When Will Zellers was first told by his advisor that he was traded last March, the Green Bay Gambler was crestfallen. Momentarily forgetting that the USHL trade deadline had already passed, Zellers thought initially that his dream season was about to be disrupted.
Even when he was told, no, he was being traded to the Boston Bruins in the Charlie Coyle deal that also brought in Casey Mittelstadt and a second-round pick, it took him a while to wrap his mind around it. He’d only been drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the third round about nine months before that and was in the process of earning USHL Player of the Year honors, finishing up with 44-27-71 totals in 54 games.
But after thinking about it, Zellers started to like the idea of it all. He had already played a tournament at Warrior Ice Arena and had at one point committed to go to Boston University. Yeah, Boston began sounding pretty good to him.
“It’s kind of a weird feeling. I didn’t really expect it at this young of an age. I was just hanging around with my buddy and my agent gave me a ring that I was being traded to the Boston Bruins,” said Zellers during this week’s Development Camp. “I think if I could have picked a team to get traded to, I’d think an Original Six team, the Boston Bruins, one of the most historic teams in the NHL, no matter what year it is. It’s an honor to put on the ‘B’ every day, even in just a practice jersey. It was pretty special, pretty surreal. There were a lot of mixed emotions but, from their end, they were excited so that eased the nerves a lot.”
It also dawned on Zellers that, with the kind of year he was having, he had raised his own profile and made himself a hot commodity.
“It’s a good feeling to be wanted at this young of an age, no matter what you’re doing or what level you’re at. You want to go to a place where you’re wanted,” said Zellers, who consistently found his shooting seams during Dev camp. “I feel like Colorado did want me but I think an opportunity came up for them to get a good player like Charlie Coyle and I understand it’s a business with them. But for the Boston Bruins to want me at this young an age is pretty special and a pretty good feeling for me.”
Zellers’ year did not come out of nowhere, said Gambler assistant GM Kirk Leudeke. He had ripped it up with Shattuck St. Mary’s the year before (57-54-111 in 54 games) and was high-end performer at most of the tourneys in which he played. But it was a matter of maturing, both physically and in his approach to the game.
“We knew he was going to score. We didn’t necessarily know he was going to set a team a team record that had stood since 1997, but we always knew that that was his thing,” said Leudeke. “What we wanted to make sure of was we wanted to give him was coaching in the other aspect, the off-puck stuff. And understanding how good a player he can be, but he cannot cheat the other elements of the game for offense alone. I think what was great about him was that he responded to that.”
Leudeke said Zellers matured a lot at Green Bay off the ice as well, conceding he was a bit cocky when he first arrived.
“He was a kid who came in that was good and knew it to being a kid who has been humbled by the competition and realizes he’s got to get a lot better if he wants to wear that on his jersey,” said Leudeke, pointing to the spoked-B on the doorway at Warrior.
While he fell in love with Boston and had committed to BU, his family ties drew the Minnesota native back to Midwest. His father Kurt, played football at the University of North Dakota, where he met his wife Kim. Therefore, it’s not shocking that Will will be headed to Grand Forks in the fall to play in the powerhouse program there.
At 5-foot-11, 170 pounds, he will need to continue to develop physically. He also knows that, while offense will be his ticket to the NHL, he needs to work on his defensive zone play. But in his introduction to the Bruins organization, he didn’t seem like the new kid at all.
“Right off the hop, the first time I talked to him in person I was like, ‘Have I spent a ton of time with this kid somewhere?’” said director player development Adam McQuaid. “He’s super easy to talk to and you feel like you’ve known him. He’s easy to talk to that way and you can tell right away that he’s fitting right into the group. And just his on-ice natural instinct for scoring. He doesn’t need many opportunities and he capitalizes on them. I think he’s driven that way. I’ve seen some competitive little edge to him where he has a little fire to him. Continuing to grow and fill out physically will be really important, but he’s a player in that league. Obviously our scouts identified him and were excited to have in our group.” …
The kids are alright
After the final day of camp, James Hagens continued saying he wanted to be a Boston Bruins “as soon as possible,” but all indications from the organization is that they want him to return to Boston College for another season and take a leadership role. …
McQuaid believes that defenseman Loke Johansson, who had a standout season with QMJHL champion Moncton, is physically ready to make the jump to the AHL. …
Third-round pick Cooper Simpson, who played most of his season in Minnesota high school hockey, confirmed that he’ll be doing another year in junior, most likely Tri-City (USHL). But he didn’t look out of place at all this week.
“I was impressed,” said McQuaid. “He showed what he was good at. He’s got a lethal shot and his hockey sense is really good. He obviously needs to continue to fill out but that’s expected at his age. I told him in some of the more competitive drills that I liked his second efforts on pucks. That was one of the main things that stuck out for me.” …
It’s too early to tell what kind of player Dean Letourneau is going to be, but the 6-foot-7, 221-pound center is learning how to use his frame. In Wednesday’s camp-ending scrimmage, he buried his future BC teammate Kristian Kostadinski while protecting the puck in the corner.
