Is this the Boston Bruins' biggest problem as a franchise?
Don Sweeney took over the role as the general manager of the Boston Bruins on May 20th, 2015. The first moves we got to see from Sweeney were at the 2015 NHL Draft, and unfortunately, all know what happened during that draft.
The Bruins had three straight picks in the first round: 14th, 15th & 16th overall, where they drafted Jakub Zboril, Jake Debrusk & Zachary Senyshyn.
The next players selected after the Bruins' picks were: Mathew Barzal, Kyle Connor, and Thomas Chabot. Later in the draft went players like
Brock Boeser, Travis Konecny, and Sebastian Aho. All of them have had much better careers than the three players the Bruins selected.
Since the start of the 2015 draft, the Bruins have selected 43 players. Of those 43 players, only 5 players have played over 100 games (one not even for the Bruins [Ryan Lindgren]). Of those 5 players, only 3 have played over 200 games. Since the 2015 draft, only Brandon Carlo, Jake DeBrusk & Charlie McAvoy have turned into full-time NHL players for the Bruins.
Between the 2018-2021 drafts, the Bruins have selected 21 players. Do you know how many combined games played these players have? Zero. That's right, they have not had a single player from the last 4 drafts play in a single NHL game.
Boston is led by star players like Patrice Bergeron (36) and Brad Marchand (34), who continue to get older, so the Bruins need to start hitting on these draft picks to continue to be a threat in the NHL.
The team brought in Taylor Hall last year to add additional scoring depth, but even Hall this year will be turning 31, while third-line centre Charlie Coyle will be turning 30. Unless you are Brad Marchand apparently, this is not the time in a player's career where they begin to get better. Unfortunately, this is when we begin to see a decline.
So I ask you this question, is the lack of Bruins prospects making the NHL a player development problem? Or is it a drafting problem?
