From the Beginning, Zellers Had Eyes Set on Hockey

MAPLE GROVE, Minn. – The Zellers family had a decision to make.

Kurt and Kim were debating whether to finish the basement of their suburban Minneapolis home when a friend recommended a new toy for their young, hockey-crazed son, Will.

It was not just an ordinary toy, it was a rather large one that was set to take up quite a bit of real estate.

“We used to build an outdoor rink in the back, but it’s not always easy to get out there with the snow,” said Kurt Zellers. “A friend of mine that I coached with on one of Will’s team was like, ‘Hey, there’s this really cool ‘Sniper’s Edge’ thing, it’s like a big tarp.’

“I said, ‘OK, I can probably put that up in the basement.’”

It was then that the Zellers had their verdict – the basement project was on hold in favor of an indoor shooting gallery.

“That was 12 years ago,” said Kurt. “And it just stuck.”

It stuck alright, thanks in large part to Will, who would spend hours upon hours smacking pucks off the tarp and into the net. His father estimates that Will would shoot 10,000 pucks a summer in the basement.

“The Malcolm Gladwell thing, 10,000 [hours]…” Kurt Zellers said of the Canadian author’s suggestion that 10,000 hours of practice makes you an expert in any field. “He was doing 10,000 pucks when he was our little guy Benny’s age, 11-12 years old. He was shooting 10,000 pucks in the summer.”

That drive, no doubt, helped Will Zellers become one of the finest goal-scoring prospects in hockey. It also made him a hot commodity this past March when the Bruins acquired him from Colorado at the trade deadline as part of the Charlie Coyle deal.

“We were really excited to see the trade. Colorado’s a great program, have a lot of respect for that,” said Kurt Zellers. “Boston’s a great town, a great program. Love to see him be a part of the next generation and that next wave of players coming in.”

For the Black & Gold, it was boon to snatch up Zellers, who was coming off a season in which he set the Green Bay’s single-season goals record with 44.

“Will Zellers is one of the top scorers in the USHL, another player that we specifically had gone after and targeted to add,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said in March following the trade.

From The Beginning

While Zellers had the comforts of a relatively warm Minnesota basement to hone his skills, it wasn’t always the No. 1 option – not even when the Land of 10,000 Lakes’ harsh winters tried to get in the way.

“There were times I remember he was in like second grade and most of the ice time would be outside in the winter. Minnesota is very cold in the winter,” Will’s mother, Kim, said with a chuckle last month at the family’s dining room table in Maple Grove. “If it was 30 below zero, they would cancel outdoor practice and he would say, ‘Mom, can you still take me so I can skate around? You can just sit in the warming house. You don’t have to stand outside and wait for me.’

“He was dedicated even from seven years old.”

That staunch commitment is why Kurt Zellers is hardly surprised that his eldest son ended up as a third-round pick of the Avalanche in the 2024 NHL Draft, and has become one of Boston’s most highly-touted prospects as seen at last week’s Development Camp in Brighton.

“He’s been driven for so long that it’s not really a surprise,” said Kurt Zellers. “The way he carries himself, the way he prepares, the things he’s willing to not experience as a high school kid by living at Shattuck [St. Mary’s School in Minnesota], none of that was by accident.

“Goals are great, the Michigan [move is] cool to see, but the way that he’s dedicated himself at such a young age is actually pretty inspiring.”

A Record Year

Zellers’ offensive prowess was evident during his years at Shattuck as he tallied an eye-popping 57 goals and 111 points in just 54 games during the 2023-24 season.

But making the jump to the USHL is no easy feat…for most.

The 5-foot-10, 175-pound forward did just fine when he arrived last fall in Green Bay, however, as he soared to the USHL’s all-time, single-season goal record of 44 (to go along with 27 assists) in 52 games – an accomplishment that Zellers says was not on his radar.

“My grandpa called me one night and he was like, ‘Yeah, you’re close to this goal record thing,” Zellers, who models his game after fellow Minnesota native Jake Guentzel, recalled. “I was like, ‘What?’ He was talking about it, and then I asked my coach about it and he was like, ‘Dang it, we were trying to keep it a secret so you weren’t starting to think about it.’

“But I couldn’t have done it alone, I had great teammates.”

The record was yet another reminder of the work that Will, who was also named the USHL Player of the Year, has put in from a young age.

“He starts off the season, kinds of gets a feel for the season and gels with his teammates, understands what his coaches want and as the season goes on, he just ascends,” said Kurt Zellers. “After that first game when he had two goals…I said, ‘Yeah, he’ll be able to play in the USHL.’”

But the individual numbers are not everything for Zellers.

“I’ll do anything to win. At Shattuck we won two national championships, we’ve done a lot of winning there,” said Zellers. “I think that’s the best part about hockey is winning, not the points, not the individual awards. I think winning with your team is the best part. I’ll do anything to win.”

A Visit to Boston

That mindset was on full display some two weeks before Development Camp, as Zellers had his eyes set on being ready for anything that was set to come his way – especially the vaunted bike test conducted by the team’s performance staff.

After an early morning three-on-three skate at a rink in nearby St. Louis Park, Zellers – almost daily – headed to the home of a local strength coach for an hour-long off-ice workout that, in addition to weight training, included some test runs on a stationary bike.

“I heard there’s a pretty tough bike test there, so I’m on the bike three times a week,” said Zellers. “Hopefully I’ll put up some good numbers.”

Zellers did just fine on the bike once Development Camp arrived and made sure to soak in all he could about the Bruins organization while at Warrior Ice Arena.

