The Boston Bruins finished the 2022-23 season with a 47-20-15 record, claiming second place in the Atlantic Division and seventh overall in the NHL standings. They beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs before falling to the Florida Panthers in the second round. In the second consecutive season, their southern rivals eliminated them.
Despite being a top-10 team in the league, the Bruins are not making a selection at the 2024 Entry Draft until the fourth round. This year will mark the first time in franchise history that they will not have a pick in the first three rounds of a draft unless general manager Don Sweeney makes a trade to get another pick before 122nd overall.
Related: Bruins 2023-24 Player Grades: Jeremy Swayman
If fans wonder why Boston no longer possesses their first, second, and third-round picks, here’s a little refresher on the transactions associated with those lost draft picks and how the trades have panned out thus far.
Seventh Round Pick (218th) – Traded Feb. 22, 2022
Boston trades a 2024 seventh-round pick to the Arizona Coyotes for the signing rights to Michael Callahan.
Sweeney traded their seventh-round pick to the Arizona Coyotes on Feb. 22, 2022, for the opportunity to sign Michael Callahan. The Coyotes flipped the pick to the Edmonton Oilers in the Troy Stecher exchange for a 2027 seventh-round pick on Mar. 7, 2024.
Meanwhile, the Bruins signed Callahan, who is playing with the Providence Bruins, as an alternate captain during the 2023-24 season. After four seasons with Providence College, where he was team captain for the last three campaigns, he played 138 games and netted 66 points. So far, in 140 games in the American Hockey League, he has 27 points and is a restricted free agent this summer.
Third Round Pick (90th) – Traded Feb. 23, 2023
Boston trades Craig Smith, a 2023 first-round pick (Easton Cowan, 8th overall), a 20245 Third-Round pick (90th), and a 2025 second-round pick to the Washington Capitals. Boston trades a 2023 fifth-round pick (Melvin Strahl, 156th overall) to the Minnesota Wild.
Washington trades Dmitry Orlov at half salary ($2.255 million) to Minnesota for the signing rights to Andrei Svetlakov. Boston receives Garnet Hathaway and Andrei Svetlakov (signing rights) from Washington and Dmitry Orlov at half salary ($1.275 million) from Minnesota.
At the 2023 trade deadline, Sweeney and the Bruins went all in to win a Stanley Cup, finishing the campaign with an NHL record of 65 wins and 135 points. They retooled their lineup by acquiring Garnet Hathaway and Dmitry Orlov while obtaining the rights to Andrei Svetlakov, who is playing in the KHL.
Hathaway (25 games) and Orlov (23 games) combined for 16 points in the regular season and nine more in 14 playoff games. However, neither player stayed with the organization, opting to pursue free agency, with Orlov signing with the Carolina Hurricanes and Hathaway moving to the Philadelphia Flyers. Meanwhile, Svetlakov continues to play in the Kontinental Hockey League, where he debuted in 2015-16 before becoming a Minnesota Wild sixth-round draft pick (178th overall) in 2017.
Related: Bruins All-Time Best and Worst Trade Deadlines
After this deal, the Washington Capitals traded away the 2023 first-round pick to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Rasmus Sandin for Erik Gustafsson deal on Feb. 28, 2023, with the pick turning into Easton Cowan. Cowan is tearing it up in the Ontario Hockey League, where he’s been a regular season and playoff MVP. Meanwhile, the Wild were involved in the deal to offset Orlov’s salary and received a fifth-round pick who turned out to be netminder Melvin Strahl, who is playing junior hockey in Sweden.
Second Round Pick (58th) – Traded Mar. 19, 2022
Boston trades a 2022 first-round pick (Nathan Gaucher, 22nd overall), a 2023 second-round pick (Damian Clara, 60th overall), and a 2024 first-round pick to the Anaheim Ducks for Hampus Lindholm at half salary ($2.602 million) and Kodie Curran.
In 2022, Sweeney swung for the fences at the trade deadline, acquiring Hampus Lindholm and Kodie Curran from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for three draft picks, including their 2024 first-round pick. Upon arriving in Boston, Lindholm signed an eight-year deal worth $6.5 million annually. During his first entire season with the Bruins in 2022-23, Lindholm led the NHL with a plus-49 rating and netted a career-high 53 points.
Curran plays in the KHL and is an alternate captain for the Dinamo Minsk. After spending two campaigns in the AHL with the San Diego Gulls and Providence Bruins, he has played in Russia for the past two years. At 34, he is not under contract to any NHL team as of May 2024.
With their 2022 first-round pick, the Ducks selected Nathan Gaucher, who just finished his first season in the AHL with the Gulls, scoring 25 points in 72 games. He spent four seasons in the QMJHL, putting up a respectable 158 points in 199 games. Regarding their second-round pick in 2023, Anaheim selected Damian Clara, an Italian goalie currently unsigned and plays in the SHL in Sweden.
First Round Pick (25th) – Traded Mar. 2, 2023
Boston trades a 2024 First Round pick (Conditional – Top 10 protected) and a 2025 Fourth Round pick to the Detroit Red Wings for Tyler Bertuzzi at half salary ($2.375 million).
As mentioned, the Bruins had the seventh-best record in the NHL in 2023-24, which resulted in the 25th overall pick in the upcoming 2024 Entry Draft. However, on Mar. 2, 2023, Sweeney traded this pick away, along with a fourth-round pick in 2025, to the Detroit Red Wings for Tyler Bertuzzi.
Bertuzzi was a three-time 20-goal scorer with the Red Wings, reaching a career-high of 30 in 2021-22. He came to Boston and netted 16 points in 21 games, chipping in 10 more in seven playoff games. Immediately following the season, he opted for free agency and landed with the Maple Leafs on a one-year deal valued at $5.5 million, scoring 43 points and 21 goals in 80 games.
Historical Perspective
The 2024 Entry Draft will mark the sixth time the Bruins will not draft in the first round, following the 1985, 1998, 2004, 2013, and 2018 events. Interestingly, those picks turned into the following players:
- 2018 – 26th overall – Jacob Bernard-Docker (Ottawa Senators from Boston via New York Rangers)
- 2013 – 29th overall – Jason Dickinson (Dallas Stars)
- 2004 – 27th overall – Jeff Schultz (Washington Capitals)
- 1998 – 19th overall – Robyn Regehr (Colorado Avalanche)
- 1985 – 10th overall – Dan Gratton (Los Angeles Kings)
Realistically, Sweeney needs to make a move at the draft to keep building up the farm system, as The Hockey Writers’ Logan Horn ranks the Bruins 28th in the NHL. Even though the Providence Bruins were 42-21-6-3 this past season to finish second in the AHL Atlantic Division, the minor league club has won just two playoff series during Sweeney’s tenure as general manager.
Suppose the Bruins want to remain competitive throughout David Pastrnak’s eight-year contract. In that case, Sweeney must keep injecting youth like John Beecher, Mason Lohrei, and Matthew Poitras, who are all NHL-caliber draft picks. Continually trading away draft capital for win-now players doesn’t always work out and can put franchises in awkward spots, like making a first pick in the fourth round.
