Would Bruins GM Don Sweeney trade the No. 7 pick?

New York Times

a day ago

Don Sweeney is nothing if not thorough. He engaged 14 head coaching candidates before identifying Marco Sturm as his preferred target. He attacks problems from left, right, top and bottom.
It is no surprise, then, that the Boston Bruins general manager is considering every possibility ahead of the 2025 NHL Draft. That includes moving the No. 7 pick.
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'We will use the draft capital and try to improve our hockey club this year and moving forward in every capacity possible. It might mean making the selection,' Sweeney said Tuesday. 'But it won't mean we weren't having conversations that say how we improve our hockey club today and moving forward.'
You can understand why other GMs would query Sweeney about the No. 7 selection. Difference-making players have been picked at that position, including Matvei Michkov, Quinn Hughes, Clayton Keller and Mark Scheifele. Pick No. 7 represents a good opportunity for a team to draft an impactful prospect who would earn three years of relative peanuts on an entry-level contract.
Those are the reasons, then, that such trades almost never happen.
Sweeney ran his first draft as GM in 2015. Within that stretch, only one top-seven selection has been moved at this time of year.
On June 23, 2017, the first day of that year's draft, the Arizona Coyotes traded Tony DeAngelo and the seventh pick to the New York Rangers for Derek Stepan and Antti Raanta. The Rangers used the pick to draft Lias Andersson.
In retrospect, trading No. 7 was worth it for the Coyotes. Stepan, 27 at the time, scored 14 goals and 42 assists in 2017-18. Meanwhile, Raanta posted a .930 save percentage in 47 appearances. Andersson scored three goals and six assists in 66 career games for the Rangers before he was moved to the Los Angeles Kings for a second-round pick. Other players the Rangers should have considered at No. 7 include Martin Necas, Nick Suzuki, Robert Thomas and Jason Robertson.
The fact that the 2017 trade is the exception and not the rule, however, proves how valuable clubs consider the No. 7 pick. By now, with the NHL Scouting Combine complete and the draft just over two weeks away, teams are finalizing their lists. GMs and scouts are excited about the chance to make their selections.
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As a rule, they don't trade high-end picks when the draft is this close.
This is not to say the Bruins won't break the mold. One of Sweeney's first tasks is to supply new coach Sturm with NHL players. The seventh selection, in all likelihood, will not collect his first NHL paycheck until 2026-27 at the earliest. Sturm needs help today. If, to use the 2017 example, it gets Sturm a veteran center like Stepan was at the time, the first-year coach would jump on the trade call to help it guarantee approval.
'I haven't had a coach worry too much about draft capital,' Sweeney said with a smile, 'other than if you're going to use it to improve his current club. That would always be the recommendation of the coach.'
But one of the things Sweeney learned during the coaching search was how far the Bruins have slipped when it comes to incorporating young players. It is a valid critique. Matt Poitras, the No. 54 pick in 2022, only stuck for 33 games up top in 2024-25. Fabian Lysell, the 2021 first-rounder once considered a possible Jake DeBrusk replacement, scored one goal in 12 games. Johnny Beecher, the team's first-round selection in 2019, scored just three goals.
Whoever the Bruins pick at No. 7 would have a far greater likelihood of making an NHL impression. It could be Jake O'Brien. Maybe it will be Brady Martin. Both play center. The Bruins are short-handed at the position.
In 2003 and 2004, the Bruins used second-round picks to draft Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. They were seismic selections. Sweeney has noted, following the centers' retirements, how drafting pivots of their caliber does not happen often, especially given how late the Bruins had traditionally picked.
Sweeney has also observed how rarely game-changing centers become available on the trade market or in free agency. When it happens, the cost is through the roof.
The draft, then, is the most efficient button Sweeney can push for dramatic improvement.