Boston Bruins Draft Recap 2025

Boston Bruins Draft Recap 2025

low quality fans of a high quality Bruins team that’s right high quality Bruins team with high quality prospects i really like this draft we’re going to talk about the draft real quick some housekeeping things before we get there i plan on putting a free agency video out today um that did not happen because our day got railroaded by some stuff uh some health concerned stuff but everything’s fine now yay for American medicine that doesn’t actually tell you what’s wrong i’m kidding it’s fine we are So we didn’t get most of the day to actually do this stuff but obviously we’ll do a bunch of free agency videos it just seems like now it’s gonna be much more reactive than it would have been proactive um I’m going to be in Boston we’re flying out tomorrow morning at 5:00 a.m uh we’ll I’ll be there the week for the development camp we’re going to go over these draft picks now uh but I’m going to have a lot more insight once I actually get to see them work on the ice a little bit so we’re going to talk a lot about them in this coming week on Tuesday July 2nd I want to say that’s correct uh we will be hanging out at Roxy’s No July 1st there you go july 1st we’ll be hanging out at Roxy’s bar Roxy’s arcade uh so if anyone wants to come out and say hello please do and then the short shift all three of us will be at Dev Camp on the 2nd altogether as well if you want to come out of course any other day I’ll be at the dev camp through the week so just let me know stop by say hello i’d love to see you i think that’s pretty much all of the housekeeping stuff how do you feel about the draft i think if you were to summarize this draft you would kind of just say offensive upside they took some swings i think they jumped ahead a couple rounds for some of these picks uh I think that’s classic Sweeney but overall there’s going to be a couple players that are absolutely worthy of kind of keeping an eye on none bigger than number seven overall James Hagens lefty center 5 foot 10 and a halfish about 180 lbs although at the draft he said he’s up to 190 18 years old this is this is the part of the draft where things got really interesting where we were wondering okay who’s actually going here but with Hagens falling to us with uh Martone and Fondell and Martin yeah all going before that that seventh overall higgins was right there it sounds like the Islanders tried to trade up for it based on reports that came out after and Sweeney because Higgins was there said no this is our guy i think that was a smart decision i think 16 and 17 you don’t find a potential long-term 1C which is what we desperately need i know there are people who like to talk about his size the guy isn’t 56 150 he’s a little on the smaller size for an NHL center there’s also guys his size and smaller that make an impact hugely at the NHL level i’m not worried about it his talent is absurd to say the least i think that because of the year he had in his draft year which was his first year at BC where he was only a point per game as a freshman and oftentimes deferred to two established rising NHL prospects on his team who had seniority and all that good stuff over him i’m not worried at all i know we talked last time when we talked about what we were going to do with the seventh overall and we talked about how it’s not great for a player of Hagen size to not uh really impress in his in his draft year it’s still an impressive year right it is still it’s a point per game on a very good BC team i feel very very comfortable with this i can’t believe he fell to seven he was a considered a number one overall pick going into the year this is awesome and from what I’ve read a lot of people are kind of like I bet when we do the reddraft of this in a couple of years Hagens goes higher i just there’s no reason to be upset about this he’s insanely clever with all of his movements offensively and defensively he can puck handle in any situation he can get out of a phone booth with a puck and three other men on top of him he is tremendously skilled he has a nice shot he has awesome vision there’s just nothing to dislike about this pick i know one of the knocks you’re going to see see on him besides his sides is that he will stick to the outside sometimes again not a concern to me because he controls the game from those outside portions and then attacks inside ice when it makes sense to do so he doesn’t park himself in the slot why would he that’s not where his skill set lies his vision allows him to get players get the puck to players who are better suited to finish the play and he’s able to beat a goalie from distance nothing to dislike about this pick most of you uh probably already know a good amount about Hagen so we’re not going to spend all that much time on him also we spoke about him a lot in the last video let’s talk about a couple of these other players that were drafted and the next player off the board for the Bruins was number 51 overall in the second round it’s William Moore 6’2 180 lbs left shot center i’m going to stop saying left shot