Bruins Prospect Harrison Has Career OHL Game Against the Barrie Colts

By: Mark Allred | Follow me on Twitter @BlackAndGold277

Last night Boston Bruins forward prospect Brett Harrison set a personal career high playing in the Ontario Hockey League with the Windsor Spitfires, and that was accomplishing the feat of a five-point game. The B’s third-round selection in the 2021 National Hockey League Entry Draft was recently moved before the 2023 OHL Trade Deadline to the Windsor Spitfires with Bruins ties to head coach and former Boston forward Marc Savard.

Tonight as the Spits were in Barrie, Ontario, to face the home team, Barrie Colts and Windsor came away in the offensively entertaining road game, winning 8-7. Harrison, who’s been on fire since the trade to Windsor, has produced offensive numbers of 8-7-15 in just eight games. Before the trade with his former Oshawa Generals, Harrison posted impressive numbers of 16-17-33 in 27 games. He got a late start to his 2022-23 hockey season as he broke his leg while training and getting ready for this regular season campaign.

Harrison’s previous career high of four points was accomplished in a game on December 12th, 2021, in a 4-1 victory over the OHL Peterborough Petes as a member of the Oshawa Generals organization. In that game, he contributed two goals and two assists. Harrison, now a 19-year-old 6′-2″ 185-pound versatile forward (C/LW), is most likely playing his last season of OHL hockey unless the Boston Bruins see fit and Windsor has room for a return to the Canadian Juniors for his overage season.

With the way Harrison has played this season, starting with the Oshawa Generals and now with a stronger Windsor Spitfires team looking to do damage in the OHL, I highly doubt he will return to that level for another year of development. My guess, since Brett put ink to paper on a three-year, entry-level contract back on August 1st, 2022, is that the Bruins plan is to have him in the American Hockey League with the Providence Bruins as he’ll be outside of his 20-year-old year and not protected by the CHL and NHL agreement.

With current Boston Bruins veterans Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci’s futures uncertain, it’s time to take an aggressive approach to build up the organizational center depth. I believe the prospect pool up the middle is getting better with names like Georgii Merkulov, John Beecher, Curtis Hall, Oskar Steen, and Harrison, who all have a year or more under Bruins control. Centers and often wingers Marc McLaughlin and Samuel Asselin will be restricted free agents at the end of this season, and both players can go as far as an arbitration hearing if needed to get deals for future service to the B’s organization.