By: Neil Simmons | Follow me on Twitter / X: @NSimmz
Progressing through the junior hockey ranks asks a player to do something that has nothing to do with on-ice skill: constantly adjust to a change of scenery. New rinks, new teammates, new coaches every year or two can be just as daunting as the new level of competition.
Bruins prospect Cooper Simpson has been living through this transition since Boston selected him in the third round at the 2025 NHL Draft, with his upcoming freshman year at North Dakota marking his fourth different team and third level of hockey within two calendar years. This time, when he gets to Grand Forks, there will be a familiar face there to help him get up to speed.
That help comes in the form of Will Zellers, a fellow Bruins prospect and Minnesota native, with whom Simpson has become fast friends. The duo have more in common beyond the Fighting Hawks, North Star State, and the Spoked B. Zellers was drafted 76th overall in the 2024 NHL Draft, and Simpson 79th a year later. Zellers concluded his USHL tenure with a 71-point season in Green Bay in 2025, and Simpson had 74 points in 2026. They train together in Minnesota and were stallmates at development camp, putting Zellers in position to take Simpson under his wing before he even moved into campus.
“I’m kind of following in his footsteps,” Simpson said at development camp. “He’s a year older than me, and he’s done the [same] stuff in front of me, so I kind of just talked to him a lot about what to do, and obviously school with him … it’ll be a lot of fun.”
In teaming up with Zellers, Simpson is joining one of the most decorated programs in college hockey, and they’re coming into the season with the expectations to match. North Dakota finished the prior season with 29 wins and a Frozen Four berth, their best campaign in a decade, and has its sights set on the championship this year. Doing so will require replacing a significant chunk of their offense. Half of the Fighting Hawks’ top six graduated in the offseason, and Zellers is the lone holdover on the top line. Simpson is one of seven incoming forwards contending for five open spots on the depth chart.
Simpson’s combination of pedigree and skill should give him a leg up on the other new arrivals to earn ice time right away. None of the other incoming forwards were drafted higher than the fifth round, and his aforementioned 74 points with Youngstown last season could go a long way towards helping NoDak replace the 104pts lost from their departing seniors.
BNG’s own Tom Calautti noted his progression between last year’s development camp and this year’s, saying his puck handling and skating skills are starting to catch up to his offensive instincts. In the words of Ryan Ward, his former coach with Youngstown, “He could probably have five goals every night.”
A strong start to life in Grand Forks could see Simpson follow in Zellers’ footsteps once again, this time on the international stage. Simpson was named to the Team USA World Junior Summer Showcase roster last month, and a big first half could see him play his way onto the final roster in December.
However long Simpson sticks around the NCAA, be it the one year or all five, there’s another familiar face waiting for him in the Bruins organization, ready to help his next transition. Back in July, the Providence Bruins announced the hire of Ward, Simpson’s coach at Youngstown, as an assistant coach on Trent Whitfield’s staff.
Ward heaped effusive praise onto Simpson during his time with the Phantoms, telling FloHockey “Cooper’s a kid we watched and really liked, and he got tendered by Tri-City for a reason a couple years back…. So when the opportunity came up to acquire him this summer, he’s certainly someone we had interest in.” But it was Ward’s final comment that should get Bruins fans excited about Simpson: “He’s someone that makes his teammates around him better.”
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