Pick 88
The Bruins have one pick in the third round and it comes in at pick 88.
They’ve held the 88th pick just once in their history and selected Charles Paquette (1993).
Just a reminder, here is the breakdown of the ratings used:
Hockey IQ: This encompasses a wide range of traits — reading the play, vision, fin ding soft ice, understanding spacing, maintaining proper positioning (including defensively), making the right plays and more.
Skating: It’s not solely about straight‑line speed, though that’s part of the equation. The focus also falls on edgework, acceleration, stops and starts, first‑step quickness, mechanics, lateral mobility, backward skating, and overall fluidity.
Shot: This covers a player’s full shooting arsenal — power, release, deception, accuracy, and the ability to get pucks off cleanly under pressure.
Puck Moving: Despite the name, it’s about far more than simply transporting the puck up ice. It includes zone‑entry ability, passing touch, possession strength, transition efficiency, and making the right reads under pressure.
Compete: This reflects a player’s overall drive — intensity, forechecking pressure, board‑battle engagement, willingness to get to the dirty areas, involvement in scrums, commitment to defending with the same effort they bring offensively, relentlessness in puck pursuit, will do anything to win and consistency from shift to shift.
It’s time to dig into potential targets based on my own rankings. I’ve spoken with multiple scouts to gather their perspectives and cross‑checked those views against the consolidated lists that are out there. I’ve also included NHL Central Scouting’s numbers for context — even if I don’t always see eye‑to‑eye with them.
Let’s get to the list:
The Bruins have always had an eye for the occasional draft re‑entry, and Egor (or Yegor) is one of the premier options in that category this year. His commitment to the University of Massachusetts next season checks another box for them. And if they somehow manage to grab with Nikita Klepov in the first round, that duo could be pure magic.
A western conference scout said “I don’t know how much Klepov helped Barabanov or vice-versa, but the two together dominated when together.” Of course, there is no guarantee it would transfer to the NHL. Another scout said “I don’t think Central [Scouting] has him in the right slot.”
This is actually Barabanov’s third trip through the draft, and after being passed over twice, he’s taken real strides. His IQ, vision, and creativity are legitimately high‑end — his head is constantly on a swivel, scanning for options. He also knows when it’s time to call his own number, and he can absolutely rip the puck. He’s willing to get to the dirty areas, has soft hands in tight, plays with a bit of an edge, and he’s not afraid to drop the gloves when the moment calls for it.
If the Bruins decide to dip back into the U20 Nationell, Bartholdsson is a name that fits the profile — but he’s very much a long‑term project. He’s undersized, but if they stay committed to last year’s philosophy of prioritizing speed and skill above all else, there’s real upside here. The key is continued development. If that comes, they won’t regret the swing.
Despite his size, Bartholdsson wins more than his share of puck battles, and his speed stands out. One skating coach put it this way: “He has good speed but looks like he uses a lot of energy to get there. Changing his mechanics would help.”
Bartholdsson has a shoot‑first mentality, and that’s perfectly fine because the shot is a real weapon. He’s at his best when paired with a true puck distributor who can free him up to attack. His defensive game has taken meaningful steps — enough that he was trusted in all situations.
He’s still a bit of a project, no question. He’s climbed draft boards, and there’s a real chance he’s gone before this pick. But if he’s still on the board, he deserves serious consideration.
One scout described him as “an offensive defenseman who sees the ice well with good offensive hockey sense.” I see him a bit differently. To me, he profiles as a strong defensive defenseman with real untapped potential on the offensive side.
Yes, he produced in the U20 and even quarterbacked the power play, but that rarely translates cleanly to the NHL level. What does translate is his defensive game. He’s got size and he can skate, which allows him to maintain tight gaps and angle opponents out of plays. He wins his battles, he’s strong at boxing out, and he uses a surprisingly long reach to disrupt lanes — especially on the penalty kill.
I’m not ruling out his offensive growth. He transitions play well — whether he’s skating it out himself or making the right first pass — and he has the vision to operate in the offensive zone. What he lacks right now is that heavy point shot that typically defines a true power‑play quarterback at the next level. There’s still plenty of runway to see where that part of his game goes, but there is enough there to invest in this player.
If you watched a lot of Cooper Simpson this season — as the Bruins certainly did — then you saw plenty of Jardine. And it’s worth repeating: if they’re truly prioritizing speed and skill above everything else, Jardine is impossible to ignore. When you layer in his IQ, his skating, and his compete level, he becomes a legitimately intriguing option.
One scout told me, “it’s about the area I have him in the draft,” while another said, “he’s a fourth‑rounder for me.” Independent scouting services seem just as divided. The consolidated rankings slot him in the fourth round, but at least one outlet has him as high as the second. For me, this range feels like the right neighborhood for him.
Jardine skates with his head up, constantly surveying the ice, and he knows what he wants to do with the puck before it ever touches his stick. His decision‑making is genuinely high‑end. He gets to pucks quickly, and his advanced processing makes him a dangerous playmaker. Pair him with a true shooter at the next level and I believe he can elevate that player’s game. The question for Boston, of course, is whether he can do it from the wing — because there’s a clear bottleneck down the middle.
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