Boston Bruins Poor Drafting Have Led Them in a Hole

The Boston Bruins defeated the Philadelphia Flyers today to keep a hold of the eastern conference wild card race, but they still remain just two points up on the Florida Panthers. The club that is just two seasons removed of a Stanley Cup appearance has fallen hard in 2015, and there’s an answer for why.

Their drafting has been some of the worst in the NHL.

After trading Jordan Caron to the Colorado Avalanche, Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli has just one roster player he drafted who has played over 50 NHL games; Dougie Hamilton. The other three are just Caron, Joe Colbourne in Calgary and Tyler Seguin in Dallas.

The Bruins have a few Chiarelli draftees on their roster; David Pastrnak, Brian Ferlin, and Ryan Spooner to go along with Hamilton. Pastrnak was their first rounder this past year and appears to have been a good selection; Ferlin was a fifth round pick and has had a depth role while Spooner was a second rounder and has been somewhat disappointing.

Jared Knight, a second round pick the Bruins got from Toronto in the Phil Kessel trade, was shipped to Minnesota for middle of the road minor leaguer Zack Phillips this trade deadline.

The Bruins are right up against the salary cap thanks to veterans signed long term,like Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand, Zdeno Chara, and Patrice Bergeron. Usually, teams can sustain signing their veterans because filling in the gaps with minimum salaries are young players drafted and developed.

That’s not the case in Boston.

The Bruins have failed to develop more than two current legitimate NHL prospects on their roster currently. Things look even worse in their farm system. Scattered around the Providence Bruins American Hockey league roster are low round picks and failed projects.

Former fifth round pick Seth Griffith wasn’t bad when he was on the Boston roster, but he’s back in Providence after struggling. But how about players drafted before the fifth round, players who are supposed to be legitimate prospects?

2013 first rounder Linus Arnesson hasn’t left Sweden yet. Alexander Khokhlachev has played well with Providence but has played just three NHL games. Anthony Camara has struggled to do just about anything with just seven points in 50 games this season. Tommy Cross has just 13 points in 38 games.Former prospects Ryan Button and Maxime Sauve have moved on to play in Germany.

One of the only prospects who has turned out well was goaltender Michael Hutchinson, who was left unsigned and is now the starting goalie with the Winnipeg Jets.

Chiarelli has struggled with the draft and it’s starting to affect the NHL roster as they are having issues keeping the players they want. They can’t seem to make a trade with anyone due to the cap and lack of assets.

If the Bruins want a positive future, they have to draft better.