Bruins Biggest Draft Booms and Busts Since 2000

[LastWordArmy]

Here are the Honourable Mentions for Biggest Boom.... you can read #1 Boom and Bust in the article.

Patrice Bergeron
While Patrice Bergeron is truly elite and has been longer than Marchand, Bergeron was a second-round selection. More is expected from second-round choices. While he is one of the best second-rounders in recent memory, Marchand did just as much while keeping a later draft position in mind.
David Krejci

David Krejci is another second-round selection. While he has not been as good as Bergeron or Marchand, he has been a solid second-line centre for the Bruins since joining the NHL roster.


These are the Honourable Mentions under Bust.
Zachary Senyshyn

Zachary Senyshyn was the third selection by Boston in 2015. He has six NHL games and registered three points in that span. He still has yet to prove he can play in the NHL full time.
Lars Jonsson

The Bruins selected Swedish defenceman Lars Jonsson seventh overall in 2000. He never played a single game for Boston and his only NHL minutes came in eight games with the Philadelphia Flyers.


Boston Bruins Biggest Draft Boom and Bust since 2000

Click to read more...

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

#1 bust has to be Hamill at 7th overall in 2007.

Taken before Couture, McDonagh, Shattenkirk, Pacioretty, Subban, Simmonds.

In fact those might be the worst 1,2 round picks any team has made since 2000. Hamill round 1 and Tommy Cross round 2

 

[McGarnagle]

I sometimes wonder whether we would've won another cup if Chiarelli didn't strike out in from 2007-2009 in the draft and he took Couture instead of Hamill and/or Palmieri instead of Caron. Butterfly effect, I know, but if either of those guys were there instead of Pouliot or Rolston in 2012, Daugavins in 2013, or Matt Fraser in 2014, I really think we win at least one or two more cups during that core.

 

[finchster]

Here are the Honourable Mentions for Biggest Boom.... you can read #1 Boom and Bust in the article.

Patrice Bergeron
While Patrice Bergeron is truly elite and has been longer than Marchand, Bergeron was a second-round selection. More is expected from second-round choices. While he is one of the best second-rounders in recent memory, Marchand did just as much while keeping a later draft position in mind.
David Krejci

David Krejci is another second-round selection. While he has not been as good as Bergeron or Marchand, he has been a solid second-line centre for the Bruins since joining the NHL roster.


These are the Honourable Mentions under Bust.
Zachary Senyshyn

Zachary Senyshyn was the third selection by Boston in 2015. He has six NHL games and registered three points in that span. He still has yet to prove he can play in the NHL full time.
Lars Jonsson

The Bruins selected Swedish defenceman Lars Jonsson seventh overall in 2000. He never played a single game for Boston and his only NHL minutes came in eight games with the Philadelphia Flyers.


Boston Bruins Biggest Draft Boom and Bust since 2000

I wouldn't put Lars Jonsson as the biggest bust because that draft was trash. Look at the next 10 picks
Nikita Alexeev,
Brent Krahn,
Mikhail Yakubov,
Pavel Vorobiev,
Alexei Smirnov,
Ron Hainsey,
Vaclav Nedorost,
Artem Kryukov,
Marcel Hossa,
Alexei Mikhnov

9/10 players in that draft range were busts. There were some okay players in the later stages of that draft, but it wasn't as if the Bruins passed on can't miss franchise centre.

Hamill is the guy for biggest bust.

Senyshyn doesn't belong on this list... yet. Next year he will be the biggest bust if he can't turn it around.

 

[Baddkarma]

Just fill in the 2015 draft and be done. Heck, the best player taken in that draft so far is really 3rd line winger. Hamil was bad, real bad...

 

[LastWordArmy]

I wouldn't put Lars Jonsson as the biggest bust because that draft was trash. Look at the next 10 picks
Nikita Alexeev,
Brent Krahn,
Mikhail Yakubov,
Pavel Vorobiev,
Alexei Smirnov,
Ron Hainsey,
Vaclav Nedorost,
Artem Kryukov,
Marcel Hossa,
Alexei Mikhnov

9/10 players in that draft range were busts. There were some okay players in the later stages of that draft, but it wasn't as if the Bruins passed on can't miss franchise centre.

Hamill is the guy for biggest bust.

Senyshyn doesn't belong on this list... yet. Next year he will be the biggest bust if he can't turn it around.

Johnsson wasn't put at the biggest bust...

I gave you the #2 and #3 busts.... and #2 and 3 booms.

You need to open the article for #1, but it wasn't Hamill. I can see the argument for him though.

 

[McGarnagle]

I wouldn't put Lars Jonsson as the biggest bust because that draft was trash. Look at the next 10 picks
Nikita Alexeev,
Brent Krahn,
Mikhail Yakubov,
Pavel Vorobiev,
Alexei Smirnov,
Ron Hainsey,
Vaclav Nedorost,
Artem Kryukov,
Marcel Hossa,
Alexei Mikhnov

9/10 players in that draft range were busts. There were some okay players in the later stages of that draft, but it wasn't as if the Bruins passed on can't miss franchise centre.

