How Bruins' approach to 2025 NHL Draft could pay huge dividends originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Bruins have not been afraid to take risks during Don Sweeney’s 10-year career as general manager.
Sweeney has shown little hesitation to make big deals at the trade deadline, often shipping out first- and second-round draft picks for short-term veteran help. He also hasn’t been afraid to spend lots of money in free agency. He dished out large contracts to players such as David Backes, Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov, among others.
When the Bruins got to the 2025 trade deadline with no hopes of extending their playoff appearance streak, he made the difficult but wise decision to move several longtime Bruins veterans — including captain Brad Marchand — for future assets like draft picks and prospects.
And yet, Sweeney’s willingness to be bold in free agency and the trade market hasn’t always translated into the NHL Draft for much of his time in Boston. The Bruins have too often looked for the safe pick — two-way players with a high hockey IQ. Prospects with a high floor but not the type of ceiling often associated with elite players.
Bruins fans witnessed a change in their team’s approach to the draft over the last two days in Los Angeles. The Bruins entered the 2025 NHL Draft with four picks in the top 70, including the No. 7 overall selection — their highest since 2011.
And instead of going the safe route, the Bruins swung for the fences on players with the potential to be top-tier players.
It’ll take a few years to determine whether the strategy worked, but given the current state of the organization and its severe lack of elite talent, it was a welcome (and needed) shift.
“I think having more picks, and having some higher picks, allowed us to probably look at some players with a bit more offensive ability and upside that sometimes in the areas where we tended to be picking we didn’t have some of those players available,” Bruins director of amateur scouting Ryan Nadeau told reporters Saturday.
“Or the players that were — there’s a lot of risk associated sometimes with that player. Whether they’re undersized, or whether they’re physically underdeveloped or whether there’s just a real major lack of detail in their game, where there’s other players sitting there at the same spot where you really appreciate their attention to detail, their heaviness, their hardness.
“We didn’t shy away from some of that, I just think we ended up in a spot this year where we could really take some swings at some sort of higher upside offensive players that maybe in the past we haven’t had as many swings on that style of player.”
If you look at the scouting reports of the seven players the Bruins drafted this weekend, the words “physical,” “defensive-minded,” and “grit” won’t be front and center. That doesn’t mean these players can’t defend or don’t have two-way skill sets. But the reason why these players were coveted was their offensive ability.
Look at Boston’s first-round pick — Boston College center James Hagens. He is an elite playmaker and skater who has the ability to step up in clutch moments. He was a point-per-game player as an 18-year-old first-line center on a national title contender. Hagens has the potential to be a No. 1 center someday. The last Bruins center to tally 100-plus points in a season was Joe Thornton 22 years ago. Hagens could end that drought.
Several of the best centers in the 2025 class were available to the B’s at No. 7. They could have drafted Jake O’Brien. He’s better defensively than Hagens. Roger McQueen was available, too. He’s 6-foot-6 and plays a power forward-type of game. Instead, the Bruins chose the offensive upside of Hagens.
Second-round pick William Moore possesses a lot of offensive skill, too, and he’s versatile enough to play center or wing. Many experts had him rated as a top-35 player in the draft, and the B’s were able to get him at No. 51 overall. Boston’s other second-round pick — Swedish defenseman Liam Pettersson — is a very good puck-mover, his playmaking ability creates scoring chances for teammates, and he’s capable of effortlessly skating his way out of trouble. His defensive game needs a lot of work. But like many of Boston’s picks this weekend, he has high upside offensively.
Third-round pick Cooper Simpson scored 49 goals in 31 games last season — the most of any Minnesota high school player. He was able to carry that success into the USHL against better competition. Simpson turned 18 this past February, so he’s definitely a raw talent, but his ability to score goals is quite impressive. He’ll play at the University of North Dakota this fall.
Even in the later rounds, the Bruins kept drafting players with high ceilings.
The Bruins struggled to score last season. They ranked 21st in goals scored, 29th in power-play percentage, 31st in high-danger chances and 29th in shots on net at even strength. Only two players — David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie — scored more than 17 goals.
And without any elite forward prospects in the pipeline prior to this weekend, the Bruins had to switch up their draft philosophy.
“We were looking for the highest levels of skill that we could find and the (highest) compete level we could find,” Sweeney told reporters Saturday at a press conference.
The Bruins still have plenty of weaknesses to address over the next week with free agency set to begin Tuesday at noon ET. They desperately need depth on the right side of the blue line. Another top-six forward is required. They only have five forwards under contract right now. A trade or two might be needed to bolster depth at key positions.
“We’ve explored trading in and around the draft and bringing players in,” Sweeney told reporters Saturday. “We had a couple of those things we looked at. Maybe they come to bear over the next day or so as well. And we’ll foray into free agency if we haven’t filled those holes via trade.”
Sweeney did well at the trade deadline. He took smart, calculated risks in the draft. But the job isn’t finished. He still has more hurdles to overcome to get the Bruins back in the mix for the Stanley Cup.