The Athletic - Boston Wheeler’s 2020 NHL prospect pool rankings: No. 30 Boston Bruins

[Fenway]

Welcome to Scott Wheeler’s 2020 rankings of every NHL organization’s prospects. You can find the complete ranking and more information on the criteria here, as we count down daily from No. 31 to No. 1. The series, which includes evaluations and commentary from coaches and staff on more than 500 prospects, runs from Jan. 13 to Feb. 11.

In building out these rankings, the Bruins were one of the teams whose place within them really tested my approach/philosophy.

Though their prospect pool runs deeper than a couple of the teams who will slot in at No. 29 and No. 28, and maybe even one or two more beyond that, they lack truly high-end options.

On one hand, if there’s one team that can sustain an approach that drafts depth guys who can fill in around the margins, it’s the one with Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak locked up long term. On the other hand, I think the Bruins have played a lot of their high picks too safely in recent memory and that will limit their ability to hit home runs.

The end result: A prospect pool that has some future NHLers but doesn’t excite.

Each of my prospect pool rankings will be broken down into team-specific tiers in order to give you a better sense of the talent proximity from one player to the next (a gap which is sometimes minute and in other cases quite pronounced).

The Bruins’ pool breaks down into five tiers, with Studnicka as the clear No. 1 and depth that really begins to drop after Swayman at No. 7.

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Click to read more...

 

[22Brad Park]

Wow 30.Brutal.They never played the Senyshyn pick safe though .

 

[Gonzothe7thDman]

Wow 30.Brutal.

That's why I usually laugh when people make proposals on here and include a couple of the above guys. Every team has a pool filled with middling prospects like ours.

Studnicka needs to be something special otherwise our team is gonna drop off a cliff once Bergeron and Krejci age.

 

[Mick Riddleton]

Athletic and Pronman are all about the Leafs, could use those rags for the bottom of the bird cage.

 

[McGarnagle]

It's a little misleading because we have a handful of major contributors on the active roster who are 23 and younger. Pastrnak, McAvoy, and Carlo to be specific. Other teams probably have prospects on their lists who are older.

 

[Absurdity]

For reference here is this board's rankings: Prospect Info: - HF Bruins Top 25 Prospects: #21-25 (choose 5)

I'm surprised he left Lauko, Keyser, and Senyshyn off. You may not agree with the ranking (overall and players listed, I don't), but it's good to see how someone who doesn't report on the Bruins views their prospects.

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

That's why I usually laugh when people make proposals on here and include a couple of the above guys. Every team has a pool filled with middling prospects like ours.

Studnicka needs to be something special otherwise our team is gonna drop off a cliff once Bergeron and Krejci age.

id like to see how this guy rated the potential of Bergeron/marchand/krejci/lucic/krug/carlo before they became nhl pros?

hell... id like to see how anyone rated them

i will share my thoughts

Bergeron.... who?
marchand… i like pests... this guy will be a fun little nevin markwart type on the 4th line
krejci... i suppose he might be a Zach hamil/kevyn adams cerebral type center?
lucic... who? {and god help me i love big western canadien beefs... i really missed on this}
krug… who? {cant blame me here because im bias against small shifty college dmen}
carlo… who? {again might say i need to pay more attention}

but honest to hell... im a frigging bruin fanatic and i had no freaking clue any of these guys would be all that special... hell even 3-4 years into bergerons career i was still comparing him to dale hunter. at marchands last contract i was comparing him to alex burrows and Jamie langenbrunner

i know a lot of these hockey evaluators think they walk on water... and they got egos the size of the grand canyon if you challange them... but i collect all the hockey news future watch going back nearly 30 years or whatever...

i know how accurate these experts really are.

and even though i just confessed how clueless i was... i still get almost as many right as these so called experts do.

i will put my analysis of next years top 100 draft up against anyone and i will expect that they will get around 15 of the top 30 picks correctly identified... i will too. they will name 20 or so long shots and be right on about 3-5 of them... and i might too.

analysising the future benefit of prospects is real crap shoot country.

but guess what...

if i asked 5 of you to name the top 100 players of all time... theres zero chance you would agree on more than around 60% of your lists.

even after players have played entire careers... we still never agree who was better... its always going to be just a bunch of people with opinions anytime any of us try to say who is better than who

 

[Trap Jesus]

I don't know much about other prospect pools, but this doesn't surprise me. I do really like our top 2 guys though, and I still have hope that Vaak will become a regular as well. Steen looks OK but I don't think he'll turn into anything special. Pretty thin outside of that.