because every single player in this draft is a left shot center not a left shot center just a left shot i don’t know why I said center there uh depending on who you trust as far as ranking prospects go Moore was ranked somewhere between the mid20s which would make him an absolute steal at 51 and the early ‘9s which would make him a reach if you’ve been a listener on this channel for a long time you know that there’s one thing I really really love and that is a cerebral hockey player high IQ someone who can dissect the different facets of the game and will make strong decisions throughout there may not be a player in this draft who is as technically smart as William Moore that’s how high I think of his actual hockey IQ you’ll see a bunch of stories about how he won an international competition playing the piano and he performed at Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall at just 10 years old uh so he’s like books smart too but on the ice coaches rave about his intelligence he’s a player who is prepared to face the opponents he faces who grasps the techniques and the systems that his coaches want him to grasp he understands every portion he has decent hands and he can fake out defenders to find open open lanes to teammates in dangerous areas that’s kind of where he excels the most is net front behind the net the closer to the scoring area the harder he is to contain the bad stuff the red flags about his game there are question marks about his effort which is never something you want to see he’s inconsistent he disappears for large stretches of games he isn’t physical uh and although has the ability to shield the puck really well he is pretty easily knocked off of the puck uh when trying to possess past defensemen particularly ones who are looking to make contact he’s a technically sound skater but isn’t explosive enough to break away from defenders and gets pinched into dead ice too often most projections put him middle six role playerish who can be dangerous when paired with a line driving talent i think there’s a lot to dissect about this though because when it comes to high IQ players like we’ll talk about how much I love Dons Luck Mel’s right and he he’s going to the AHL this year looked really good in his few games in the AHL last year there are things about Lamel’s game that match the IQ that really excite me his ability to shift defenders with head fakes and shoulder fakes and hip twists and and just the way he moves his eyes to move the coverage around him he knows how that’s going to impact the game allowing him to make his next play very much a I’m seeing two or three steps ahead and that goes across 200 feet for William Moore it is more of an overall understanding of how everything’s going to move around him i don’t see as much of the shifting players around we talked about his presence around the net and his ability to find teammates there or to make those open plays but as far as 200 ft of that as far as a transitional attack with that I don’t see it as much i I was afraid that some people would hear this and be like “Wait you don’t love this guy but you love La Mel’s what’s the big difference when it comes to the IQ thing?” And it’s not that I don’t like Moore i think he’s a really interesting prospect who has a top six ceiling truly has a top six ceiling it’s just there’s a lot of red flags and as soon as you start bringing up effort and when everyone brings up effort I get concerned i don’t I don’t love leaning on a prospect who we don’t know if he cares right if he doesn’t have that kind of competitiveness to him disappearing throughout games reminds me of like a Brett Harrison type who nasty shot but just disappears disappears the good news about this though is he played for the US national U8 team last year and he played for a coach named Greg Moore this guy got torched torched by watchers of that team uh scouts who have referred to that coach said that players underneath him either either stagnate or they get worse william Moore will be a project he’ll be a couple years out from the league pretty easily there are a lot of red flags as we’ve already mentioned but if that coach is actively submarining these players and is so frustrating to play for that this is why it looks like he’s not giving a great effort this is why he’s not having the impact that you’d like to see there’s at least a comment to be made that is about as abstract as it gets though and this is going off of scouting reports who are maybe trying to find a reason to like William more at a higher level maybe it’s an excuse i don’t know i think it’s a little bit of a reach um I I I think the red flags are pretty intense but all other coaches he’s played for has said they’ve really loved him they really love the way he digests the game and I really like leaning on high hockey IQ i think him coming up and playing at BC uh you’re gonna see a lot of will will he actually care or will his minutes shrink and shrink and shrink because I don’t think you’re going to survive on that team if you’re not really putting the effort in so definitely a lot of