Hamill is the guy for biggest bust.

Senyshyn doesn't belong on this list... yet. Next year he will be the biggest bust if he can't turn it around.

Almost all Russians, and all of them busted. Hossa, Hainsey, and perhaps Alexeev were the only ones in that list who had anything resembling a career. Hainsey obviously the strongest of the bunch.

The Late 90s/Early 2000s were a weird time where there was a huge run on Russian prospects after the Wings won back-to-back cups with the Russian 5. What GMs didn't realize was that the crop of young players reaching draft age at that time had had their development disrupted by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent weakness of the RSL. The Fedorovs, Mogilnys, and Bures were developed as teenagers in the old Red Army system. But these guys whose junior years were in the mid-90s after the fall of the USSR but before the establishment of and massive investment in the KHL were just developmentally stunted. Kovalchuk is the anomaly because of his innate elite talent. By the time Ovechkin and Malkin got drafted, Russian hockey had come back up through oil billionaires funding the KHL.

 

[BruinsFanSince94]

Just fill in the 2015 draft and be done. Heck, the best player taken in that draft so far is really 3rd line winger. Hamil was bad, real bad...

A predictable and horrible take.

 

[Baddkarma]

A predictable and horrible take.

Predictable yes, horrible no. The Bruins fumbled that draft big time in not only drafting late bloomers to be generous, but they left some high end maybe even top tier talent on the board. That is the definition of a missed/terrible draft on several different levels.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Just as a comparison, the Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers had 12 picks in the 1990 draft. Not only did none of them ever play a single game in the NHL, but one of their pick was listed as "invalid".

 

[Lobster57]

Zboril as worst bust over Hamill is...interesting. I didn't read the whole article, but at least i got through more than 2 sentences before spelling/grammar errors made me nope out as happened in the Bergeron article

 

[BruinDust]

The biggest bust for me is Jonsson. Despite the lack of success of the guys picked after him, the Bruins couldn't even get him to cross the pond and even try to make the NHL roster. Never played a single game on either Boston or Providence and eventually signed with Philly coming out of the lock-out. Just an awful outcome for a Top 10 pick. The Bruins even got a mulligan when they didn't sign him with being awarded the 37th pick in 2006, which they blew on another D-man who amounted to zero NHL games for the Bruins in Yuri Alexandrov.

2nd is Hamill. 20 GP for a guy picked 7th overall.

3rd for me is a toss-up but I'll go with another 2000 pick in Martin Samuelsson, who played just 14 games at the NHL level.

HM: Matt Lashoff - mid 1st rounder got 74 NHL games in over the course of 6 seasons with 3 different teams.

It's hard to even include Zboril or Senyshyn in the discussion as busts as both are still with the Bruins organization for the time being and could be part of the team next year potentially.

 

[CDJ]

It’s Hamill for me

 

[ON3M4N]

Don't agree with either

How is Hamill not the biggest draft bust since 2000? The guy taken right after him is 6th in his draft class in scoring, with the potential to finish top 5 and the captain of his team. The year Hamill was draft he had 93pt in 69 games, he nearly had an assist per game. Hamill is so bad that since leaving the NHL, he's played in more leagues than he had NHL points.

On the flip side, how is Bergeron not the biggest boom? Elite 2-way center that should already have the most Selke's all time while also ranking 5th in franchise history for goals and assist AND that's with him missing time due to a devastating concussion that could have ended his career. Marchand, while a fantastic player is very much the player he is today because of Bergeron and he's all but said so himself. Patrice Bergeron essentially has become the gold standard or what it means to be a Bruin and the blueprint of what they want their centers to be.

Wasn't worth the click and I feel like I put more time into my post than the writer did their article.

 

[McGarnagle]

Don't agree with either

How is Hamill not the biggest draft bust since 2000? The guy taken right after him is 6th in his draft class in scoring, with the potential to finish top 5 and the captain of his team. The year Hamill was draft he had 93pt in 69 games, he nearly had an assist per game. Hamill is so bad that since leaving the NHL, he's played in more leagues than he had NHL points.

On the flip side, how is Bergeron not the biggest boom? Elite 2-way center that should already have the most Selke's all time while also ranking 5th in franchise history for goals and assist AND that's with him missing time due to a devastating concussion that could have ended his career. Marchand, while a fantastic player is very much the player he is today because of Bergeron and he's all but said so himself. Patrice Bergeron essentially has become the gold standard or what it means to be a Bruin and the blueprint of what they want their centers to be.

Wasn't worth the click and I feel like I put more time into my post than the writer did their article.

I deliberately did not open the article because I didn't want to give him the click when I read the preview and the shameless self-advertising clickbait here.

 

[JoeIsAStud]

Zboril as worst bust over Hamill is...interesting. I didn't read the whole article, but at least i got through more than 2 sentences before spelling/grammar errors made me nope out as happened in the Bergeron article

That's baffling, especially as the book on Zboril is still very much unwritten. I think he'd be in the NHL already for 10+ teams, and will have an 8-10 year NHL career.

