During his time as GM of the Boston Bruins, you can’t deny that Don Sweeney has had success. From trades to free agent signings, Sweeney has had some good moves and decisions. When it comes to drafting, that’s another story.
For years now, NHL Draft writers have ranked the Bruins near the bottom of the league when it comes to prospects. ESPN recently ranked the 32 NHL teams' prospects pool and coming in at the top spot is the San Jose Sharks. Bringing up the rear, you guessed, it's the Bruins.
Bruins ranked 32nd by ESPN in prospects ranking
Rachel Doerrie of ESPN ranked every team's prospects and to no one's surprise, the Bruins came in dead last at No. 32. There are several reasons for that ranking and there are several reasons for the Sharks being at the top. There were years where Sweeney would trade the Black and Gold’s first-round picks and there were years where the Sharks accumulated first-round picks at trade deadlines.
If we’re being honest, the Bruins have had some success drafting. Currently, Mason Lohrei, John Beecher, and Matthew Poitras making a big impact now, as is Jeremy Swayman. Fabian Lysell has struggled to make the NHL since joining the organization as their 2021 first-round pick, 21st overall. This season, Boston got their first-round pick back in the Linus Ullmark trade with the Ottawa Senators and selected Dean Letourneau, who is at Boston College.
As Doerrie pointed out, after him, the Bruins lack any promising prospects who are not already in the NHL. Having difficult drafts does not all fall on Sweeney, but you can’t deny how weak their prospect pool is. Georgii Merkulov and Brandon Bussi were two of their top prospects currently in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Providence Bruins and they were both signed as undrafted free agents out of college and Ohio State and Western Michigan respectively.
As long as he is GM of the Bruins, expect Sweeney to dangle his first-round draft picks at the trade deadline if there is a move that can be made to make his team better. Drafting will always be under a microscope as long as Sweeney is in Boston and there is only one way for it to go from here and that’s up.