Entering the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, the Boston Bruins were set up for success with three consecutive first-round picks under general manager Don Sweeney who was overseeing his first draft as GM.
It has been noted on several occasions just how much of a miss the Bruins had in that draft in the first round. With the 13th pick, Sweeney selected defenseman Jakob Zboril. Then with the 14th pick, Boston chose Jake DeBrusk and with the 15th pick, Zach Senyshyn was selected to round the first-round picks.
DeBrusk has been the only one of those three picks to make an impact in the NHL. Zboril made the club out of training camp this season, but injuries played a big part in his season and caused him to find himself on the outside looking in. Senyshyn has had a couple of cups of coffee in Boston, but just hasn’t been able to stay around long enough to make an impact.
While fingers always get pointed to the first-round picks made after the Bruins made their three selections with four of the 15 picks after Senyshyn already making an NHL all-star team. Mathew Barzal was picked 16th by the New York Islanders, Thomas Chabot was taken 18th by the Ottawa Senators, Brock Boeser was selected 23rd by the Vancouver Canucks and the Philadelphia Flyers picked Travis Konecny 24th. Each of those four has already been NHL all-stars.
2015 Entry Draft hit a new low for the Bruins this week.
Just when you don’t think the 2015 draft could get worse for the Bruins, it hit an all-new low this week.
Boston’s 135th pick in the fifth round of the 2015 draft was traded to the Minnesota Wild in part of a deal where the Bruins landed the Wild’s 2016 fifth-round pick. With that pick, Minnesota selected left wing Kirill Kaprizov.
Earlier this week, Kaprizov was named the NHL’s 2021 Calder Trophy, given to the league’s top rookie. This season, Kaprizov, in 55 games scored 27 goals and had 24 assists for the Wild, who finished in third place in the Central Division. He ended up with 997 points in the voting to win the award by over 300 points over Jason Roberston of the Dallas Stars.
This season, the Bruins struggled with secondary scoring at different points of the season, and having Kaprizov would have gone a long way in helping the Black and Gold. Could he have been the answer on the second line with David Krejci? Maybe, but at worst, a young third-line left with the ability to score would have given the Bruins a boost to their bottom-six.
In a hypothetical world, Kaprizov would have finished second on the Bruins with his 27 goals and would have been just two behind the team-leader Brad Marchand. Again, it’s just hypothetical, but imagine what Kaprizov would have done wearing the Spoked-B.
The talk about the 2015 Entry Draft will center around the first round, and for good reason. However, just when you think things couldn’t get worse for the Boston Bruins with the 2015 draft, it did this week.