Boston Bruins: Revisiting Don Sweeney's Three First Round Picks in 2015

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Revisiting the Bruins three first-round picks of the 2015 Entry Draft.

Don Sweeney took over as general manager of the Boston Bruins in the spring of 2015. One of his first big moves in replacing Peter Chiarelli who the Bruins fired in early April that year, was the NHL Entry Draft in late June at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida.

The home of the Florida Panthers was where Sweeney had the Bruins first-round pick at No. 14 overall. Sweeney started wheeling and dealing prior to the draft when he arrived in South Florida and ended up with three consecutive picks in the opening round.

He first traded defenseman Dougie Hamilton to the Calgary Flames in exchange for the No. 15 pick and two second-round picks. Sweeney then sent forward Milan Lucic to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Colin Miller, Martin Jones and the No. 13 pick.

The Bruins were coming off of a season in which they finished fourth in the Atlantic Division with 96 points, but missed the final Eastern Conference Wild Card spot by two points to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Sweeney came in ready to make changes and had an opportunity to build for the future with three first-round selections.

Sweeney used those picks to take a defenseman and two forwards. Two of those three picks have recently re-signed with the Bruins, while one is a restricted free agent (RFA) that is waiting to see where he will begin the 2020-21 season.

Boston Bruins, Jakub Zboril #67 (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

Sweeny’s first selection was defenseman Jakub Zboril.

A top-rated and highly regarded defenseman coming into the draft, Sweeney grabbed Jakub Zboril with the 13th selection. He has spent the majority of his time in the Bruins organization in the American Hockey League with the Providence Bruins.

In three seasons with the P-Bruins, the 23-year old has 11 goals, 46 assists for 57 points and a plus-35. A left-handed shot, the 6-foot-0, 195-pound Zboril is a good two-way defenseman that is as steady as can be. He was one of the more physical defensemen that Providence had this season.

Zboril, who made his NHL debut against the Dallas Stars on November 17, 2018, could be on the verge of breaking into the Bruins’ top-six defensive unit. With captain Zdeno Chara still waiting to see where he play next season and with Torey Krug leaving the Bruins in free agency to go to the St. Louis Blues, there could be an opening once training camp begins.

In September, the Bruins loaned Zboril to Czech Extaliga club, HC Kometa Brno in his home country. On October 14, Zboril agreed to a two-year, $1.45 million extension. With the Bruins defense still having moving parts that have to be answered and has the look of a group that is transitioning to a younger core, Zboril might have the opportunity to finally break into the top-six.

Jake DeBrusk #74 of the Boston Bruins. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

Left-wing Jake DeBrusk was selected at No. 14.

Of the three first-round picks in 2015, this is the one that has had the most impact in Boston. Son of former NHL player Louie DeBrusk, Jake is currently a restricted free agent after three solid years with the Bruins.

DeBrusk had 16 goals his rookie season in 2017-18 and then netted a career-high 27 a year later. Last season on the second line with veteran David Krejci, DeBrusk had 19 goals and 16 assists in 65 regular-season games. Coach Bruce Cassidy moved him to the Bruins top power-play unit at different times during the 2019-20 season and he responded with seven goals, one more than the previous season with the man advantage.

During the 2019 playoffs, he had four goals and seven assists in 24 games as the Bruins advanced to the Stanley Cup Final. This season in the Toronto playoff bubble, he had four goals in 13 games with a minus-3.

One issue that he has not been able to shake has been his inconsistent play at times, in a time when the Bruins struggled with secondary scoring behind their top line. Some of that last year could be contributed to the fact the DeBrusk and Krejci had a rotating door at right-wing. Cassidy was never able to find consistency on the second line and that is something they need to fix going forward whether or not DeBrusk returns.

Will the Bruins be going forward with DeBrusk as part of their future? That remains to be seen as he is still sitting on the market. Boston has $6,657,686 cap space available according to CapFriendly. How Sweeney decides to use that remaining money will have an impact on whether DeBrusk returns to Boston next season or not.

Zach Senyshyn #19 of the Boston Bruins. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

Zach Senyshyn was selected 15th overall by the Bruins as their final of three consecutive picks.

Sweeney selected Zach Senyshyn from the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL with the final first-round pick. He was projected as a second-round pick, but Sweeney took a gamble to grab the right-wing in the opening round. It is a pick that has not worked the way the Bruins had hoped.

After scoring 114 goals in just over three seasons with the Greyhounds in 195 games, Senyshyn has underperformed since joining the organization in 2016. In three seasons in Providence, he has just 33 goals and 33 assists in 174 games.

He played two games during the 2018-19 season in Boston, which included his first NHL goal against the Minnesota Wild. Last season, he played four games for the Bruins with two assists. There is no doubt that the Bruins think the talent is there with him.

On October 21, Sweeney signed Senyshyn to a one-way, two-year deal for the league minimum $700,000. This is most likely his last shot with the Bruins, but he has struggled to work his way to Boston as even a fourth-line player. If he can’t take advantage of his chance to crack a spot in the bottom six the two years, this pick will go down as one of Sweeney’s worst picks.

Next. Bruins: Making the case to re-sign Zdeno Chara. dark

It’s also worth mentioning that all-stars Mat Barzal, Thomas Chabot, Brock Boeser and Travis Konecny were selected after Senyshyn in the first-round in 2015. Ouch.

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