Going into the 2024 NHL Draft on Friday night, the Boston Bruins should be hyper-focused on one position, and one position only: defensemen. Defensemen are tough to scout for any team, as most of their ability that they are scouted on is their intangibles.
In the past, most of the Bruins past defensive success - outside of Bobby Orr, Ray Bourque, or Johnny Bucyk - have come from outside acquisitions. Recently, however, the scouting department has gotten a bit better at scouting defensemen.
Defensemen Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo, and Mason Lohrei have all been successes for Boston as of late. In addition to them being successes, they were also drafted early - making the position a hot commidity.
With the addition of Jay Leach to the coaching staff, whomever they draft at the defensive position (if anyone) will be set up for success.
Why is defense such an essential position for them to draft?
This is a very good, and important, question to ask about Boston, especially considering that they do have depth at the position in the AHL, as well as at the NHL, level. However, given that they are the second smallest group of skaters on a team at any given time, you can never have too much defense.
Going into the draft the Bruins do have a first-round pick for the first time since the 2021 draft. It's essential that they take a defenseman early, as this defensive class is stacked up with good opportunities left and right.
The last time they took a defenseman in the first round, they took Urho Vaakanainen. While Vaakanainen did not work out with Boston, he did turn out to be a valuable trade piece for the Bruins when they eventually wanted to acquire another trade piece.
General manager Don Sweeney has said that they are prepared to take the best player available, but was not afraid to highlight the need for a left-handed defenseman.