General | 5/27/2025 12:00:00 PM
Will Zellers has been named USA Hockey's Dave Tyler National Junior Player of the Year, USA Hockey announced Tuesday. The United States Hockey League (USHL) Player of the Year and Boston Bruins prospect was named USHL Forward of the Year to the All-USHL First Team.
As defined by USA Hockey, the Dave Tyler Junior Player of the Year Award is presented annually to Junior hockey's most outstanding American-born player. It is chosen by a blue-ribbon panel of Junior coaches and administrators; criteria for the award include having played for a U.S.-based Junior team. The honor is named after Dave Tyler, who served on the USA Hockey Board of Directors for 32 years and played an instrumental role in developing and growing junior hockey in the United States. A USHL player has won the award yearly since the league became Tier-1 before the 2002-03 season.
Zellers recorded 71 points in 52 regular season games, tallying a league-leading 44 goals and 27 assists with a 1.37 point-per-game average, the highest mark for any skater during the 2024-25 season. He was a key piece of the Gamblers' top-ranked power play, which clicked at 27.8%, contributing 10 goals and 12 assists on the man advantage. Despite missing 10 games in the regular season, Zellers took a league-leading 214 shots with a 20.6% shooting percentage. The Maple Grove, Minn. native was selected in the 2024 NHL Draft by the Colorado Avalanche. Boston acquired his rights via trade in March 2025.
Previous winners of the Dave Tyler National Junior Player of the Year award include NHL standouts Jake Sanderson (NTDP, 2020), Jack Hughes (NTDP, 2018), and Kyle Connor (Youngstown Phantoms, 2015). Zellers joins Andrew Welinski (2012) and Aaron Smith (2000) as the only Gamblers to receive the honor.
About the USHL
The United States Hockey League and its 16 member clubs are committed to being the world's leading 16–20-year-old junior hockey league. During the 2024-25 season, USHL alumni held over 50% of NCAA Division I roster spots, and over 25% of NHL players had USHL experience. With 10 first-round selections and 49 total picks in the 2024 NHL Draft, the USHL has developed the most draft choices of any junior hockey league since 2012.
Elevated through the recently announced Declaration of Excellence with the NHL and USA Hockey, the league's player-first approach, including a 2:1 practice-to-game ratio and a schedule with 92% of games played on weekends, provides its players with the optimal environment for athletic and personal growth, creating pathways for the next generation of stars like Kyle Connor (Youngstown Phantoms), Macklin Celebrini (Chicago Steel), Matthew Knies (Tri-City Storm), Adam Fantilli (Chicago Steel) and Jeremy Swayman (Sioux Falls Stampede). More.