2024 NHL Draft: Sweeney Clarifies How Bruins Could Use 25th Pick originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston
For the first time in three years, the Boston Bruins have a first-round pick on the day of the NHL Draft.
The 2024 draft begins Friday night in Las Vegas, where the Bruins will be in 25th place overall in the first round. The Bruins acquired this pick from the Ottawa Senators as part of the Linus Ullmark trade earlier this week.
The Bruins have one of the worst prospect groups in the league. You could argue that there are no high-level prospects in the system.
This No. 25 pick gives the Bruins a great chance to add a talented player to their organization and begin restocking the cupboard.
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What approach will the Bruins take with this pick? Best available player or draft out of necessity?
“We’re going to try to find the best player possible,” Bruins general manager said Don Sweeney told reporters Thursday in Las Vegas.
“There is always a careful look at positional needs, should they present themselves. But it’s a dangerous prospect to go into the draft thinking you’re just going to target one specific position. Sometimes it’s unhappy. You may make some mistakes. We all form them – they are 18-year-old players and there is a lot of development to be done. We want to find the best player that fits some of the things that may be missing from our prospect pool, but ultimately find the best player.”
The Bruins’ most obvious needs in the draft are center, left wing and left shooting defenseman. You could make a case for all three at pick No. 25.
The organization could absolutely use one of the top six centers. This type of player is difficult to acquire through trade and expensive to sign in free agency. Creating one is the most ideal path. Depth on the left wing is also needed. Brad Marchand is the best left back on the team and is 35 years old. If Jake DeBrusk leaves as a free agent, this would further weaken Boston’s wing depth. Mason Lohrei is the organization’s only young defenseman with star potential, so it wouldn’t hurt to sign the best defenseman available on Friday night.
The Bruins haven’t made a first-round pick in four of the last six drafts so if they keep the No. 25 pick it will be an important step in improving a prospect group that badly needs an infusion of top-end talent and depth.
“Getting back to the top of the draft was important for us,” Sweeney said Thursday. “It’s not an easy task at this time of year. They don’t change hands very often at this point. But the opportunity was there and we hope we can take advantage of it.”
