Boston Bruins Draft Preview

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First Round Position: 25th overall

Best Picks of last 3 Years:

Milan Lucic (LW) – 2nd round 2006
Phil Kessel (RW) – 1st round 2006
Joe Colborne (C) – 1st round 2008
Brad Marchand (RW) – 3rd round 2006
Zack Hamill (C) – 1st round 2007

Coming Down the Pipe – The impressive thing about the Bruins (to me) is that they are clearly one of the best teams in the NHL these days but they are also one of the deepest teams when it comes to their prospects. The Providence Bruins were semi-finalists in the AHL and featured forwards Brad Marchand, Zack Hamill, Vlad Sobotka and Jordan Knackstedt plus netminder Tuukka Rask in net. Beyond the pro level the Bruins have Joe Colborne, Tommy Cross and Brock Bradford from the NCAA ranks and both Jamie Arniel and Max Sauve playing Major Junior.

Draft Trends – Boston has mainly drafted out of North America in the last three years and it’s probably not a coincidence that of the four Euros they have selected, only one isn’t playing Major Junior. Last year’s choice of Matt Hutchinson represented the first goalie Boston has drafted since 2004.

Millard: Simon Despres - The B’s will be disappointed they didn’t get Krieder, after all he grew up a stone’s throw from the Gardens. Having said that Boston didn’t take a D-man last year and lost their best blueline prospect Matt Lashoff in a trade with Tampa, so Despres would be a solid pick for them.

Flaming: Ethan Werek – He was originally headed to Boston University before choosing the OHL but maybe his road to the NHL leads him through Beantown anyway. Prospect graduations have left some holes on the wing in the Bruins’ pipeline and Kingston’s 32-goal scorer has size to match his hands.