Dean Letourneau

June 2025 – The hype was high for Letourneau in his draft year, fresh off a Herculean 61 goal, 66 assist and 127 points season in the Triple AAA ranks for St Andrew’s college. The numbers in a vacuum are staggering, however, they came in Triple A. However, they were the highest point totals in that league in more than 20 years, and 18th highest all-time. So what do we have with the massive 6-7 forward?

His first NCAA season certainly cooled the jets of fantasy managers who sorted the draft class by height or otherwise took him in their fantasy drafts. His 36 game rookie campaign saw him provide zero goals and three assists, with six penalty minutes- not the type of season we’d have hoped to see.

Keep in mind, Letourneau only just turned 19 in February, and has a lot of runway ahead of him before he gets into professional hockey. Larger players, let alone the size he is, famously take a long time to hit their stride, and Letourneau has plenty of time ahead of him to show us if he will hit the expectations of settling in as a decent two-way, middle-six centreman in time. Alex Wyatt

June 2024 – Letourneau was selected 25th overall by Boston. Pat Quinn

April 2024 – Letourneau is a simple, puck controlling center with just enough soft skill in his passing and shot to be a threat of his own. The PHC has been a bit disingenuous to his offensive upside, but there’s still reason to believe there’s a good offensive player here. Letourneau has a great understanding of positioning his body in transition to protect the puck and is able to find lanes other’s can’t by just muscling people. I am a little concerned he’s reliant on his size as Letourneau doesn’t seem to have an answer to strong defenders who plant their feet and challenge him head on. I don’t know if he’s a reliable puck carrier at higher levels either, due to his very floaty stride, Letourneau may find himself struggling against backcheckers in the future and he doesn’t yet have the mobility to react and get himself second chances like others his size do. Letourneau’s strength comes from playing simple, mistake-free hockey, and at his size that’s enough to warrant a tangible NHL future; I’d just bet it’s in a more limited role. To play the comparison game, I see a lot of Nick Bjugstad in Letourneau. I imagine for Dean to see success, he will need to take a lot of the same cues in his development. David Saad

April Ranking: 63rd