The Boston Bruins traded their first-round pick on Friday night in the JJ Peterka trade, leaving their highest pick being 56th overall. Fans had high hopes that they'd add to their growing talent pool of skilled forwards with the selection, and had the chance to do so with some players having fallen, but decided to go an alternate route and select Yuri Ivanov out of the MHL.
Yuri Ivanov in some playoff film with Spartak in the MHL. He’s under contract until 2027/28. #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/lp6ufHwj83
— Robert Chalmers (@IvanIvanlvan) June 27, 2026
Ivanov was the 10th-ranked international goaltender in the draft, meaning there was a distinct chance that the Bruins could've waited to grab him with one of their fourth-round picks or even later. However, the scouting staff clearly saw something in the goaltender and felt like they needed to get him without risking losing out.
"“Certainly we’re cognizant of the public lists and what’s out there, but for us, we’ve got to look at the attributes and value the players the way we value them. We had the opportunity to watch him play live a number of times. We watched him on video, we tracked him. Certainly as the year went on, we got a little bit more excited about his game…We’re just really excited about where his game could get to.” "Ryan Nadeau
Ivanov posted a 2.62 goals against average and .924 save percentage through 17 games in the MHL, which is a no small feat by any means. However, the level of competition in that league clear of a couple of the top players is average at best, and it's hard to project where that puts the goaltender until he starts facing tougher competition.
One positive for the Bruins is that they can look at fellow Russian goaltenders and see a path for Ivanov to become a good NHL goaltender. Some of the top goaltenders in the world, like Andrei Vasilevskiy, Ilya Sorokin, and Igor Shesterkin, played in that league in their draft years and had similar stat lines. If the Bruins are hoping for something similar from their goaltender, it might be a bet that pays off.
The Bruins saw him go from an unconfident third-string goaltender in the first half of the season to the starter of a Spartak Moskva team that he carried to the finals of the playoffs. The scouting staff hopes that it is only the beginning of his developmental rise.
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