The Bruins’ prospect pool looks at least a little bit better now than it did a couple years ago, thanks in large part to the additions of right wing Fabian Lysell and defenseman Mason Lohrei at the top of it.
But how do those two stack up with other top prospects from around the NHL? Maybe not as well as Bruins fans would hope, at least according to one expert.
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Scott Wheeler of The Athletic released his updated post-draft ranking of the top 50 NHL prospects under the age of 23, and neither Lysell, Lohrei nor any other Bruins prospect made the cut.
The Bruins were one of eight teams to not have a single prospect in the top 50. Now, it’s worth pointing out that all eight of them are teams that are consistently in the playoffs and therefore not picking high in the first round, where the overwhelming majority of truly elite prospects get picked. The other seven are the Hurricanes, Islanders, Panthers, Penguins, Capitals, Avalanche and Blues.
It’s also worth noting that Wheeler, who ranked the Bruins’ prospect pool 27th of 32 in January, did have Lysell as one of his 30 honorable mentions, a group he says is “largely interchangeable” with players 46-50. In the comment section, he adds that Lohrei would be “not far off” his top 100.
None of this is really a knock on Lysell or Lohrei, both of whom Wheeler has written about positively in the past. It’s just a reminder that there are a lot of good prospects in hockey, and those two aren’t quite on the level of the true blue-chip, top-10 pick types. The Bruins haven’t even had a pick in the teens since 2017.
Both still look like good picks given where they were taken. Lysell went 21st overall in 2021, and there are 16 players from the 2021 class in Wheeler’s top 50. Lohrei was a second round-pick; Wheeler’s top 50 features just six players who weren’t first-rounders.
Lohrei, who is currently recovering from offseason knee surgery, is heading back to Ohio State in the fall for his sophomore season. Lysell will be playing in the World Junior Championship for Sweden in early August. Where he spends this season will likely be determined based on how he does in Bruins training camp and preseason.
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