 

[alg363636]

Yeah I mean he's not wrong. But we also had as ton of guys from the 2014-2016 drafts become great players. But since 2017 we definitely haven't drafted anyone particularly exciting.

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

ill look at the last 5 bruin drafts... and i will let anyone defend some other teams last 5 drafts... im not using this year because its just too new for anyone to project... so 2014-2018

-we got the leagues leading goal scorer
-we got 5 forwards all playing top 9 roles in the nhl
-carlo/McAvoy are total stud dmen

lets look at what sort of 23 man roster we can put together

debrusk/studnicka/pastrnak {feels like 3 pretty safe bets for top 6 studs here}
Heinen/Donato/Bjork {at worst looks like solid 3rd liners}
lauko/Federic/shynshyn {kind of reaches... projects... who knows i suppose?}
steen/Hall/hughes {probably long shots to become more than 4th liners}
karlsson

McAvoy/Vaakainenen
Carlo/Lauzon
Axelsson/Lingren
Zboril

swayman
vladar

i see a full 23 man roster that is likely to all play at least some games in the nhl… 6 guys with good potential to be first liners... a defense that could be really outstanding/cup caliber

i will take this group... you pick any other team... lets archieve it and come back in 5 years and see just who has the more established nhl regulars/stars

 

[AngryMilkcrates]

NO Jakob Lauko on this list? What about Keyser?

That just brings the whole thing into question right there.

 

[weaponomega]

I don't disagree, but teams can make safe picks that are good. I think Studnicka and Vaakanainen were good picks. Safe picks, but good and both could be important players for the Bruins going forward. In fact both probably have to be important players for this team to maintain their standing in the league and not have to go through a total tear down rebuild.

 

[LouJersey]

id like to see how this guy rated the potential of Bergeron/marchand/krejci/lucic/krug/carlo before they became nhl pros?

hell... id like to see how anyone rated them

i will share my thoughts

Bergeron.... who?
marchand… i like pests... this guy will be a fun little nevin markwart type on the 4th line
krejci... i suppose he might be a Zach hamil/kevyn adams cerebral type center?
lucic... who? {and god help me i love big western canadien beefs... i really missed on this}
krug… who? {cant blame me here because im bias against small shifty college dmen}
carlo… who? {again might say i need to pay more attention}

but honest to hell... im a frigging bruin fanatic and i had no freaking clue any of these guys would be all that special... hell even 3-4 years into bergerons career i was still comparing him to dale hunter. at marchands last contract i was comparing him to alex burrows and Jamie langenbrunner

i know a lot of these hockey evaluators think they walk on water... and they got egos the size of the grand canyon if you challange them... but i collect all the hockey news future watch going back nearly 30 years or whatever...

i know how accurate these experts really are.

and even though i just confessed how clueless i was... i still get almost as many right as these so called experts do.

i will put my analysis of next years top 100 draft up against anyone and i will expect that they will get around 15 of the top 30 picks correctly identified... i will too. they will name 20 or so long shots and be right on about 3-5 of them... and i might too.

analysising the future benefit of prospects is real crap shoot country.

but guess what...

if i asked 5 of you to name the top 100 players of all time... theres zero chance you would agree on more than around 60% of your lists.

even after players have played entire careers... we still never agree who was better... its always going to be just a bunch of people with opinions anytime any of us try to say who is better than who

so one steal in the draft the past 13 years. Doesn’t sound all that impressive to be honest.

