Things seem to be going from bad to worse for the Boston Bruins and general manager Don Sweeney. The beleaguered franchise took another hit after being handed their worst possible outcome for the 2025 NHL draft lottery.
The latest bad news follows a shocking drop in performance this season, which led to the Bruins missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016. The subpar showing in the regular season triggered a fire sale around the trade deadline, with Boston trading captain Brad Marchand, defenseman Brandon Carlo, and forwards Charlie Coyle, Casey Mittelstadt, and William Zellers, among others.
Bruins GM Don Sweeney Reacts to Draft Lottery Loss
Sweeney put on a brave face after the Monday, May 5, reveal that the Bruins would get the seventh pick in the upcoming draft.
“Well, I mean — we’re still picking in the upper echelon of the draft, which we haven’t done for a significant time period,” Sweeney told reporters. “So, we feel very comfortable in terms of where the top seven picks are, and we’ll get a good player — an impact player —regardless of the disappointment of moving back a couple spots. That’s just the nature of the lottery.”
The heavyweight hockey club had the fifth-worst record in the NHL this season, and oddsmakers had given them an 8.5% chance to secure the first overall pick. But with the New York Islanders winning the draft lottery and the Utah Hockey Club winning the second draw to move up from No. 14 to No. 4, Boston slipped to No. 7, which was as far back as they could slide under the format.
Sweeney added that the franchise would explore all options to try and move up the draft ladder, but they had gamed out scenarios where they would land one of their prime targets in their current spot.
“At seven, you still may, difficult to move up from there, but we’ll do our due diligence in terms of what teams may want to jockey around and we still feel very comfortable about the scouting that we’ve done and the player we’re going to get it at seven if we decide to stay there,” Sweeney said.
The Bruins ended the regular season at the bottom of the Atlantic Division with a 33-39-10 record. In early April, they were eliminated from playoff contention after a run of 10 straight losses.
According to statisticians, the Islanders won the draft lottery on a 3.5% chance. This is their first time winning the No. 1 pick since they selected John Tavares in the 2009 NHL entry draft.
