By Zackery Robert
Coming up next in this draft day history series is the Boston Bruins. The bruins have a long-standing history at the podium, drafting all the way back to 1963. With that they have drafted some of the most legendary players, as well as having some pretty upsetting draft choices as well. Let’s take a look at the Boston Bruins’ draft day history.
Taking a look back we will start with one of the best bruins ever drafted and one of the best players in history ever drafted, Ray Bourque. Drafted all the way back in 1979 this former eighth overall pick has a resume better than 98% of the rest. Bourque played 1518 games for the bruins out of his 1612 games total, and to his name he has five Norris trophies, one King Clancy trophy and one Calder trophy. He racked up 1506 points for the bruins while also serving as captain. He is a member of the hall of fame and has his number 77 retired at TD Garden. Bourque is an all-time bruin and their top ever draft pick.
Coming in right behind Bourque is a legendary two way forward from the 2003 draft in Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron was drafted in the second round 45th overall, and has turned out to be one of the greatest two way forwards in league history. Bergeron has currently five Selke trophies as leagues best defensive forward. Bergeron currently holds a career total of just over 1000 points in just under 1300 games. He has a Stanley Cup to his name with the bruins and will most certainly be in the hall of fame and have his number in the rafters right alongside Bourque once his career ends.
The third and final top three pick all time will be from the 2006 draft. Brad Marchand was drafted in the third round 71st overall, and has been a top bruin for almost a decade and a top winger in the NHL for over five seasons. One can definitely make a case for Pastrnak being a top all time pick, and he may very well be down the road, but currently Marchand has a longer career and great stats and given that he was a third round pick, all this combined carries him into the top three over Pastrnak. Not to mention his Stanley cup ring with the Bruins as well.
Now moving on from the best picks, we will discuss some of their worst draft picks in their history. First up, in no particular order, is from the 2015 draft. This draft had an immensely talented pool of prospects and given the fact that the bruins had three top half first round picks and did not choose one consistent top six forward of top four defensemen is shocking. Zachary Senyshyn was their first of three picks at number 15 and was nothing more than a former first round bust. He played a total of 14 games with the Bruins and had a total of three points. Senyshyn is currently in the AHL for Carolina’s farm team. Given that the bruins passed on players like Mathew Barzal, picked 16th in 2015, Kyle Connor, picked 17th in 2015, Thomas Chabot, picked 18th in 2015, and Joel Eriksson Ek, and those are just some of the names they passed on, Senyshyn belongs on this list.
Next is Johnathan Aitken, picked eighth overall in 1996 and didn’t stick around for long. Aitken played three games for the Bruins and scored zero points. He played 41 games in his total NHL career with only one assist for his career total points. Given that in this draft were former Stanley cup winners, 15 plus year career players drafted after him and the very short stint in the NHL, Aitken winds up on this list.
Last player on this list for this article is Gord Kluzak. Kluzak was hampered with knee injuries that cut his career very short. Playing only 299 games and being a tougher defenseman who fights he did not have the career normally expected from a first overall selection. This draft had players like Brian Bellows, Scott Stevens, Phil Housley, and Dave Andreychuk. Given the short career, the Hall of Fame names drafted after him. This puts Kluzak on the list because if there were a redo button for this draft knowing the trajectory of all the players, Kluzak wouldn’t have been number one overall.
As of today the Bruins are the best team in the league by far, it’s not even close. But currently their prospect pool is not very deep. In the last six drafts the Bruins have only had three first round picks, choosing Fabian Lysell, and John Beecher who would be considered their top two prospects. The majority of their top picks in the last six drafts since 2017 have been forwards so it would help greatly for the Bruins to look on the blue line for their first pick.
The Bruins currently only have these picks remaining headed for the 2023 draft: 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 7th (LAK). With this, their opportunity to find top tier talent may be a little harder to accomplish. With keeping defence in mind the Bruins could look to use their first pick in the draft in the third round to choose either Paul Fischer, Brady Cleveland, or Quinton Burns. All defences standing over six feet will help with the toughening up of their back end.
For more information on the 2023 NHL Draft class be sure to pick up your copy of the comprehensive DraftPro 2023 NHL Draft Guide.