And surely I get the reason why. To some degree recency bias, and to some degree the talent

 

[BruinDust]

Don't agree with either

How is Hamill not the biggest draft bust since 2000? The guy taken right after him is 6th in his draft class in scoring, with the potential to finish top 5 and the captain of his team. The year Hamill was draft he had 93pt in 69 games, he nearly had an assist per game. Hamill is so bad that since leaving the NHL, he's played in more leagues than he had NHL points.

On the flip side, how is Bergeron not the biggest boom? Elite 2-way center that should already have the most Selke's all time while also ranking 5th in franchise history for goals and assist AND that's with him missing time due to a devastating concussion that could have ended his career. Marchand, while a fantastic player is very much the player he is today because of Bergeron and he's all but said so himself. Patrice Bergeron essentially has become the gold standard or what it means to be a Bruin and the blueprint of what they want their centers to be.

Wasn't worth the click and I feel like I put more time into my post than the writer did their article.

Bruins found arguably the best all-around player of a generation in Bergeron in the 2nd round, a sure-fire future Hall-of-famer and if you redo that draft, I have no doubt he goes 1st overall. Seems like the writer weights the player and where they are picked, doesn't mean he's right, but puts too much stock in that Marchand was a 3rd rounder vs. Bergeron as a 2nd, even though I would imagine even the writer would admit Bergeron is the better player.

 

[JCRO]

Pasta has to be up there for one of the bigger booms being a late first rounder. But not as big value wise as a Bergeron or Krejci in the second round. Or Marchand in the third round.

Busts- Hamill for sure. Colborne didnt shape up to much but was moved for Kaberle IIRC.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Bruins found arguably the best all-around player of a generation in Bergeron in the 2nd round, a sure-fire future Hall-of-famer and if you redo that draft, I have no doubt he goes 1st overall. Seems like the writer weights the player and where they are picked, doesn't mean he's right, but puts too much stock in that Marchand was a 3rd rounder vs. Bergeron as a 2nd, even though I would imagine even the writer would admit Bergeron is the better player.

Only one other player not drafted in the first round from the 2003 draft has played over 1000 games like Bergeron.

Joe Pavelski was drafted in the 7th round, the 205th pick. Nice steppin' in it.

 

[ON3M4N]

Lol looking at the Sabres board, they don't seem to agree with the Boom/Bust selections for their team either

 

[Dr Hook]

I don't see how anyone can argue with this article- it's from a site called The Last Word on Hockey. That means it is the last word. End of story, game over.

 

[NDiesel]

Predictable yes, horrible no. The Bruins fumbled that draft big time in not only drafting late bloomers to be generous, but they left some high end maybe even top tier talent on the board. That is the definition of a missed/terrible draft on several different levels.

Yeah it is a horrible take. The book is completely closed on guys Hamill, Caron, Lashoff, Cross, etc. Perhaps Zboril and Seny still bust, but their careers are far from done, so to say they deserve to be on the decade bust lost just shows you cant move on from 2015.

 

[BruinDust]

Pasta has to be up there for one of the bigger booms being a late first rounder. But not as big value wise as a Bergeron or Krejci in the second round. Or Marchand in the third round.

Busts- Hamill for sure. Colborne didnt shape up to much but was moved for Kaberle IIRC.

I don't see Colborne as a bust (at least by my definition of a bust anyways). He did play 4 full seasons and 300 NHL games. Certainly didn't meet expectations of a mid-1st rounder, but to me "busts" are guys you pretty much never made it to the show as a full-time everyday player. I'd toss him in that category with guys like Spooner and Hilbert in that they never had long careers, but each played over 300 games which is no small feat either.

Reality is, the Bruin history of drafting and development from 2000 to 2013 really is horrendous when just looking at the 1st and 2nd rounds. By my count they completely whiffed on 17 out of 29 1st/2nd rounders during that time, and really only nailed 6 of those 29 picks, 3 of which were Top 10 selections and all traded before their second contracts.

Outstanding selections/long-term players

Bergeron
Krejci
Lucic

Top 10 selections but traded before 2nd contract

Seguin
Kessel
Hamilton

300+ NHL games for Skaters/ 3 full seasons for goaltenders

Hilbert
Colborne
Stuart
Spooner
Morrisonn
Subban

Busts

Jonsson
Samuelsson
Huml
Toivonen
Yevseyev
Marjamaki
Karsums
Lashoff
Kalus
Alexandrov
Hamill
Cross
Sauve
Caron
Knight
Khokhlachev
Arnesson

Reality is that isn't much to show for 14 drafts of 1st/2nd round choices.

 

[BruinsNetwork]

Just fill in the 2015 draft and be done. Heck, the best player taken in that draft so far is really 3rd line winger. Hamil was bad, real bad...

If DeBrusk is a third-line winger please sign me up for all of the third-line wingers in the draft.

 

[alg363636]

Uhhh...Zach Hamill was an absolutely atrocious pick. Even if the Zboril never improves still not as bad as Hamill given draft placement.