Bruins
"His natural instinct for scoring? He doesn't need many opportunities, and he capitalizes on them."
Defenseman Vashek Blanar during the first day of Bruins Development Camp at Warrior Arena in Brighton on Monday, June 30, 2025.
Defenseman Vashek Blanar stood out during Monday's skate at Warrior Ice Arena. Ken McGagh for The Boston Globe
By Conor Ryan
June 30, 2025 | 6:46 PM
4 minutes to read
Will Zellers was at his billet house in Wisconsin — watching the play-in games of the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament — when he received a phone call from his agent.
He was on the move.
At first, the 19-year-old forward thought he had to pack his bags and join another USHL squad to close out the 2024-25 campaign.
But less than eight months after hearing his name called out in the 2024 NHL Draft by Colorado (third round, No. 76 overall), Zellers received word that the Avs were shipping him east.
“I was pretty surprised that I was getting traded at a young age,” Zellers said Monday at Boston’s Development Camp. “But to get traded to a place like this — an Original Six team — is pretty special. I was very excited. I will always forever be grateful for Colorado and what they did for me. .. But for Boston to believe in me at this age, it’s pretty special.”
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Most of the haul secured via Boston’s trade-deadline sell-off in March centered around future draft capital as the Bruins began the arduous task of replenishing their prospect pipeline.
But it doesn’t take very long to see why the Bruins also homed in on a prospect like Zellers.
The 5-foot-11 winger may not be the most imposing presence on the ice.
The same can’t be said for the screaming salvos of vulcanized rubber that he uncorked on the ice Monday at Warrior Ice Arena.
“You can tell right away that he’s just fitting right into the group,” Bruins player development coordinator Adam McQuaid said of Zellers. “Just on the ice — his natural instinct for scoring? He doesn’t need many opportunities, and he capitalizes on them. I think he’s driven that way.”
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As the Bruins look to build up the next wave of young talent to support the likes of David Pastrnak up front, Zellers has seen his stock soar in recent months given his knack for finding the back of the net.
The Maple Grove, Minnesota native decimated defenses in his first full season in the USHL this past year — earning USHL Player of the Year honors after scoring 44 goals and 71 points across 52 games with the Green Bay Gamblers.
Possessing both a sharp wrist shot and a willingness to drive into Grade-A ice for greasy scoring bids, the addition of Zellers’ scoring touch to Boston’s pipeline is a welcome result for a franchise looking to inject more skill and scoring touch into their depth chart.
Zellers said he models his game after another player who grew up in Minnesota in Jake Guentzel — who was taken 77th overall in the 2013 NHL Draft. Despite only measuring out at 5-foot-11 and 179 pounds, Guentzel’s blistering shot and offensive instincts have helped him score 30-plus goals five times in his career.
It remains to be seen if Zellers can replicate that type of production in the NHL ranks.
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But the skilled winger — who will attend North Dakota in the fall — said that he isn’t looking too far ahead as he tries to build off his breakout season against USHL competition.
“They were just talking to me, telling me not to look too much into it — that I’m still a great player,” Zellers said of Boston’s message to him after the trade. “Kind of wanted to make sure that I wasn’t questioning myself and my worth and what’s wrong with me.
So they were just very reassuring about it and just told me to keep playing how it’s playing throughout the year. They’re really happy with my game.”
Once an unknown, Blanar stands out early
Vashek Blanar couldn’t help but scroll through his phone on Saturday afternoon.
On the day he found out that the Bruins selected him 100th overall in the 2025 NHL Draft, that excitement was undercut by the confusion emanating from social media at Boston’s fourth-round selection.
“I’ve seen a lot on Twitter and YouTube — like, ‘Who’s this guy? ‘If you Google his name, he doesn’t exist.’ It’s been pretty fun to see that,” Blanar said Monday.
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Despite Blanar’s intriguing skillset as a 6-foot-4 defenseman with poised offensive instincts, the Colorado-born blueliner — who moved back to his parents’ native Czechia when he was four years old — wasn’t exactly viewed as a hot commodity in this draft.
Blanar was omitted from several draft rankings entering this weekend, with the raw prospect spending this past season skating in the Swedish junior leagues.
The returns on Monday were encouraging, however, with the big-bodied defenseman moving the puck cleanly during drills while also wiring a few shots home from the point.
Another year in Sweden awaits Blanar in 2025-26, but the Czech product is excited to join the same organization as his favorite player in the coming years.
“I followed him a lot in the past years,” Blanar said of Pastrnak, who also spent his years in Sweden before turning pro. “It’s always been a dream of mine to play in Boston.
Loose pucks
Count Zellers among those who are excited to see James Hagens don a Bruins sweater in the coming years. “I can’t believe he fell to seven [in the draft],” Zellers said of Hagens. “I think he’s probably gonna be the steal of the draft — when we look back in about 10-15 years.”
McQuaid said that Bruins prospect (and BC forward) Oskar Jellvik did not make the trek over from Sweden for Dev Camp as he recovers from an upper-body injury suffered earlier this season. “He’s tracking fine,” McQuaid said.
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Bruins 2024 first-round pick Dean Letourneau revealed that he played the first half of his 2024-25 season at BC with a broken hand. He underwent surgery around Christmas to get it corrected, but the 6-foot-7 center still finished his freshman year with zero goals in 36 games.
Profile image for Conor Ryan
Conor Ryan
Sports Writer
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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