Sweeney: First Round of NHL Draft for Bruins was “Excruciating”

For the Boston Bruins brass, Friday night was not a fun one. 31 picks were made over the span of about three hours and the Bruins had nothing to do with any of it. Bruins general manager Don Sweeney was certainly regretful after the first round of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.

“Painful. That was excruciating. Let’s try not to let that happen again,” said Sweeney to the media. “You’re really disappointed that you’re coming out empty-handed [on Friday] night. I’ve said all along that draft and development is going to be a lifeline. I still don’t regret at the time making the decision. We were really looking upon our hockey club and we all said that we were in it to win it.”

And they were in it to win it. At the the time of the Rick Nash back in February, the one in which they gave up their first round pick to the New York Rangers, the Bruins were one of hockey’s hottest teams and a sure bet to make a deep run.

As Sweeney saw last night, sometimes the long term development outweighs the short terms gains.

“So we could put ourselves back in that position,” said Sweeney to the media. “I’ll never say that I would never do it again, but I would just like to have a better result. Bottom line.”

Today, the Bruins are a guarantee to be active as they make their draft picks. They have the 57th overall pick in the second round, 77th overall pick in the third round, 119th overall pick in the fourth round, the 181st pick in the sixth round and the 212th overall pick in the sixth round. The most notable second round pick made under Sweeney has been Brandon Carlo.

The Bruins certainly have a lot of picks today and a chance to increase depth below the big club. But it sounds as though Sweeney will never let a night like last night happen again.