these guys are going to have really interesting first years to follow for sure so I’m lukewarm on that pick let’s go with that our other second round pick at number 61 overall is Liam Peterson i’m really surprised by this pick i know some scouts are really high on this guy i think this is a reach i think this is a guy that probably shouldn’t have gone in the second round he’s 6’2″ 170 pounds which side does he shoot from left left shot defenseman uh I’m no professional scout the reason I make these videos is for conversational topics so the research I’ve done sharing it with you and see what your thoughts are very few prospect rankings even had this guy on their board central Scouting ranked him as the 28th of E EU skaters which isn’t high this is we’re not talking about a 28th ranked skater here that’s still way back a couple other listings had him in the mid hundreds cory Prawman of The Athletic had him in the mid70s which is as high as I think I saw him but from what I found from him and watching some of his highlights now very smooth puck handler with deceptive mobility uh when I say smooth I don’t mean talented puck handler he just what he does with the puck is very simple but effective let’s let’s kind of say it that way he does have a way of pivoting out of danger and finds ways to complete passes that would be unavailable to players without his kind of his balance and ability to kind of use that mobility to open up more options uh reports do show that he’s effective at getting the puck to the net i didn’t see a lot of that from him uh but that he’s also going to make an impact in the defensive end as well he definitely needs a lot of honing in the defensive end though he just has the abilities there with his kind of smoother and and effective mobility the red flags are more about kind of where they’re drafting him if he was a fourth or fifth round swing I I feel way more comfortable with this but because he doesn’t display a very high level of hockey IQ the puck handling again is smooth but not so good that he’s going to beat players one-on-one on the blue line his ceiling seems to be more of that of a responsible third pairing guy who might give a little offense uh again I think they’re leaning more on his on his offensive abilities even though he’s not that great with the puck i don’t know this is kind of a polarizing guy who has a lot of polarizing reports about him as well he’s an interesting player to keep an eye on it just feels like you could have got him later and the upside at very very best is a second pairing guy which I mean you love out of a late second round pick it’s just I don’t know it’s hard for me to to see the whole package here with with Peterson i guess we’ll see our third round pick uh at number 75 79 overall is by far the most entertaining pick of the draft besides Hagens at number seven overall you better have an entertaining pick at number 79 Cooper Simpson 6 feet 180 lbs leftwing left shot i’m just going to keep saying it now because I said I wouldn’t he and like I said maybe the most interesting pick of the draft uh considering where he’s picked he’s basically coming right out of high school and he plays like it he’s selfish with the puck and tries to do too much i’m not worried about that because when you’re scoring more than a goal and a half per game that’s kind of the territory you’re in for for high school teams right he’s scored 49 goals in 31 games uh which is really good he’s actually projected as one of the better snipers in the draft he’s got a beautiful shot very effective at beating goalenders if you give him too much space he’s going to beat your goalie from a distance and your coach is going to get pissed if you try to close the gap he’s going to embarrass you with a puck and then he’s going to beat your goalie and your coach is going to get pissed a scout even said that they were shocked by how many teams didn’t have this guy on their board at all another one said that he’s top six or absolute bust there’s no in between for him that’s a lot of good stuff honestly if you’re telling me that a third round pick is either top six or nothing at all I feel good with that swing i genuinely do the red flags are basically two major things one how badly will his skating hold him back he’s not a great skater has a very rigid approach to it very tall approach to it even though he’s only six feet he just stands very upright with his skating he might not even be an okay skater honestly he relies on his puck handling to go around defenseman because he can’t do it with his skating but that’s going to get snuffed out at the next level at high school you can do that but even even just jumping up to college the skaters in front of you are far far far better you’re not going to just be able to dangle past them because your explosiveness needs to be there too if the skating doesn’t improve he’s going to have to utilize his teammates more which really brings us to number two on this how will he adapt to being forced off the puck more he’s going to the University of North Dakota he’ll play with Will Zeers another