Boston Bruins: The 2015 NHL Entry Draft is even worse now
The 2015 NHL Entry Draft will forever be a monstrous blemish on Don Sweeney’s resumé. It is shaping into one of the best draft classes ever. Yet, with their three first-round picks, the Boston Bruins failed to bring in any game-changing talent.
Sweeney opted to go off the board and well, it is extremely frustrating to process. With their picks, they of course chose Jakub Zboril, Jake DeBrusk, and Zach Senyshyn.
Zboril just played his first full NHL season and found himself out of the lineup after the Mike Reilly trade. DeBrusk started off his career quite well, but has not been the same player these last two seasons. He may be traded because of this. Senyshyn, who no scout pegged as a first-rounder, has yet to crack the NHL roster with any true regularity. This likely won’t happen in Boston, either.
What is truly infuriating is that they consciously passed on players with higher projected ceilings. Some of these include Thomas Chabot, Travis Konency, and Brock Boeser. Missing on Chabot is particularly disappointing, as like Zboril, he is a puck-moving, left-handed defenseman. The difference is, though, he has found immense success as a top-pairing defenseman with the Senators and may be their future captain.
For the Boston Bruins, it only has gotten far worse after this postseason.
Mathew Barzal was the biggest miss for the Bruins in this draft, though. He already slipped in the draft, and the team was essentially given him. He would have been a perfect replacement for both Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci when they retire. Instead, he is now the franchise center of the New York Islanders.
His offense was a huge reason why they got by the Bruins this postseason, too. He produced at a point-per-game pace in the series. His play improved as it progressed, too, which helped the team take control of the series.
It is hard to accept as a fan, but it was inevitable. This draft will forever haunt the Bruins, and it rightfully should. Going off the board once in awhile is understandable, but doing it three times like the Bruins did with this draft is ludicrous. On the bright side, though, at least they managed to steal an absolute gem in Brandon Carlo with the 37th pick.
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The past cannot be changed, sure, but it can impact the future. Let’s just hope passing on Barzal does not come back to bite the Bruins again.