Bruins, Habs Swap Top Prospects
2024-08-28A relatively quiet off-season for the Boston Bruins roared to life this morning with the announcement of a huge, one-for-one prospect swap between the Bruins and division rival Montreal Canadiens. Coming to the Bruins is winger Zach Benson, and headed to the Canadiens is defenseman Pavel Mintyukov. In last season's Late Night Press prospect ranking, Mintyukov ranked 9th and Benson 11th.
The Bruins, who boasted two of the top few defense prospects in the EHE between Mintyukov and Brock Faber, make the move from an area of strength to bring in a player that GM Trevor Cook is extremely high on, in an area where the team's future outlook is a little bit weaker.
"Oh, we absolutely love Zach," said GM Cook after making the deal. "To be fair, we absolutely love Minty, too. There are very, very few players out there that we would have entertained the thought of moving him for. They were both top-4 players in our rankings for the 2023 and 2022 drafts, respectively, so this is more about going after a high-end forward prospect when we had a couple of really good defenders, and vice versa for Montreal. Both are basically NHL-ready, very close to it, and the positional fit just makes a little more sense for both teams with the swap. We think they are both going to be phenomenal hockey players. But we couldn't be happier to have Zach here."
"He's always working his butt off out there, he's the smartest guy on the ice and he's an extremely talented kid, too," Cook says of Benson, who spent his junior career playing in Cook's hometown with the WHL's Winnipeg Ice.
Both players are expected to sign their entry-level contracts with their new teams over the off-season and make their pro debuts in 2024-25.
losing Benson is tough but like you said, this deal makes sense for both organizations
Bruins, Habs Swap Top Prospects
Boston acquires forward Zach Benson in exchange for defenseman Pavel Mintyukov
Great Hockey Deal. Well done Gents!
Bruins, Habs Swap Top Prospects
Boston acquires forward Zach Benson in exchange for defenseman Pavel Mintyukov