The Bruins made a series of off‑ice adjustments this offseason, and you could make a strong case that several of them were driven by a renewed emphasis on player development. Earlier this week, the club announced updates to its Operations Staff along with new hires, signaling a continued push to strengthen the organization behind the scenes.
With a hard salary cap in place, the NHL’s financial heavyweights can’t simply out‑spend the league’s lower‑budget clubs on rosters the way they once could. Where they can flex, however, is in hockey operations — and the Bruins did exactly that with Tuesday’s announcement.
I’ve been vocal for a long time about the Bruins not doing enough in this area, but to be fair, Don Sweeney has made additions during his tenure that previous regimes simply didn’t prioritize. Today, it’s worth zeroing in on two of those additions — moves that should meaningfully strengthen the drafting-and-development model Boston needs to lean into moving forward.
The Bruins’ longtime Western Hockey League scout, Dean Malkoc, has been elevated to the pro scouting department. Back in August 2022, he was promoted to Associate Director of Amateur Scouting — a move that left Boston without a dedicated WHL scout and created a notable gap in their amateur coverage.
By dedicated, I mean someone whose sole responsibility is scouting that region.
On Tuesday, the Bruins filled that vacancy with Leland Mack, a veteran scout with more than 15 years of experience between the Prince George Cougars and Seattle Thunderbirds. It’s a strong addition for Boston. Mack brings deep ties across the WHL and comes from programs that have consistently funneled talent to the NHL, giving the Bruins a well‑connected, well‑seasoned evaluator in a critical region.
It’s a step in the right direction, but was it enough?
The WHL is an enormous scouting territory, stretching across four Canadian provinces and two U.S. states. The distance from Brandon, Manitoba to Portland, Oregon is a 26‑hour drive, and with no direct flights, travel with connections can run close to nine hours. By November 1, the league will span three time zones. Outside of Russia, it’s the largest geographic region in hockey to scout — and one of the most demanding.
While the addition of Mack is a smart and much‑needed step for the Bruins, the sheer size and demands of the WHL make it hard to argue they wouldn’t benefit from adding one more scout in the region, especially when you take into account the BCHL.
The other addition that stands out is Josh Cooper, who joins the Bruins as an amateur scout in Ontario. Cooper arrives from the London Knights — and any time you can bring in someone from the most consistently well‑run junior program in the world, it’s a win. His background and experience should be a meaningful boost to Boston’s scouting presence in one of hockey’s most talent‑rich regions.
The OHL, by contrast, is a far more compact scouting territory. Most league cities sit within a quick two‑hour drive of one another, and even when you factor in the OJHL or St. Andrew’s College — hello, Dean Letourneau — it’s still essentially a hop, skip, and a jump. It’s only when you push into Northern Ontario that the travel becomes truly demanding.
Let’s be honest: the Bruins haven’t exactly hit home runs with their recent Ontario picks — Ryan Mast, Brett Harrison, and Jackson Edward haven’t moved the needle the way the organization hoped. The jury is still out on Letourneau, Matthew Poitras, and Jonathan Morello, of course, but given the mixed results, an extra set of eyes in the region feels like a smart and overdue investment.
While these moves are clear positives for the Bruins, there’s still another step worth taking. Adding one more scout in the WHL — and another in Russia — would further strengthen the organization’s reach in two of the most challenging, talent‑rich regions to evaluate.
Let’s put that financial muscle to work a little more aggressively.
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