Despite Lack of First-Rounder, B's Approach Won't Change

BUFFALO- Whether or not the Bruins have a first-round pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft remains to be seen. One thing is for certain, though - general manager Don Sweeney will be prepared to select the best player available, regardless of their final position in the draft. That process begins here this week at the 2018 NHL Scouting Combine.
"These are good young players," Sweeney said on Thursday as the Combine neared an end. "They deserve to be here. It's a select group of kids, and you're just trying to spend a little bit of time to find a little bit more about them and their family dynamic."

Throughout the combine, Sweeney and his management team conducted individual interviews with approximately 80 prospects. Sweeney felt confident that the Bruins Brass will be ready come draft night, when Boston is scheduled to have five draft picks, one each in the second, third, fourth, sixth, and seventh rounds.
"Our guys were well prepared for the types of questions and some of the things they had identified as a group. We had our amateur meetings all last week, so we have a really good working list, and we just went to work," said Sweeney, who was joined in the interview room this week by assistant GM Scott Bradley, scouts Dean Malkoc and P.J. Axelsson, associate director of amateur scouting Ryan Nadeau, and director of hockey operations/analytics Jeremy Rogalski.
The Bruins are currently without a first-round pick - courtesy of a deadline trade with the New York Rangers to acquire Rick Nash - for the first time in Sweeney's tenure as GM.
"As everybody gets approaching the draft itself and going through the interviews, it gets hard," Sweeney said of the possibility of trading for a selection in the first round. "I'd had previous discussions, and whether or not those change between now and after interviews and such, we'll have to find out in the next couple weeks.
"I do think it will be difficult, yeah, but there are teams with multiple picks. You never know what some team may want to do…things kind of take shape within your own team and what your teams are."

When it does come time for Sweeney to make his selection, he wants to be certain the B's are making the right pick. The player interviews are a good tool to glean useful information from potential future selections.
"They don't know what questions are coming," said Sweeney. "You throw one off guard...it's not to be adversarial in the process, but you can challenge them to see whether to not they can go off script. "
Sweeney also broke down specific things management is looking for during these interviews.
"You're looking for analogies as to how they see themselves and where your own guys see them potentially," Sweeney outlined. "You like to hear what their timelines are. You do get, every once in a while, you get a young man who is pretty refreshing in his own - gets a little more realistic and you kind of acknowledge, 'Hey, that's a refreshing approach to hear from a young man, and maybe he's a little more mature.
"Who are you replacing in our lineup if you did envision? 'OK, you're playing in two years, well whose job are you taking?' Just try and go through it and try to be a little more honest and forthright with where maybe that player falls."