Who did the Bruins pass on?
What’s even worse is who the Bruins passed on. The next three straight picks that followed the Bruins’ picks were Mathew Barzal, Kyle Connor, and Thomas Chabot. Later in the first round, players like Joel Eriksson Ek, Brock Boeser, Travis Konecny, Jack Roslovic, and Anthony Beauvillier were selected.
The list goes on and on and on, with Sebastian Aho taken in the second round, Anthony Cirelli in the third, and Conor Garland in the fifth. Sure, those players were passed by other teams as well, but the Bruins chose instead to draft players like Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson, Jeremy Lauzon, and Dan Vladar.
Sure, the Bruins had a positive pick with Brandon Carlo (No. 37 pick). But it’s hard to view an entire draft as a success when two out of your three first-round picks have been swing-and-misses and your other’s future with the team in serious trouble.
"“Obviously, hindsight is everything we’d all love to have. But moving forward and thinking about making different decisions or better decisions, I guess,” Neely said. “You can always do that in every draft though, no matter where you pick and how many picks you have.”"
There’s nothing that can be done now. It’s a draft that Neely, Sweeney, and pretty much every Bruins fan would like to forget. But it’s just nice to know that the Bruins recognize how big of a mess-up that draft was.