Boston Bruins: Recapping the 2004 NHL Draft

Continuing Causeway Crowd’s journey back through time, we reach the 2004 NHL Draft. This draft would yield one particular gem for the Boston Bruins.

Second Round- 63rd Overall, David Krejci

The San Jose Sharks’ second-round pick went to the Boston Bruins as the result of a trade on June 26, 2004 that sent Boston’s third and ninth-round picks and Tampa Bay’s fourth-round pick all in 2004 (94th, 129th and 288th overall) to San Jose in exchange for this pick.

Therefore with their acquired pick they snapped up Czech centre David Krejci. With hindsight fully equipped it is fair to say that he was an absolute steal at 63rd overall. The Šternberk native has been a stalwart in the Bruins lineup for the best part of ten years. Amassing 545 points in 729 regular season games, all for the Bruins.

Where Krejci has overwhelmingly shown his value and skillset is in the playoffs. Krejci has put up 77 points in 96 playoff games.

Most notable about Krejci’s game his is Hockey IQ, two-way game, passing and playmaking. While paying your second line centre $7.25m a season is a lot he is absolutely worth that figure. Combining with Patrice Bergeron, the Bruins have such depth at centre and both play a 200 foot game.

With three years remaining on his contract following the conclusion of the current campaign, it’s not to bold a statement to say that he should witness another Bruins cup run (or two).