NHL Draft Notebook: Bruins exploring options at No. 7

The 2025 NHL Draft is just a week away with the main event on June 27-28 from Los Angeles. Follow along on TSN.ca with the latest news, rumours and speculation from around the NHL.

Bruins' pick on the table

The Boston Bruins missed the playoffs last season for the first time since the 2015-16 campaign and general manager Don Sweeney is trying to make sure it doesn't become a habit.

Sweeney addressed the media last week to announce the hiring of new head coach Marco Sturm, but was also asked about his strategy entering the NHL Draft on June 27.

The 58-year-old acknowledged having a pick within the top 10 in the first round is a unique scenario for the team after not being in this position for such a long time, but he is still focused on making the team better for the 2025-26 season.

"We've been an aggressive organization, whether or not you want to point out fault in regard to trying to win and accomplish the ultimate goal, that's what we're here for," Sweeney said on June 10. "So, we will use the draft capital to improve our hockey club this year and moving forward in every capacity possible. It might be making the selection, but it won't mean that we aren't having conversations that says, 'How do we improve our hockey club today and moving forward?'"

With the Bruins on the outside looking in at the trade deadline in March, they took the opportunity to trade mainstays like forwards Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, Justin Brazeau, Trent Frederic, and defenceman Brandon Carlo, receiving younger players, prospects, and draft picks in return.

The haul included first-round picks from the Toronto Maple Leafs (2026) and Florida Panthers (either 2027 or 2028) as well as three other selections in this year's draft. 

After the dust settled, what was once a battle-tested veteran Bruins team has gotten significantly younger, with goaltender Joonas Korpisalo and defenceman Hampus Lindholm entering the off-season as the team's elder statesmen at 31-years-old.

Boston now has the luxury of exploring whether their new found prospects can be used as assets to add to their organizational needs now, or using them to build for the future.

"It's always going to be about what's best for the organization," said Sweeney. "We're in a unique position this year drafted in the top 10 that we haven't been there for a significant amount of time. We have two second-round picks and two firsts the following year and we're excited about that."

Blue Jackets preach patience

After four straight seasons of picking within the top six of the NHL Draft, the Columbus Blue Jackets find themselves in a new position this year with two picks in the middle of the first round.

Columbus loaded up a young core of players over the past few years who are now producing at the NHL level, including forwards Kent Johnson (No. 5 overall in 2021) and Adam Fantilli (No. 3 overall in 2023).

They also have a blue-chip prospect in Cayden Lindstrom (No. 4 overall in 2024) who will continue his development in the NCAA with Michigan State University next season and turned defenceman David Jiricek (No. 6 overall in 2022) into defenceman Daemon Hunt and four draft picks in a trade with the Minnesota Wild in November.

The Blue Jackets head into the draft holding with picks No. 14 and 20 (from the Wild in the Jiricek trade) and general manager Don Waddell is preaching patience in regards to when these young players will help the NHL club.

"These players are three, four years away, so I always say, take the best player available to you," Waddell told Jane McNally of NHL.com on Monday. "There's a big deficit of right-hand shot centres, right-hand shot defencemen, and right-hand shots period. So if you're stuck on that plan, you might miss out on a player that could be a real good centre. You just have to be careful with that."

With the Blue Jackets securing a strong supply of young developing players over the last few seasons combined with the veteran leadership from captain Boone Jenner, defenceman Zach Werenski, and forward Sean Monahan, Waddell's main focus this off-season is to make his team better in order reach the playoffs for the first time since the 2019-20 campaign.

Columbus finished fourth in the Metropolitan Division last season with a 40-31-11 record and were two points shy of the final divisional playoff spot held by the third-place New Jersey Devils. They were also three points shy of the Montreal Canadiens for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

In order to reach the next level, Waddell has not ruled out trading one or both of their draft picks if it makes the team better now.

"Picks are important, and we've got a pretty good stockpile of young players right now that are either here or coming," said Waddell. "So I'm not afraid [of trading the picks]. If there's an opportunity to make our team better today, these are options that we definitely want to look at."