Dean Letourneau

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