Draft Hits and Misses: Boston Bruins

Over the next couple of weeks I will look at each team in the NHL, and see how they have performed at the NHL draft. There are basically 3 really important areas to determine the level of success at one of the most inexact sciences in the game – selecting 17 and 18 year old kids and projecting what they will be like over the next 10 or 15 years.

Those three areas are: 1) Success in the first round; 2) Success in the second round and 3) The number of drafted players playing on a team’s roster. I limit it to the first 2 rounds because that is where a majority of the impact players come from, and also where mistakes in judgement are magnified. Players that come after the second round for the most part are fortunate picks and if they work out it is a bonus. Henrik Zetterberg, for example, was a 7th round pick, and although you could claim Detroit was skilled in unearthing a prospect at that point in the draft, if they had known he was going to be as good as he turned out to be, they wouldn’t have waited that long. There is as much good luck as good management for a player like that, and that is factored in in the 3rd area of success.

Now we turn our attention to the Boston Bruins, and their track record since the year 2000.

FIRST ROUND SUCCESS:

The Bruins have selected 13 players in the first round, with 7 of them making some impact in the NHL, for a success rate of 54%.

SECOND ROUND SUCCESS:

In the second round, 4 of the 15 players they selected have gone on to play a significant amount of time, resulting in a 27% success rate.

HOME-DRAFTED TALENT:

The Bruins had 7 Boston-drafted players play games with them this past season.

SUCCESSES – Phil Kessel at #5 in 2006 and Patrice Bergeron at #45 in 2003 are two of Boston’s better first round picks.

FAILURES – Zach Hamil was the 8th overall pick in 2007 but managed just 20 NHL games over parts of 3 seasons and is now plying his trade in the KHL

STEALS – You could argue Bergeron was a steal in the second round, but real steals for the Bruins include Milan Jurcina (241st overall in 2001), and Matt Hunwick (224th in 2004)