“I think it’s a great thing, being able to come in, they can see where your Development is at halfway through the summer,” Zellers said last week in Brighton. “They can put test scores on you, see how you do after years and years. It’s always great coming in here meeting everyone, meeting the coaching staff and getting your feet wet with the organization for new guys like me and new draft picks.

“Guys come in during the summer and kind of get your competitive juices flowing a little bit. In the summertime, you’re not doing too much, so it’s nice to come in here and put the work in in Boston.”

One thing Zellers made sure to zero in on during Development Camp: attention to detail.

“Everyone in the NHL is very detailed in what they do, whether it’s off the ice, on the ice, sleep, recovery,” said Zellers. “A lot of the guys’ details and all the coaching staff is detailed, so just honing in on my details and being detailed with everything I do and making sure I do it with a purpose not just to get it done.

“It’s good coming in here and knowing what you have to work on the rest of the summer and going into school or wherever you’re going. It’s great to get a baseline of where you’re at right now and where you want to be at.”

Bruins Player Development Coordinator Adam McQuaid said that in addition to Zellers’ obvious on-ice talents, his off-ice persona and approach was just as impressive.

“Right off the hop, the first time I talked to him in person, I was like, ‘Have I spent a ton of time with this kid somewhere else?’ He’s super easy to talk to. You feel like you’ve known him. It’s easy that way,” said McQuaid. “You can tell right away that he’s fitting right into the group. Just his on-ice, natural instinct for scoring, he doesn’t need a lot of opportunities and he capitalizes on them. I think he’s driven that way.

“I’ve seen some competitive edge to him…he has a little fire to him. Continuing to grow and fill out physically will be really important, but he’s a player that obviously our scouts identified and were excited to add to our group and we’re really excited to have him.”

Zellers was not the only high-end prospect on hand in Brighton last week, as first-round pick James Hagens also made his Black & Gold debut. It’s a duo that the Bruins hope will thrive together on Causeway Street in the not-so-distant future.

“He’s a great kid, great to talk to,” Zellers said of Hagens. “He’s a funny kid too. It’s always nice coming to these camps and learning from younger guys, older guys, guys like James who I’ve known for a while. It’s nice coming here and picking guys’ brains.

“I think he could be the steal of the Draft when you look back in 10-15 years. I was happy the Bruins were able to get him and hopefully I can play with him at some point in the future.”

On to North Dakota

There is, of course, plenty of work to do if Zellers is to pull the Spoked-B over this chest someday. The first step will come this fall as he kicks off his freshman campaign at the University of North Dakota, a place that holds a special place in the hearts of the Zellers family.

“Our family, generations have attended the university and so we’re super excited for him to be there and watch him play,” said Kim Zellers. “It’s been a dream of his since before he could walk. We’re just really excited, super proud and looking forward to this season to see what he can do.”

And true to form, there was really never a question as to where Will would end up for college.

“He was literally like this big,” Kurt Zellers said as he held his hand up to the family’s dining room table. “He had a foam stick, and a foam puck and he had this foot stool that we would turn over on end and I’d be goalie. I’d bet he wasn’t even two years old and he had a Sioux stick and Sioux jersey on.

“I played football for a couple years, we have lots of family that went there. It’s a very prideful place for us, but what he wanted and what he wanted to achieve was to go to UND, hang a national championship banner, be a part of an unbelievable program.”

As he gears up to make another step up to college hockey, Zellers is focused on shoring up his defensive game, realizing the importance of being a solid all-around player as he continues to climb the ranks.

“I think I’ve got to work on my defensive zone a little more. The more you can be trusted in that D-zone, the more trust you have from the coaches, the more playing time, the more opportunity out there,” said Zellers.

“Some games you’re not gonna be scoring goals as an offensive juggernaut, you’ve got to find other ways to bring factors into the game, whether it be killing penalties or shutting down a top line - even if I’m not the best at it, I’ve got to get better at that but also my off the puck movement.

“I want to be open for my teammates more, be more of an option for them. In college hockey, it’s tough, less time and space. It’s not just on them to get you the puck. You’ve got to be an option for them and put them in a situation to get you that puck.”

Bruins Player Development Coordinator and College Scout Parker MacKay believes that North Dakota is a great spot for Zellers to further that progression.

“He brings a lot of energy to the locker room, to the ice, he loves being on the rink,” said MacKay. “He loves talking hockey. He eats and breathes it. You can tell with the skillset that he has, but he’s been so fun to work with so far.

“He can get stronger, certainly, in order to be able to play an offensive game at the NHL level. That’s gonna come, though. He’s going to a great school at North Dakota. They do a great job. I think that’s one piece, but he’s already shown that he’s capable of doing that.”

With a few weeks to go before he reports to Grand Forks, Zellers is able to put more of a focus on those areas of his game, which is a bit of a change from last offseason when he was gearing up for the NHL Draft.

“I think, mentally, I’m just a lot more focused on my development path. At the Draft, I just wanted to get picked at a certain point,” said Zellers, who was selected by the Avs in the third round (76^th overall). “Now I’m thinking about the future, two to three years ahead. I want to get my mind there and my body there too. I think this offseason’s been a lot different.

“And of course my body’s matured a lot more and I’ve gotten a little taller and have a little more weight on me. It’s been a good summer so far.”

Into the Future

So far, so good, indeed.

And while he continues to grind, you can bet he’ll carve out plenty of time in the Zellers family basement.

“It’s gonna be a few years before we finish that basement with his little brother, [Benny], coming up,” said Kim Zellers. “Even though it’s super loud, it makes me happy just to hear him down there shooting. Then I know he’s home.”

Home…right where the dream began.

“It’s my sanctuary down there, I love going down there,” Will said. “It’s the best part of the house.”