WILMINGTON, Mass. – Ryan Fitzgerald is quite used to being front and center as one of the local Massachusetts prospects at Bruins Development Camp in the past three years.

The 2013 fourth round pick from the North Shore has a good pedigree to start with. His father, Tom Fitzgerald, played 17 years in the NHL and his cousin Keith Tkachuk was a physical presence in the league for 18 years. Additionally, he is also cousins of the Hayes brothers, Jimmy and Kevin.

Entering his junior season at Boston College, Fitzgerald is hoping to live up to the family’s standards when he enters the pros. For now, he is focusing on fine-tuning his game and learning a few things from Jay Pandolfo, who replaces GM Don Sweeney as the director of the camp in its ninth season.

“They both run a terrific camp,” said Fitzgerald of Pandolfo and Sweeney. “You see some similarities, but you also see some differences with the way Jay runs it. They both do a terrific job and you can see that Jay builds off of what Don has been doing in the past few years.”

There might be a few changes in the Development Camp staff, which also includes Providence Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy, Providence College bench boss Nate Leaman and former Bruin P.J. Axelsson. There is one thing that remains constant with Fitzgerald, though: the experience.

This year Fitzgerald is joined by five other Massachusetts born players, including fellow high school classmate and Union College forward Mike Vecchione. The line, that also included Brendan Collier (a Northeastern forward and a Hurricanes seventh round selection in 2012) sparked Malden Catholic to Super 8 titles during their high school days and Fitzgerald is happy to see his fellow MC alum get the invite to camp.

“We did a little three on three drill [on Wednesday] and me and him were paired up, so it was fun to get the chemistry back and it looks like nothing has changed,” Fitzgerald said. “We won a state championship together, so it’s definitely a surreal experience thinking back on it and it’s always going to be something special.”

“The things we were able to accomplish in high school as a line, alongside Brendan Collier, were pretty magical, so I mean if we were able to play together down the line as Bruins, that could mean trouble for the rest of the league for sure,” Vecchione added. “We always knew where the other one was going to be and we compliment each other so well on the ice with our styles of play so it would be an interesting thought as a future possibility.”

Fitzgerald is still a year or two away from starting his professional career. He will return to “The Heights” for his junior season in hopes of helping the Eagles bounce back from a first round exit during last year’s NCAA tournament.

His game continues to grow, and Fitzgerald remains confident that the experience at Development Camp and his improvement over the last couple years will pay off in 2015-16.

“I’m becoming a guy that they depend on to score, so it’s definitely a role that I’m embracing,” said Fitzgerald, who has 54 points (30 goals, 34 assists) in 78 career games for BC.

“We have a good squad coming in and we have a number of veterans returning. So hopefully we can bounce back from last year and go from there.”