Has there ever been an easier pick to make?
The Bruins are sitting in the same position that the Seattle Supersonics were sitting in 2007 when the Greg Oden/Kevin Durant NBA draft debates were rampant.
The Sonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder) selected Durant, who has averaged 25.3 points per game in his career, including 30.1 this season to go along with an All-Star game and playoff appearance. Oden, on the other hand, has played in only 82 games because of injuries and has career numbers of 9.4 points per game and 7.3 rebounds per game.
Now, I understand that this is hockey and to compare the two seems idiotic, but that particular instance shows exactly what can happen in the wild world of sports—the draft in particular.
I’m not saying that I would prefer the number two pick to the number one pick in a toss up situation – as is the case with this year’s Taylor Hall/Tyler Seguin scenario—but sitting at number two seems far EASIER than sitting at number one.
Simply put, you choose “the other guy.”
If he fails to live up to the hype, there are going to be few that blame the Bruins for making the selection in hindsight because the top two prospects are head and shoulders above the rest of the draft class.
That is what makes it so hard for the Edmonton Oilers to consider swapping picks with the B’s in any potential deal.
Suppose Edmonton deals the pick to the Bruins, the Bruins select Hall and he goes on to become a superstar as Seguin fades into mediocrity. The backlash in Edmonton would be horrific. If Edmonton stays at number one and their pick fails to live up to the hype, it would also result in plenty of Monday morning quarterbacks chiming in north of the border and complaining about the botched pick.
The Bruins, on the other hand, have it easy. If they don’t make a deal to obtain number one, they get to just sit back and see who falls to them. If whoever they take doesn’t work out in the long run, the backlash will be far less devastating than an Edmonton screw up would be.
Everyone knows that either Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin is coming to the Bruins. Everyone has an opinion and a preference (probably winger Taylor Hall to most). One thing that’s agreeable is that either will look phenomenal in a Bruins sweater for years to come.
This isn’t to say that Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli and company don’t have their work cut out for themselves leading up to Friday night’s draft, but the Oilers are really the ones who are dictating a large portion of the Bruins future at this point.