 

[Gonzothe7thDman]

id like to see how this guy rated the potential of Bergeron/marchand/krejci/lucic/krug/carlo before they became nhl pros?

hell... id like to see how anyone rated them

i will share my thoughts

Bergeron.... who?
marchand… i like pests... this guy will be a fun little nevin markwart type on the 4th line
krejci... i suppose he might be a Zach hamil/kevyn adams cerebral type center?
lucic... who? {and god help me i love big western canadien beefs... i really missed on this}
krug… who? {cant blame me here because im bias against small shifty college dmen}
carlo… who? {again might say i need to pay more attention}

but honest to hell... im a frigging bruin fanatic and i had no freaking clue any of these guys would be all that special... hell even 3-4 years into bergerons career i was still comparing him to dale hunter. at marchands last contract i was comparing him to alex burrows and Jamie langenbrunner

i know a lot of these hockey evaluators think they walk on water... and they got egos the size of the grand canyon if you challange them... but i collect all the hockey news future watch going back nearly 30 years or whatever...

i know how accurate these experts really are.

and even though i just confessed how clueless i was... i still get almost as many right as these so called experts do.

i will put my analysis of next years top 100 draft up against anyone and i will expect that they will get around 15 of the top 30 picks correctly identified... i will too. they will name 20 or so long shots and be right on about 3-5 of them... and i might too.

analysising the future benefit of prospects is real crap shoot country.

but guess what...

if i asked 5 of you to name the top 100 players of all time... theres zero chance you would agree on more than around 60% of your lists.

even after players have played entire careers... we still never agree who was better... its always going to be just a bunch of people with opinions anytime any of us try to say who is better than who

NHL experts are paid because they are right the majority of the time. If it was really a crap shoot like you say, then NHL Scout would be an entry level position.

According to a TSN study of 2000-2009:

80% of 1st round picks become NHLers of some level.

44% of 2nd rounders, 30% of 3rd rounders, etc.

Clearly they are on to something.

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

so one steal in the draft the past 13 years. Doesn’t sound all that impressive to be honest.

bruins prospects currently active in nhl

marchand/Bergeron/pastrnak {impressive?}
wheeler/seguin/kessel {yes they are all ours}
debrusk/krejci/Bjork {looks ok to me}
lucic/thornton/soderberg {hell of a 4th line}
vatrano/kuraly/accari {maybe you prefer this 4th line}
Heinen/sobotka/donato {ahl will have a good team too}

Hamilton/krug {impressive top 10 offensive dmen?}
McAvoy/carlo {impressive young studs in development?}
grezlyck/miller/benning {I think very qualified bottom pair guys on any team}
vaakainen/lauzon/axelsson/lingren {four kids I expect to see play top 4 roles soon}

rask {is he impressive?}
Hutchison/subban {our one position I wish looked better}

these were our prospects over the last few years... the guys who are still active in the nhl

this impresses the hell out of me lou

 

[LouJersey]

bruins prospects currently active in nhl

marchand/Bergeron/pastrnak {impressive?}
wheeler/seguin/kessel {yes they are all ours}
debrusk/krejci/Bjork {looks ok to me}
lucic/thornton/soderberg {hell of a 4th line}
vatrano/kuraly/accari {maybe you prefer this 4th line}
Heinen/sobotka/donato {ahl will have a good team too}

Hamilton/krug {impressive top 10 offensive dmen?}
McAvoy/carlo {impressive young studs in development?}
grezlyck/miller/benning {I think very qualified bottom pair guys on any team}
vaakainen/lauzon/axelsson/lingren {four kids I expect to see play top 4 roles soon}

rask {is he impressive?}
Hutchison/subban {our one position I wish looked better}

these were our prospects over the last few years... the guys who are still active in the nhl

this impresses the hell out of me lou

That's not what you said though.

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

NHL experts are paid because they are right the majority of the time. If it was really a crap shoot like you say, then NHL Scout would be an entry level position.

According to a TSN study of 2000-2009:

80% of 1st round picks become NHLers of some level.

44% of 2nd rounders, 30% of 3rd rounders, etc.

