Boston Bruins Again Miss Out on High Value Players with Pick 29 in 2016 Draft

Boston Bruins management and scouts continued their mind-boggling trend of passing on best players available and ventured far out into left field once again in the 2016 NHL draft, much to the frustration of diehard fans.

Their latest head-scratching pick occurred when they bypassed on right-shooting, gritty 1st round-ranked dynamic scorers 5'7" C/RW Alex DeBrincat and 6'1" C/RW Pascal Laberge with their 29th pick to go way off the board and instead select big defensive center Trent Frederic, who was projected to go in the mid to late second round (he was ranked from 47th to 58th on major draft boards). This was especially head-turning since Bruins President Cam Neely had stressed at the team's season-ending presser in April that one of the team's top needs was to get heavier on the right side. Laberge, a 6'1" right wing and gritty two-way scorer, would have seemingly addressed that need while also providing flexibility at center as well as responsibility and high battle at both ends of the ice.

While Frederic projects to be only a third or fourth line center down the road at the NHL level, DeBrincat (pure sniper with three straight 50-goal, 100-point seasons) and Laberge (tough two-way player who can both score and make plays and finished with 23 goals and 68 points in 56 games last season) are legit first rounders who have the potential to be top-six forwards and would have been excellent value picks at number 29. Frederic or a comparable player could have simply been taken much later in the draft. When the B's turn came around at 29, many NHL observers expected Laberge would have been an easy choice at that point but one wonders if he was even on the B's radar. GM Don Sweeney, scouting chief Keith Gretzky and Neely converged for several moments before making the choice of Frederic.

The Bruins did take solid value players with both their 14th overall pick and 2nd rounder (49th overall) in defensemen Charlie McAvoy (ranked from 6th to 23rd) and Ryan Lindgren (ranked 41st-49th), but seem to continue to take one step forward and two steps back in a league that is quickly getting faster and more skilled and just don't seem to be on top of things when it comes to scouting or managing assets. Giving up all of the picks they did in last season's deadline trades (four selections in total, including their 2016 3rd and 4th rounders) instead of moving veteran assets for more picks also hurt them in the draft, where they ultimately ended up with only six selections. 

Laberge was ultimately selected by Philadelphia and DeBrincat by Chicago early in the second round, and were long gone by the time Boston picked again at number 49. What is more concerning is that Bruins management doesn't seem to get that fans also like to see skill on the ice, and not just physical and defensive play. Speed, skill and puck possession are also what the league is trending to. Who can forget the shifty Russian dynamo 5'8" Sergei Samsonov, who thrilled Boston fans in the late '90s and 2000s with his array of moves and deftness around the net.

After going well off the board in the first round of the 2015 draft, as well, and passing on elite prospects such as Kyle Connor, who has gone on to become one of the top NHL prospects in the country, the Bruins' front office leadership continues to be a cause for concern to the team's fanbase as the B's seemingly continue to miss out on exciting players while the rest of the league scoops them up and seems to be quickly passing Boston by.