Boston Bruins

Bruins Keeping Options Open With Top 10 Pick in NHL Draft

Published

3 weeks ago

June 25, 2025

BRIGHTON, Mass. — The first round of the 2025 NHL Draft is just two days away, and the Boston Bruins have had nearly two months two prepare for it.

But as they get ready to make a franchise altering decision with the seventh overall pick, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney says they’re still weighing their options.

“We feel really comfortable where we are, picking in the top seven,” Sweeney said on Wednesday. “We’ve had a lot of discussions over the last month, month and a half, of potential options with that pick. We’re still exploring them as of today, and probably as of tomorrow as well. We feel very comfortable making a selection, but we’re going to continue to see what might present between now and then.”

The options are clear, but only in name.

Beyond consensus top pick Matthew Schaefer, there’s no telling how the draft board will shake out, as most of the projected top 10 prospects come with one question attached or another.

There’s the six-foot-five unicorn of a center Roger McQueen, who’s saddled with a concerning history of injuries.

James Hagens is perhaps the most skilled player in this year’s class. However, the Boston College product saw his draft stock tumble this past season after posting numbers that weren’t quite mind-boggling, but merely good. Not to mention, he’s the worst thing a player can possibly be in the eyes of the Bruins: small.

Boston has shown intrigue in dogged forechecker Brady Martin. He’s a good player, no doubt. One who already has the makeup to make it at the NHL level, but also not necessarily the kind of prospect you hope to land with a top-10 selection.

And yet, that may just be what the Bruins have to accept.

Make no mistake, whoever the Bruins draft will immediately become the organization’s top prospect. That is, if they make the selection at all.

With the options already thin to begin with, the Bruins may be resigned to selling the pick or future assets. Better yet, there’s also the allure of moving up, and trading away a player currently on their roster in aggressive pursuit of a prospect that would otherwise be out of reach. Neither option is off the table, but will only be put into action if there’s a greater long-term gain.

“We would absolutely augment our roster if there’s an eye towards now and the future,” said Sweeney. “I don’t think it’s a short term acquisition that we’d be inclined to make at this point in time. When we have runway, I think that’s what we would look to do. Otherwise, we are going to focus on some of the draft capital that we have and use it as effectively as we possibly can.”

Along with the seventh pick, Boston owns two second-round picks, as well as one in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds in this year’s draft, as well as two firsts in 2026.

Regardless of how they chose to use those picks, the Bruins are dead set on walking away from the draft table with a player that will be part of the franchise’s foundation for years to come.

Simply put, they don’t have enough of them as currently constructed.

Sure, there’s David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy, but the depth behind them is scarce.

Forwards Elias Lindholm, Pavel Zacha, Casey Mittelstadt, and Morgan Geekie are all solid contributors, but each has a ceiling on their potential. The same goes for Hampus Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov on the blue line. As for youngsters Mason Lohrei, Matthew Poitras, Fabian Lysell, and Fraser Minten, they’re all unproven commodities with varying degrees of NHL experience.

Adding depth to both their lineup and prospect pool is the primary objective for the Bruins this offseason. They need more scoring. They need more skill. The need more, well, everything.

“We do have areas that we would like to fortify if we have the opportunity,” Sweeney said. “But ultimately, we have to find the most competitive and skilled players that we possibly can. They exist, generally, in the top part of the draft, from the standpoint of the skill. But the competitive nature and the growth of players, that trickles down later in the draft. They’re there, and hopefully we continue to do a good job [identifying them].

“I want to make sure our [scouts] know we’re not trying to be myopic in how we view things, to just say it’s center based, or it’s skill based, or just guys shoot the puck. Ultimately, we got to put all the decision-making lenses in, and make the best decision we can.”

Come Friday night, the Bruins will be faced with a decision that will determine their direction for the next decade.

May the draft board forever fall in their favor.

“At the end of the day, you only control your own draft board,” said Sweeney. “You have to react in terms of what other teams are likely to take. You can look at other teams’ depth charts and somewhat figure out who they might target, but everybody’s looking for the best player. You’re trying to pick in the top part of the draft, and you need who you think is the best player to impact your own club.”