Boston Bruins Draft Picks That Could’ve Been
I was recently scrolling through some NHL Entry Drafts and I found something interesting. The Boston Bruins have just barely missed on quite a few talented players in drafts over the last 15 years. The list over a 15 year period can be quite long, so I decided to limit the list to just former first round picks. Turns out, the Bruins were close to landing some big time talent. There were five names that stood out to me. Three were taken right before the Bruins selection and two were taken right after. Here’s the list of first round talent the black and gold just missed out on.
2003 NHL Entry Draft
20th Pick — Brent Burns — Minnesota Wild
21st Pick — Mark Stuart — Boston Bruins
Though Stuart carved out a solid campaign in Boston, it’s easy to say that Bruins fans would’ve preferred having Burns on the club. Burns is one of the top defenseman in the NHL today and has a Norris Trophy to prove it. The big d-man has 566 career points in 961 career games. He spent the first seven seasons of his NHL career in Minnesota before being traded to San Jose. Since then he’s been a key cog in the Sharks lineup. There’s no denying Stuart was loved and played well in Boston, but being just one pick away from having Brent Burns kind of hurts.
2006 NHL Entry Draft
4th Pick — Nicklas Backstrom — Washington Capitals
5th Pick — Phil Kessel — Boston Bruins
Kessel was never a bust in Boston but his time was short. He spent three seasons with the club before being traded to the Maple Leafs for three draft picks (all three of the players drafted with those picks were also traded). His situation was messy in Boston, which makes you wonder how things would’ve been different if he went a spot before and the Bruins landed Backstrom. The Swedish center has had a tremendous career in Washington alongside Alexander Ovechkin. The real question here is how would his career look had he fallen to the Bruins? Would he have seen a ton of success and forced the Bruins to trade a guy like David Krejci out of town? Or would the Bruins have kept all three centers and had a three headed dragon down the center of the lineup?
2007 NHL Entry Draft
8th Pick — Zach Hamill — Boston Bruins
9th Pick — Logan Couture — San Jose Sharks
Do I need to say much about this one? Hamill played in 20 NHL games and recorded four assists. He now plays in Europe and is struggling to perform well. Couture on the other hand has carved out a terrific career in San Jose. He’s got 213 goals and 224 assists in 582 NHL games. He also had 30 points in 24 games when the Sharks finished runner-up to the Penguins in the 2016 Stanley Cup Final. He’s proven his worth in all stages of the NHL. The Bruins messed this one up. Big time.
2008 NHL Entry Draft
15th Pick — Erik Karlsson — Ottawa Senators
16th Pick — Joe Colborne — Boston Bruins
Yes, you read that right. The Boston Bruins may have had a chance to take Erik Karlsson in the 2008 draft. I’m not saying they would’ve taken him had he been there, but it was close. Karlsson is obviously one of the biggest names in hockey and a game changing defenseman, while Colborne is a borderline NHLer. Those who remember Colborne know that he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Tomas Kaberle in 2011. It’s a good thing the Senators took Karlsson when they did because if he was available and the Bruins passed on him, it’d be a really tough one to get over.
2009 NHL Entry Draft
25th Pick — Jordan Caron — Boston Bruins
26th Pick — Kyle Palmieri — New Jersey Devils
This one isn’t an extremely tough pill to swallow, but the Bruins certainly took a loss in the 2009 draft. Caron registered 28 points in 157 NHL games and Palmieri, who’s still active, has 243 points in 422 NHL games. There’s no telling as to how much of a difference Palmieri would’ve made had he been drafted to Boston, but it’s easy to look and see that the Bruins chose the wrong guy at 25th overall in 2009.
Kevin Maggiore (@kevin_maggiore)