Boston Bruins General Manager has taken some heat for his drafts over the years. It hasn’t all been, and as Sweeney chose defenseman Charlie McAvoy in the first round of the 2016 NHL Draft, and blue liner Brandon Carlo was a good find in the second round of the 2015 draft. Goaltender Jeremy Swayman was a great value pick in the third round in 2017 as well. But there was also the infamous first round of the 2015 draft, where Jakub Zboril and Zach Senyshyn were selected over players who would produce well in the coming years. Another draft that drew some scrutiny was in 2018.
Unfortunately, the Bruins have had very little to show from it, and on Wednesday, that continued as sixth-round pick Dustyn McFaul was removed from the Bruins reserve list, making the 23-year-old defenseman a free agent. McFaul was the 181st overall selection in 2018 and played four seasons with Clarkson University, where he was captain last season. During his time with Clarkson, the left-shot defenseman played 114 games and totaled three goals and 22 assists. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound blue liner is expected to return to Clarkson for a fifth season.
The Bruins traded their second-round selection, Axel Andersson, on February 21, 2020, to the Anaheim Ducks as part of the trade that sent David Backes to the Ducks. Boston’s third-round pick was forward Jakub Lauko, who remains with the organization and is expected to fight for a full-time roster spot this season after scoring four goals with three assists in 23 games during the 2022-23 season.
Fourth-rounder Curtis Hall is still in the system with the Maine Mariners of the ECHL, but the likelihood of Hall making the Bruins roster at any time is getting slimmer. The 6-foot-3 center has played 102 games in the American Hockey League with the Providence Bruins and has produced just four goals. Seventh-round pick Pavel Shen is no longer with the organization.
This leaves only Swayman, Lauko, and 2019 first-round pick John Beecher as the only viable Bruins prospects out of the 2017-2019 drafts. Some of that has to do with where the Bruins have drafted as a perennial playoff contender, and some of it is of their own doing. This makes the 2020 draft, spearheaded by defenseman Mason Lohrei even more important when it comes to roster construction in the years to come.
Season 4. Episode 39. The Off Season – Bruins Benders Podcast
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Please explain the logic of giving away for nothing a great player in his prime, Taylor Hall, then using that same cap money to buy a bunch of waning-talent over-the-hill players,