Boston Bruins Looking For Their Future at the NHL Combine
The 2016 NHL Entry Draft is just three weeks away and the Boston Bruins are looking for players that can help shape the Bruins organization in the next decade. The Bruins and the rest of the NHL franchises were at the NHL Combine in Buffalo to find the players that would be the best possible fit for the Black and Gold.
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The Boston Bruins have seven picks at the moment. They’ve got two in the first round (14th and 29th or 30th depending on how well the San Jose Sharks can do against the Pittsburgh Penguins), a second round pick, two picks in the fifth round, and one selection in the sixth and seventh rounds. Now, it’s up to Don Sweeney and the Bruins organization to find quality players.
“The quality of the draft is good. I saw some really, really impressive kids over the course of the last four days,” offered Bruins General Manager Sweeney to the media in Buffalo. “We feel very good with two picks in the first round, and again in the second round, that we’re going to get good players.”
The NHL Entry Draft usually sees teams moving up and down with draft picks. Last year saw the Boston Bruins horse trade their way to three consecutive first round draft picks. They netted Jakub Zboril, Jake Debrusk, and Zach Senyshyn. Sweeney will try to improve the teams’ position, but for the most part he seems happy with the choices they’ve planned to make.
“I think there’s a chance for a lot of movement going into the draft, and there’s been a lot of talk about it, so you have to expect that somebody might move into a position that you didn’t necessarily think they were taking that player,” said Sweeney. “But again, the depth up until that point is pretty good, so we feel comfortable.”
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“I haven’t disguised the fact that we’re open to do anything to improve our hockey club. We addressed a lot of the things I needed to address last summer. We want to continue to do that through the draft and we’re committed to that, the development process, but we also want to improve our club, so if the opportunity presents itself, we’re going to do it.”
Hopefully, the Bruins will see the road ahead and find a solid choice. 72% of Bruins fans on the Boston Bruins home page believe that the B’s need to find themselves a new blueliner to start things off. There are several solid prospects who will be available in the first round and hopefully the B’s can properly plan for the future and find more players like Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron (and a few less like Jordan Caron).