By Russ Cohen
I’ve liked Will Zeller’s skillset for a while now. I originally had him in my top 32 in his draft year, but he fell off my board. Not because he did anything wrong, but the field got stronger. It happens.
He’s 5’10”, so that makes the road to the NHL a little rockier, but it can be done. Others have done it. His choice of going to North Dakota has been a strong one. Back in 2023-24, when he was at Shattuck, he was the leading scorer with 111 points. The second leading scorer was Ryker Lee.
Fast forward to a tournament, a longtime friend of mine, Adam Wodon, was at, and I asked him to keep an eye on Zellers, and he liked what he saw. That’s when I started to watch him more, and eventually, I had an interview with Ryker Lee, and when I asked him about some players he’s played with, he mentioned a few, and Zellers was there. And it was a good report, and that’s when I knew I needed to track him more closely.
After going undrafted in 2023 and getting selected by the Colorado Avalanche in the third round in 2024, he ramped up his game in the USHL. In 2024-25, Zellers had 44 goals in 52 games with the Green Bay Gamblers. That’s an incredible number.
I noticed when the Bruins got his rights in a trade last March. I knew that with him and James Hagens, the future was getting a little brighter in Beantown.
I re-watched Zellers this season. I wanted to see if he could make the World Junior roster with a stacked USA team, and he did. Zellers has been getting 26% defensive zone starts in North Dakota according to InStat. He doesn’t take dumb penalties, and he has averaged over 16 minutes a game. He’s a creative player and a stone cold goal scorer. He isn’t afraid to shoot. He’s averaging 5.4 shots per game and has 10 goals in 18 games. forehand, backhand, he will improvise. For Team USA he can be an important source of secondary scoring and a boost to the power play if they want him there. (I talked about him on Off The Post as well).
The moral of the story is, I listen to teammates and then look for myself based on what they tell me. Lee is a heck of a player in his own right, and I appreciate his hockey brain, and that combination is what’s fueling him, and the two of them should have a great World Junior tournament.
