less ability to measure it? I don't know.

I'm concerned that Letourneau is a longer term project and they're going to have a gap in the system but that doesn't have anything to do with the player.

If this kid was going to Niagara or Bentley directly from HS, Sweeney would deserve multiple beatings with an ugly stick. Given BC was willing to bring him in this year tells me they look at him as if he is coming out with the skill of a kid from USHL, USNTDP
or Shattuck. Greentree at #25 or trading him for say #35 plus a 3rd are reasonable
arguments to make but you can't crucify anyone for taking him at #25.

 

[LouJersey]

I find it interesting he was going to go to Sioux Falls but will now be going to BC with people leaving. Not sure which I would have preferred for his development, possibly going to Sioux Falls first for a year then BC, going straight to BC might be a pretty big jump and he might be playing in the bottom 6. Obviously can't really know the answer here but going to be interesting watching him develop.

That BC team has some amazing wingers on it. If he can somehow play top 6 he might really shine but I can see him starting as the 3 or 4 C

 

[Gee Wally]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1806908406860829140