Boston Bruins: Revisiting the Three 2015 First Round Draft Picks
By Scott Roche
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.