If Nail Yakupov is the biggest modern-day NHL draft bust, then the Boston Bruins 2015 first-round draft class has to be the biggest draft class bust in modern history.
It was such a massive fail that had Boston hit on their 2015 first-rounders, the B's would have easily created a modern-day dynasty. Why did they fail? Because they failed to see the forest from the trees.
Keep your eyes focused on Draft Day Steals and Fails to read the latest edition of our NHL Draft series.
Boston Bruins 2015 Draft Class
In case you forgot about the 2015 NHL draft, the Boston Bruins selected three players in the top half of the first round.
Newly appointed General Manager Don Sweeney acquired two of those three picks in the opening round with some frankly genius GM'ing by trading Milan Lucic and Dougie Hamilton:
- Enforcer/middle-six forward Milan Lucic was traded (with 45% retention) to Los Angeles for the 13th overall pick, goalie Martin Jones and Colin Miller
- Dougie Hamilton was sent to Calgary on draft day for the 14th overall pick as well as the 45th and 52nd overall picks.
The 15th overall pick was Boston's own selection.
Sweeney wasn't done wheeling and dealing. The scuttlebutt around the league on draft day in 2015 (a rumor later confirmed by Cam Neely) was that the original six club wanted to draft Boston-born and Boston College defender, Noah Hanifin. Which is probably why Hamilton was traded away earlier.
As we know that deal never worked out, so Sweeney had to fall for plan B.
Except the B's didn't have a plan B!
No Backup Plan
Even team President Cam Neely will say that his team didn't know what they wanted to do when the attempt to get Hanifin fizzled.
"As everybody knows, we tried to move up in the draft. It didn’t work. We probably should have taken the time out and really just digested that list a little bit more."- Cam Neely
Once the B's stepped up to the podium they got cute by reaching for players because they didn't "digest that list". Which is a ridiculous admission to make. Just a cursory look at the list (aka draft rankings), would have shown that both DeBrusk and Senyshyn were borderline first-round talents.
(To be fair, DeBrusk is the only one that panned out.)
Look, we're talking about teenagers so none of these rankings are 100% predictive. But, the consensus was that DeBrusk and Senyshyn were late first-rounders at best. And as I've said before in this series; the worst draft strategy is not taking the best available player. Something Boston actively ignored.
Even hockey media members, who typically go out of their way to be supportive, were stunned at what the Bruins did. Specifically, with that 15th overall pick.
That meant Boston ignored the following players:
- Mathew Barzal
- Kyle Connor
- Thomas Chabot
- Joel Eriksson Ek
- Brock Boeser
- Travis Konecny
Barzal, Connor and Chabot were particularly egregious because they were drafted with the next three picks.
All three are now electric players within the league. Barzal is the best offensive-possession player in the league. Connor is a perennial 30-goal scorer while Chabot is a minute-munching top-pair offensive defenseman. All three are transformative players for their clubs.
What Could Have Been
Think about a Boston lineup today with any two of those three players. Let's take Barzal and Connor because they were drafted immediately after Boston got off the stage. With Zboril, the Bruins had just drafted a left-handed D.
Just think about what the 2017-18 Bruins would look like with those two. And yes, I skipped a few seasons but that's because players drafted 13-14-15 are never ready to step into the NHL in year one. Barzal and Connor didn't make the leap until 17-18.
Forwards
Defensemen
Now remember, even without guys like Barzal and Chabot the Bruins were hyper-competitive. From 17-18 through the 22-23 season, Boston finished no lower than fourth in their division. They Never put up less than a pace of 106 points. And they took the Blues to seven games in the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals.
Just imagine what they could have been with a Barzal who won the Calder in 2017-18 and Kyle Connor who never scored or paced out to less than 31 goals?!
With Boston putting up those types of seasons without these players it's fair to say they could have easily excelled those returns with them. We're talking about at least one Cup in 2019, maybe more. Again, we could have been talking about a dynasty in Boston.
If only the Bruins had given the draft the same consideration they had given to their acquisition of draft capital, eh?