It has been a long, frustrating road for University of Michigan junior John Beecher.
The Elmira, N.Y., native and 30th overall selection of the Boston Bruins in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft is coming off a lost sophomore year in 2020-21. He got injured during a practice and was lost for the rest of the pandemic-impacted schedule after shoulder surgery.
Still, the power center and last of a record eight first-round selections off of the U.S. National Team Development Program’s prized 2001 birth year, was excited for the opportunity to return to action with his high-powered Wolverines teammates.
In just two years since that draft, Beecher is the only one of the eight Team USA grads taken in the top-31 who has yet to turn pro. Five of the seven in pro hockey have already played NHL games, top overall selection Jack Hughes leading the way for the New Jersey Devils with 119 career games in the big show. Alex Turcotte, drafted four spots later by the Los Angeles Kings, is likely the next to see his first NHL action.
That leaves Beecher and Millis, Mass. native and former Boston College star Matthew Boldy (Minnesota- 12th) as the only two still waiting for their chance. The way things are shaping up, Boldy’s wait won’t be a long one. Beecher has a longer road ahead to reach the NHL but is expected to sign with Boston when his season ends.
In his first B's prospects camp since he was the newest first-round selection in 2019, there wasn’t a great deal to glean from it all. Because he was still in a red non-contact jersey, he was a limited participant in drills and didn’t play in the final scrimmage.
He did speak with the media, addressing the areas of his game he’s looking to improve: “I think my biggest thing still is just the off-ice side of the game,” he said “Just kind of building my hockey IQ, knowing when to put pucks where and just being better away from the puck, better finishing. So just little things like that will make a big difference down the road. And I mean, just like the mental side of the game just getting smarter and older and just kind of growing as the years go on. So that’s been a big focus of mine.”
Prior to the start of the 2021-22 campaign in Ann Arbor, Beecher suffered another setback, injured in practice once more and forced to miss the first several weeks of the new season. He returned to action this month and is off to a nice offensive start, with a pair of goals and four points in the same number of games. All in all, it’s a needed break for the one-time Salisbury School prep star who skated for the Crimson Knights before leaving for Team USA and Michigan in 2017.
“Beecher can really wheel,” an Eastern Conference NHL scout who has been watching the Boston prospect for years. “With his size and skating, those have always been his main carry tools. Maybe in any other birth year, he might have had a chance to develop his offensive identity more at the NTDP, but in that '01 group, he was more of a defensive center, and I think that’s had an impact on how he sees himself.”
When the B’s made their run to the 2019 Stanley Cup final series and came up painfully short, they ended up with the penultimate pick in that draft’s first round in Vancouver. While Beecher’s big body and playing style certainly fit the B’s archetype for what they look for in players, there wasn’t a lot of skill, high hockey IQ, or even production for him coming out of the NTDP. In the two years since, Shane Pinto (Ottawa), Arthur Kaliyev (L.A.) and Nils Hoglander (Vancouver) were all taken 2-10 spots after Beecher was the Boston pick.
In Michigan, it’s more of the same as what Beecher went through at the NTDP. He’s playing in a constellation of star forwards with the Wolverines, a team loaded with talent. The team’s top-five scorers are all first-round picks in 2020 and 2021, and three of them are forwards. That makes for a tough row to hoe for Beecher in terms of establishing much of an offensive role with this group. However, it is worth noting that being a middle-of-the-roster player presents him with some exploitable matchups. With his size, wheels and versatility, he can move up and down the Michigan lineup, too.
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“Yeah, I think it could help him to point more than expected,” the scout said of Beecher’s promising start. “He’s used that speed and his frame to get to the net and make some things happen early on. Can he sustain it? It’s going to be a challenge because I’ve always felt like he plays with the blinders on and doesn’t see it as well as others. He’s not all that skilled, either. So, his offense will have to come from driving those north-south lanes and crashing the net. He’s got a lot of excellent players around him on that roster, but will it translate in the pros when he won’t have such a great team around him? That’s the bigger question for me.”
At the same time, what Beecher does well is valued in the NHL. At the very least, he should be able to establish himself as a capable two-way forward in the NHL eventually. He has the potential to play for years, which is success in itself as opposed to first-round picks who never come close.
It’s just that with the B’s having the option to go with players at that draft spot with better promise for future top-six scoring roles in the NHL, the team may have come away with another complementary piece. At a time when they are in desperate need of future play drivers, especially at the center position, securing a third- or fourth-line pivot in a few years isn’t a disaster, but they'll need a lot more going forward.
“He reminds me a lot of Dave Steckel,” said the scout. “Not as tall, better skater, but similar type of big shutdown center who can be a serviceable two-way piece on a good team.”
Steckel was, interestingly enough, also the 30th overall selection in 2001. Steckel put up similar numbers in the NTDP to Beecher’s, though he played in a different era of the USHL. Steckel was more productive in four years at Ohio State before turning pro, posting a pair of 30-plus point seasons. While playing for the Capitals, Devils, Maple Leafs and Ducks, he never scored more than 8 goals and 19 points in a single season and finished his NHL career with 425 games.
With all due respect to the observer, the Bruins and their fans can only hope that Beecher’s upside is a lot higher than Steckel’s.