Bruins prospect that we got in that coil trade for Colorado at the NCAA level you need to utilize your teammates more duh as soon as you get to competitive hockey levels that’s important when your skating won’t allow you to easily beat opponents one-on-one it becomes even more important if he adapts well and continues to hone what he’s great at he has a legitimate top six talent level he can be a scoring threat at the NHL level if he doesn’t adapt you’ll never hear his name again he’ll just disappear someone will bring him up in trivia one day actually I think it’ll be too obscure for that cooper Simpson though at least for this upcoming year and you’re gonna want to check out check in on Will Zeers too because Will Zeers is that guy puts up an unbelievable amount of points in the USHL and then everyone’s saying everyone this scout’s saying it’s not going to translate to the next level it’s just the way he scores his points the way he is effective it’s not going to translate well let’s find out they’re both going to be going in their freshman years in college let’s see what they’ve got now remember LNO went from which wasn’t even really a high school level went from a very much lower league to BC and really really bad year i’m expecting Cooper Simpson to have a year that is very challenging for him in his first year at North Dakota and then that second year we’ll see if he’s he’s adapting and getting where he needs to be but there’s a little piece of me that just really likes his shot so much and his ability to score that I’m kind of like I know it was in high school 49 goals in 31 games is really good it’s really good i want to watch more of that so I’m very hopeful about this pick easily one of the most entertaining picks but that guy has a lot he’s going to have to work through to hit that next level and it’s important things it is important things it’s not just simply like he’s got to bulk up no he’s got to learn how to work in a structured team and his skating has to improve at number 100 overall we have Vashik Blanar or if you want to actually look him up on Elite Prospects it’s Vosik Richards he is a defenseman 183 lbs 6’4 183 seems a little light for 6’4 but again should be bulking up he shoots from the left good work so who is he i don’t know i’m serious i He changed his name to Richards that’s really all I’ve got i never really heard of the prospect going into it no one has much information on him he played in Sweden last year and racked up a bunch of penalty minutes he also had 21 points in 38 games uh I will definitely have more information on him after watching him a little bit at development camp i just don’t have a lot there’s he wasn’t listed on a lot of prospect rankings um there’s supposed to be a lot of offensive upside there from the people I’ve talked to they’re like “Yeah he’s I mean he’s got a little pop offensively gets gets the puck to the net.” That’s all I’ve got i’m sorry this this was one that I just can’t find more information on that’s what we’re going to go with so we’re going to move on at 133 overall we have Cole Chandler 6’1 176 pounds left shot center i forgot to do the bet again that’s okay he is another player who is ranked much farther back or not ranked at all by most lists he plays a very gritty responsible game he isn’t afraid to mix it up is a good skater he’ll empty the bucket on every shift he also makes pretty good reads with the puck he finds his teammates in good positions he’s usually doing this through quick reads though he isn’t going to be considered a creative player a player who can have the puck on his stick and beat someone one-on-one he’s not dynamic offensively he is a player who the second he has it he finds his outlet and off it goes there is value to that he is very very good defensively from what I’ve seen he just doesn’t give a ton on the offensive side he doesn’t have a very good shot and doesn’t possess the puck like I said handling skills don’t really get him into dangerous areas it does look like his ceiling is kind of a fourthline shutdown guy which you’re comfortable with in in whatever the fifth round um so you’re you’re fine with this pick if he’s a shutdown guy bottom sixer who can really bring some tenacity to the role great great i I’m usually more of like take a big swing on something here i guess what they’re really looking for is he does a lot of the little things so well that maybe he’ll grow into a bigger role but at the end of the day this guy looks to have a ceiling of a fourthline guy um and speaking of of kind of lower ceilings at 165 six round pick Carill Carill Yamalanov Yeanov Yamlanov I think that’s how you pronounce it he’s 6 feet tall he’s a center he’s 170 pounds and he shoots from the nailed it this pick is all about compete level he’s going to work just as hard away from the puck as he would on it he doesn’t hesitate to go to the dirty areas to make an impact in any way he can he’s surprisingly effective in transition for not having a lot to lean on as far as puck skill and handling talent he’s the kind of guy who does a lot well like he’s he’s good