Bruins 2024 First-Round Draft Pick Opens Up About Injury

The Boston Bruins’ 2024 first-round draft pick, Dean Letourneau’s first college season didn’t go exactly the way he wanted it to.

The 6-foot-7, 210-pound forward made a big jump from prep school with St. Andrew’s College in Canada to Boston College. Letourneau skipped playing a year in the USHL to play his freshman season with the Eagles.

By opting to skip a large developmental step with playing in the USHL, the 19-year-old struggled with BC. He skated in 36 games, tallying three assists with a plus-6 rating.

General manager Don Sweeney admitted before the 2025 NHL Draft that it would have been valuable for Letourneau to play a year in the USHL.

Letourneau did have something going against him, though, to start his college career. He played the first half of the season with a broken hand.

“Numbers weren’t where I wanted them to be,” Letourneau told reporters at Day 1 of development camp. “I was playing the first half of the year with a broken hand from an NTDP game.”

Around Christmas time, he had surgery on his hand, which made him feel 100%. With being put into a new role, Letoruneau still struggled to produce with the Eagles.

“I was put into a role that was a little new, playing a hard forecheck, hard backcheck, so I think overall I learned a lot of different things that I needed to work on in my game that’ll help me for next year when maybe I get put in a more offensive role” Letourneau said. “(I’ll have) more opportunity and those habits will still be there to be able to play my B game. I think overall, it was definitely a useful year.”

The Bruins’ director of player development, Adam McQuaid, praised the Boston prospect for how he handled the jump to college hockey.

“He honestly handled it really well. There were days of disappointment where he felt like he could and wanted to impact more,” McQuaid told reporters about Letourneau. “…At the end of the year, he said, ‘I’m going back to BC, I’m ready to compete for a spot.’ Nothing’s going to be given to him; he knows that, and it says a lot about him.”

Letourneau will head back to Chestnut Hill for his sophomore year to grow his game. He will be joining Bruins prospects James Hagens, Oskar Jellvik, Andre Gasseau, Kristian Kostadinski and Will Moore.