By: Matt Skillings | Follow me on Twitter / X @matt_skillings
Before the 2025 National Hockey League Entry Draft – when the Boston Bruins made a splash by grabbing NCAA superstar James Hagens with their first top-10 pick since 2011 – it had been a rocky stretch of drafts for Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney, to put it lightly. However, Sweeney may have uncovered a diamond in the rough back in 2022, when he used his fourth-round selection to take Latvian center Dans Locmelis.
Locmelis spent the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons with the University of Massachusetts Minutemen in the NCAA, where he emerged as a dominant force in the college ranks. I had the privilege of covering Locmelis and UMass Hockey for three seasons, and I can confidently say that this kid is not your average fourth-round pick.
College hockey fans are familiar with UMass head coach Greg Carvel – one of the most respected NCAA coaches in the country. In my three years covering the team, there wasn’t any other player that Carvel spoke higher of than Locmelis. That includes several players from that period who have since debuted in the NHL.
Via a report from the Athletic, this is what Carvel most recently said on Locmelis as he makes the jump to pro hockey:
“He’s a really complete player and that’s not easy to be anymore,” Carvel said. “At our level, he wasn’t an A-plus at anything, but he was like an ‘A’ at everything. … His complete package of a game is hard to match with players at the NCAA level. And he never had the high numbers offensively that he probably could have. I just think he’s extremely intelligent.”
Locmelis won’t blow you away with his size (6-foot, 172 pounds), nor will he dazzle you with elite speed or shooting. He doesn’t bring the flash of prospects like Hagens or Will Moore or Matt Poitras. What he does bring is a hockey IQ far beyond that of the average 21-year-old, NHL-ready offensive zone awareness, and silky hands that are comparable to even the top prospects around the league.
Locmelis represented Team Latvia in this year’s IIHF World Championships. In a 7-1 loss to Canada, he registered an assist on the lone goal for Latvia – but his performance against arguably the best hockey country in the world drew praise from none other than Sidney Crosby.
Time and time again in his time at UMass, Locmelis showed a knack for thriving in high-leverage moments, including a beautiful overtime assist in the NCAA tournament against juggernaut Minnesota to help his team complete an improbable comeback.
He scored UMass’ lone goal against in the following game against Western Michigan with a dazzling breakaway move against the team that went on to win the NCAA Tournament. He also pulled off the “Kucherov” in an early-season shootout win and made a dozen other improbable assists while playing on a line with two other NHL Draft picks.
What stands out most about Locmelis’ game is his vision in the offensive zone. He constantly makes plays out of nothing. He’s a pass-first player, but he’s smart enough to know that opponents expect that – and uses it to his advantage, baiting defenders before making smooth moves and scoring himself.
To give him a player comparison – and I truly don’t think it’s hyperbolic – he is the exact type of player David Krejci was. He’s the same size as Krejci and possesses an almost identical skill set.
Am I saying Locmelis is as good as David Krejci? No. But he has the tools and the potential to become that type of player down the line. He jumped right into professional hockey following his NCAA season and put up 12 points in six games. Locmelis is among the most adaptable players you’ll find: he fits into any offensive scheme and meshes well with any linemates he’s given, and he was given a lot in his time at UMass.
The big potential pitfall for Locmelis is his frame – he’s lanky and has at times looked vulnerable getting crunched by bigger players. That said, he doesn’t shy away from contact like many smaller players do. He embraces it and is often able to spin off of it to make good plays. If he can put on some weight, that concern goes out the window as far as I’m concerned.
Although he’s having a strong training camp, he probably still only has an outside shot of making the NHL roster come opening night, given the Bruins’ depth up the middle at the NHL level consists of Elias Lindholm, Casey Mittlestadt, Pavel Zacha, and Sean Kuraly.
Honestly, I’d rather see him start the season in Providence, centering one of the top two lines. That would served his development better than floundering in the bottom six or as a scratch with Boston.
But come midseason – if the Bruins become what is expected of them, which is a bottom-feeder in the league – Locmelis could, and should, be one of the first guys to get that call-up to the big club.
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