at a lot but he doesn’t do anything great probably a long shot to make the NHL honestly probably i mean he probably ends up being a KHL guy but I mean he’s a sixrounder who cares right like you’re taking a swing on a dude who’s super consistent across the board has some offensive upside to him um but at the end of the day there’s no one thing that you can point to that you love about him outside of the fact that he competes wicked hard and what I really love about a pick like this is he competes wicked hard when he’s away from the puck that is something that even when you talk about those those dogged performers at the NHL level the ones who chase you around all over the ice and all that good stuff there are players who still have that dog kind of description who when the puck’s not on their stick but they’re also not defending they’re kind of standing in a corner offensively this is a guy who if the puck’s not a stick on not on a stick but they’re still moving up ice he’s going to create some sort of commotion whether that’s trying to get into the dirty areas trying to fade behind the defense for an open shot he’s going to move i love that it’s one of my favorite things about players you’ll you’ll watch the Bruins last year you saw almost none of it right when they have the puck in the offensive zone there’s a lot of standill a lot of stagnation particularly on the power play this guy would ne will never be on an NHL power play but he is the kind of guy to constantly be moving and looking for that next play and I really like that um no reason not to take a swing like that so late in the rounds um I I wonder because he is so sound at so much i am surprised that he’s a sixrounder that seems a little farther back than he should have gone maybe the Russian aspect plays a little role i was just on Tupad Stack guest spotting with them that should be coming out soon check them out um and Ace basically had said that that maybe the Russian aspect of it is still holding some teams back um six round pick is exactly where you use those so I honestly if you’re going to look at the draft as a whole I thought the Bruins took some big swings i did i thought they draft positionally they didn’t get the utmost value of where their picks were that being said this is a great draft this is a great draft you potentially have gotten your next 1C out of this draft if that’s the only pick that hits it’s a great draft you have some really interesting players behind it particularly uh Moore and Simpson in my book are ones that are just interesting to see how they develop and after that you just have a couple swings whatever like there’s nobody who’s going to sit there and get upset about fifth sixth seventh round picks anyway uh Carl Capriov doesn’t happen all that often fifth rounder Bruins pick that ends up being a superstar it’s just not not super common so I feel really good about the draft we actually while we were on the the two bad stack we graded it i gave this a grade of an A minus hagens puts you in the A category immediately from there I think they took a couple leaps up the board uh farther up than than they should have but uh so it brings you back down to an A minus but overall there’s a couple players that I’m really excited about couple players that I’ll probably forget about in the long term but I I feel really good about this let me know what your favorite pick besides Hagens was um and I swear to God if any of you are like “But Hagens is small he’s 5’11” 190 he’s not tiny he’s not tiny he can still be a very effective 1C god I’m so excited about this i can’t believe he fell to seven and I’ve been saying this to other people maybe this is just at the end i’ll I’ll kind of add this in but I’ve been saying this to a couple other of the guys I talked to around the the whole draft and everything but I think we saved the Islanders from themselves they tried to trade back up to seven hagens was there sweeney went “No Hagens was here i’m taking them.” I think if Hagens was God gone then they very likely uh would have taken those picks and and seen what else they could do with them but if the Islanders jumped up to seven for Hagens they basically would have traded Dobson for Hagens and a bottom six guy now as great as it would be to get what I think could be a 1C um you’re trading a a sure thing number one right-handed defenseman in Dobson for a maybe 1C that’s basically the whole trade and the number one right-hand defenseman is 26 years old it feels like you could get more value for that I guess is where I’m at i don’t know i don’t know how many people actually agree with me there but instead they walk away with Aan and Eklland and feel like they got three real impact players for the long-term future out of this and then we get a 1C so I feel very good about that anyway guys that does it for me i got to pack for the flight that’s at like 4:00 a.m tomorrow um it’s like 8:30 now so you guys have a great night i can’t wait to see some of you at the dev camp like comment subscribe nailed it kobe scopies

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