Bruins Prospect Dean Letourneau’s Bounce-Back Season Fueled by Confidence

· Yahoo Sports

It’s the third go-around at Bruins development camp for 2024 first-round pick Dean Letourneau, who is coming off a breakout sophomore season at Boston College.

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Letourneau was one of 33 players, whether Bruins prospects or development camp invites, to take to the practice ice at Warrior Ice Arena on Monday. He is the only first-round pick on the camp roster, and with no James Hagens, attention turns to Letourneau, much like it will at BC in the fall. 

This past season at school, Letourneau scored 22 goals and finished with 39 points. He finished second on BC in scoring only behind Hagens, and he led the team with 10 power play goals. He said once the scoring started, “it started to feel more natural.”

It was a massive leap for the 6-foot-7 forward, who did not score a goal and finished with three assists as a freshman. 

“I think it was partly just the confidence in my ability. I knew what I could do, and I knew that wasn’t, you know, I think that was an uncommon year for me. That wasn’t something that I was expecting,” Letourneau said to a swarm of reporters. “I always trust my abilities to bounce back and have the year I did, so I think that was the biggest part in it.”

Don Sweeney has acknowledged that Letourneau may have been better off with a year in the USHL. His first year at BC was still valuable. Even while playing with a broken hand, Letourneau rounded out his game.

“It allowed me to focus on areas of my game that needed work, like in the defensive side,” said Letourneau. “So I think using that last year, [I] was able to help my offensive side. And just trusting my abilities, my coach trusting me that I was going to be on the defensive end of the puck and play the responsible way, so he allowed me to play more offense.”

“Maybe, a little bit,” was Letourneau’s response when asked if he thought about transferring after his freshman year. Instead, he “stuck it out and made work with what I can.” Teams waved money at him, as Mark Divver reported, but he stayed with the team that believed in him. 

Now, after a 39-point sophomore season, he’s one of the top guns and one of the more experienced players at Boston College.

Credit: Connor Nee / Boston Hockey Now

Letourneau specified puck protection, creating opportunities from the corner, and driving to the net as places to improve during his junior year. The coaches at Boston College have pushed him to be a net-front presence, and the Bruins’ development staff has brought it up “a little bit.”

“The more I can be around the net front and pick up rebounds and tips, the more goals I can score,” said Letourneau. “I mean, I’m a big body, too. I can take up a lot of space. So that’s an area where I feel comfortable and score a lot of goals from.”

He will return home and continue to work out in Ontario, and he joked that his parents’ grocery bill will take another hit with him and his brothers home for the summer. 

For Letourneau, the next step “definitely feels a little more closer.”

“Definitely feel a little more ready for the next step. Goal is to go back to BC and have a more dominant year and then see what happens from there.” 

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