A Look Back at Don Sweeney’s Draft History: 2016

If you really want to punish yourself and look back at 2015, you can find that here.

What constitutes a successful draft or a failing draft? The hockey community looks at NHL games played to determine success, although some choose to look at 100 games as successful while others look at 200 games. Fans in droves prefer to look at stats. Harman Dayal and Dom Luszczyszyn of the Athletic broke down the drafts from 2007 on and found your Bruins to be the fourth most successful NHL team at the draft. They took their analysis even further.

After taking over as General Manager, Don Sweeney had yet to overhaul the Bruins scouting department, which still had many vacancies following Peter Chiarelli’s departure. Although Keith Gretzky remained Director of Amateur Scouting for the time being, he would leave for the Edmonton Oilers in August 2016. To begin rebuilding, Sweeney brought in several new scouts, including Brett Harkins for collegiate prospects, Victor Nybladh for European amateurs, Erkki Rajamaki for Finnish amateurs, Ryan Hardy for U.S. amateurs, Bob Wetick and Andrew Shaw for OHL prospects, Alain Bissonnette for QMJHL prospects, and Matt Lindblad as a professional scout. However, Sweeney still faced significant work to fully revitalize the scouting department.

FIRST ROUND

The Bruins had two first-round picks at 14 and 29 in the draft. With the 14th pick, they selected defenseman Charlie McAvoy, who they did not expect to still be available. The next three picks were all defensemen: Jakob Chychrun and Dante Fabbro, who the Bruins had interest in, especially Fabbro. However, when McAvoy was still on the board at 14, the choice was clear for the Bruins. At 29th overall, many hoped the Bruins would select Alex DeBrincat, but they went with center Trent Frederic instead. In hindsight, that pick does not look as questionable as some thought at the time, as Frederic is coming into his own but not to the DeBrincat level. The Bruins should have also considered winger Jordan Kyrou with the 29th pick.

SECOND ROUND

The Bruins selected Ryan Lindgren with the 49th pick. Rather than focusing on the fact that they later traded him, let’s evaluate if he was the optimal choice. In my view, if you draft one of the top 3 players available after your selection, you’ve succeeded in that round. Lindgren’s main competition came from Filip Hronek and Dillon Dube. Overall, the Bruins made an excellent selection with Lindgren. The fact that he was traded has no bearing on whether it was the right selection or not.

FIFTH ROUND

The Bruins had back-to-back picks in the fifth round, selecting Joona Koppanen at 135 and Cameron Clarke at 136. However, of that round’s draftees, only Michael Eyssimont and Axel Jonsson-Fjallby have made any real impact so far. Was it weak draft class this late in the game or just poor scouting by the Bruins?

You can look to the sixth round at Brandon Hagel (159th) and Jesper Bratt (162nd) who were overlooked by the Bruins along with 22 other teams. Determining the boundary between chance, oversight, and justification remains unclear. Nevertheless, this outcome must be acknowledged as a missed opportunity.

SIXTH ROUND

The Bruins selected Oskar Steen with the 165th pick in the draft. While his NHL impact has been minimal, Steen has become the most successful player picked after the 164th selection, with the possible exception of Vincent Desharnais, who was chosen at 183. Overall, Steen has to be considered a successful draft pick for the Bruins considering what was on the table.

The Bruins draft was largely successful given their draft position and subsequent picks. McAvoy was the best possible selection, and Lindgren was nearly as strong. Steen was another solid choice considering what was available and the fact that it was a weak round of draft picks. The verdict is still out on Frederic, though better options may have been available. The Koppanen and Clarke selections were a miss.

You have to consider this draft a success.

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