Clearly they are on to something.

do you look at draft re-dos? this site has a forum that puts them together all the time

you ill usually find around 60% of first round picks are still first round picks in a re-do. ill let you go find me some examples where the number is higher

if your numbers are correct... that means 20% of guys picked are 'ok' but not actually the best available. and then letting those second rounders fall into the second round is a mistake too.

so its a double mistake... first taking the wrong guy... then not taking the right guy

when I was tossing numbers out of my butt... I said my mock drafts usually identify around 60% of the right first rounders too. what I meant is when I dig up one of my old mock drafts and then compare it to a draft re-do I get around 60% of the names right

now did I do the scouting myself? hell no... I dont watch any junior games. I just read 20-50 various scouting reports on different guys from some people that know what they are talking about and a lot of people that dont know anything they are talking about... and I get a 'feeling'

tsn used to have a monkey predict the playoffs... but then they learnt that the money was almost as accurate as the guys being paid big dollars to be educated experts

playoffs arent quite the same as prospects... but there is a certain randomness to it all

eventually who wins the playoffs is a fact... its proven
who becomes a good prospect/player will always remain nothing other than an opinion

im glad there are people out there scouting and watching games and sharing opinions or id still wonder who cam neely and barry Pederson were. I like to be educated in todays world. but I have never seen anyone getting much better than 50% success rate over any period of time when it comes to their talent evaluations

remember that when a team drafts someone in round 1... it means their decesion maker wanted that guy. but when you watch behind the scenes you will see that many voices went into the decesion and some of them wanted a different player

I look at things like nhl future watch... red line... mckeens… that pronman fella at espn… they all entertain me... and none turn out all that accurate in the grand scheme of things

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

That's not what you said though.

this is so odd lou

I like you... but you responded to me... 1 steal in 13 years

where the hell did I say 13 years... or 1 steal

if we are worried over what we said... your first response to me was bizzaro land. so you were the one that brought up how many 'steals' we had in 13 years

I decided to respond to your post

I showed how many active one time prospects we have in the nhl now... the quality of them... and I say we are number 1.

you are more than welcome to look at some other organization and build a list of their top players and try to suggest that team is better than boston

im not afraid

 

[BruinsNetwork]

Wow! It’s only January and we get another list from a writer that’s never steeped foot in Providence and is hyper-focused on fancy skill sets? Score!

 

[Cygnusx1018]

Athletic and Pronman are all about the Leafs, could use those rags for the bottom of the bird cage.

Pronman's summer rankings had Leafs ranked 23rd at least. Progress!

 

[ap3lovr]

These rankings are always skewed by potential superstars. Safe talent isn't sexy.

 

[Montecristo]

These rankings are always skewed by potential superstars. Safe* talent isn't sexy.

*middling

 

[Montecristo]

Wow! It’s only January and we get another list from a writer that’s never steeped foot in Providence and is hyper-focused on fancy skill sets? Score!

To be fair I’d say most of us slant towards rather having fancy skill sets than boring ones. I’d rather have debrincats fancy skill set over frederics antiquated one. Or Thomas chabots showboating skulls vs zborils yawn inducing.

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

To be fair I’d say most of us slant towards rather having fancy skill sets than boring ones. I’d rather have debrincats fancy skill set over frederics antiquated one. Or Thomas chabots showboating skulls vs zborils yawn inducing.

I still am a fan of that jo sang ho dude in ny and his crazy skill set... although that kid that was doing the youtube videos a few years ago and ended up with the oilers was probably even better

I know that Dmitri kvaltalnov and vladamir rudzicka became immortal in those 70 games they played together for the bruins and I felt every confidence they would both go down in bruin history as top 5 players after watching their skill set together

compare that to some slug like chara who can barely skate with the top 50% nhl skaters and is not a very good stickhander either... I know where I would rank a lot of these guys if I was ranking potential nhl impact

 

[Baddkarma]

Its to be expected when the has team been picking 25-31 in the first round, when they didn't trade it away, since 2010. The one outlier is the 2015 draft, and well, it hurts too much to talk about.