The Boston Bruins have another prospect who is set to play locally. 

Cole Chandler, the Bruins’ fifth-round pick in the 2025 draft, is committed to Northeastern for the 2027-28 season. Of the seven selections the Bruins made at the 2025 draft, five will have played college hockey, with four of them playing in Massachusetts.

Chandler, however, is the only one playing within city limits. For the 19-year-old, Northeastern seemed like a perfect fit, and the chance to play in Boston, including in the Beanpot, is only an added bonus. 

“I was talking to one of the coaches there, and super welcoming, super, like, everything they do […] it fits my game,” Chandler said after development camp Thursday. “The way they were talking about developing prospects, and obviously, it’s in Boston, so you can’t really beat it playing in TD [Garden] with the Beanpot and everything. It’s pretty cool.”

The ball started moving during development camp in 2025, just a week after Chandler was drafted. Northeastern’s coach, Jerry Keefe, a Billerica native, has checked in during past development camps, and Mark Divver reported he was at Warrior this past week, too. 

“I visited [during] last year’s dev camp, got to see the campus, see where I’m going to spend the next four years of my life,” Chandler said. “And yeah, it felt like home already, so I think it was just a major fit.”

Cole Chandler is committed to Northeastern for the 2027-28 season. 

On what appealed to him: “I was talking to one of the coaches there, and super welcoming, super, like, everything they do … it fits my game. The way they were talking about developing prospects, and obviously,… pic.twitter.com/TzNoKgBv1V

— Jack Studley (@jackstudley13) July 2, 2026

Before he comes to Boston, Chandler has one more season in the QMJHL, and he is moving closer to home. 

He posted a 52-point season (20-32–52) with the Shawinigan Cataractes (QMJHL) during the 2025-26 campaign, tied for the fourth-most on the team. Then the Cape Breton Eagles came calling. Chandler and another forward were packaged for a handful of draft picks, bringing the Bedford, Nova Scotia, native just four hours away (~240 mi.) from home. 

For comparison, Shawinigan, Quebec, is nearly 11 hours (~710 mi.) from Bedford. 

Aside from moving closer to home, Chandler knows that the coaches are going to harp on him from the second he arrives, only furthering his development. 

“The coaching staff over there is unbelievable. They’re just going to be hard on me, and you know, bring my game to the next level,” Chandler said about landing in Cape Breton. “We talked at the draft. I haven’t gone over there yet, but I think with the group we have doing the trades, you can kind of look on paper, our roster is unbelievable. So I hope we bring our game together and gel.”

The QMJHL schedule differs from the NCAA’s. The QMJHL has a 64-game season, whereas college schedules are roughly half that length. 

“I think just being on a team that’s ready to make a push for it, being late in those playoff games are going to help me have experience coming into college,” Chandler added. “I think that’s a huge part of the game. It’s a 32-game season here and 60-something for us, so, you know, it’s a huge difference in the game. I think just getting in every night, you have to be there and prepare.”

Credit: Connor Nee / Boston Hockey Now

Chandler needs time, and he will get it with another year in the QMJHL before college. Adam McQuaid, the Bruins’ director of player development, wants to see more consistency out of the fifth-round pick. The hands and the shot are there; he put those on display during both development camps, but fine-tuning the smaller details will put Chandler in a great spot before he lands with Jerry Keefe. 

“An important thing for him is going to be to continue to work on his skating, work on his first few steps. For all young players, just the consistency for him,” McQuaid said Thursday. “He’s getting a fresh start at Cape Breton. He should have a really good team. So I think mostly just seeing the consistence, compete, competitive nature of his game.”

“When he’s on, he’s really hard to handle. And again, that kind of comes with continuing to mature as a player.”

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