Forwards from the 2015 Draft

[Moridin]

Most forwards are in their absolute prime at age 27-28, and looking at the top scorers right now, the 2015 draft sure looks like a huge success...

Rantanen, Marner, McDavid, Eichel & Connor all in the top 8, with Strome, Konecny & Aho in the top 20 as well.

Click to read more...

 

[Kalus]

As a Bruins fan: ugh!

 

[JohanFranzenstein]

A question for the teams that hit on literally even one player from this draft: does it feel nice??

Signed, a Wings fan

 

[Murzu]

Did you guys know that this was the draft where Bruins could had drafted Barzal, Connor AND Chabot?!

 

[D1az]

Did you guys know that this was the draft where Bruins could had drafted Barzal, Connor AND Chabot?!

No, I didn't know that. Does someone have the energy to explain the details related to this?

 

[94 Oil Drops]

A question for the teams that hit on literally even one player from this draft: does it feel nice??

Signed, a Wings fan

...Yes.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Did you guys know that this was the draft where Bruins could had drafted Barzal, Connor AND Chabot?!

Thank god for Sweeney or else we would have had to suffer through likely at minimum B2B cup wins.

 

[Taro Tsujimoto]

No, I didn't know that. Does someone have the energy to explain the details related to this?

Bruins had 13, 14, and 15OA that year (13 and 15 were acquired in the trades that sent Milan Lucic to LA and Dougie Hamilton to Calgary, respectively). Barzal, Connor, and Chabot were all still available at that point, Boston took Jakub Zboril, Jake DeBrusk, and Zachary Senyshyn instead. Barzal, Connor, and Chabot were the next three picked after them.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

A question for the teams that hit on literally even one player from this draft: does it feel nice??

Signed, a Wings fan

It was definitely a relief as a Leafs fan. They had a pretty solid run of first round selections back then. Marner was the guy I'd hoped they'd get, was a fan of his back in his first season with London. I was worried they'd end up with Strome (who is a fine player in his own right), so I was doing some pretty serious fist pumps when they got Marner.

Who'd have thought a guy that typically took his game to another level in the OHL playoffs would be so underwhelming in the NHL post-season?

 

[kings11]

As a Bruins fan: ugh!

As a Kings fan.. FU!
That’s the year we targeted Kyle Connor only for the Lucic trade to go down and then you guys traded Jones to SJ and they trounced us.. but then again, how did you guys f*** up 3 straight picks

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

As a Bruins fan: ugh!

It has to be the biggest draft failure of all time, right?

I mean yeah, teams have biffed it on top picks before, but they had three picks, two sucked, and one is an NHLer, but not nearly as good as the guys picked after.

 

[JohanFranzenstein]

It was definitely a relief as a Leafs fan. They had a pretty solid run of first round selections back then. Marner was the guy I'd hoped they'd get, was a fan of his back in his first season with London. I was worried they'd end up with Strome (who is a fine player in his own right), so I was doing some pretty serious fist pumps when they got Marner.

Who'd have thought a guy that typically took his game to another level in the OHL playoffs would be so underwhelming in the NHL post-season?

Loved watching the Knights in his draft and D+1 year. One of the most exiting teams I've ever seen in the O. I think he's going to put it together in the playoffs sooner rather than later.

 

[winnipegger]

Getting Kyle Connor in the position we got him was such a gift. Boston gave Winnipeg a 40 goal winger out of the kindness of their hearts.

 

[Brodeur]

As a Kings fan.. FU!
That’s the year we targeted Kyle Connor only for the Lucic trade to go down and then you guys traded Jones to SJ and they trounced us.. but then again, how did you guys f*** up 3 straight picks

I thought former Kings AGM Mike Futa said Matt Barzal would have been the pick if they kept it.

Connor would have been amusing if only because Dean Lombardi made some comments about Michigan not developing guys (Jack Johnson at the time, Jeff Jillson from his Sharks days) that he thought were off the record, but then got published.

 

[Frank Drebin]

It has to be the biggest draft failure of all time, right?

I mean yeah, teams have biffed it on top picks before, but they had three picks, two sucked, and one is an NHLer, but not nearly as good as the guys picked after.

Debrusk is certainly an nhler

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

Debrusk is certainly an nhler

It has to be the biggest draft failure of all time, right?

I mean yeah, teams have biffed it on top picks before, but they had three picks, two sucked, and one is an NHLer, but not nearly as good as the guys picked after.

 

[north21]

Most forwards are in their absolute prime at age 27-28, and looking at the top scorers right now, the 2015 draft sure looks like a huge success...

Rantanen, Marner, McDavid, Eichel & Connor all in the top 8, with Strome, Konecny & Aho in the top 20 as well.

Kaprizov

 

[Crede777]

Columbus was really looking to move up to grab Hanifin. I'm glad they didn't and instead took Werenski.

 

[DD03]

Columbus was really looking to move up to grab Hanifin. I'm glad they didn't and instead took Werenski.

Sometimes on draft day, its the moves you don't make.

 

[Lazytrout]

Did you guys know that this was the draft where Bruins could had drafted Barzal, Connor AND Chabot?!

Sometimes hindsight is 20/20 but it was just as puzzling back then, those 3 were clear BPA and Bruins just decided to go way off the board

 

[GeeoffBrown]

Columbus was really looking to move up to grab Hanifin. I'm glad they didn't and instead took Werenski.

True. Hanifin is a good minutes eater but not a game breaker

 

[Brodeur]

Sometimes hindsight is 20/20 but it was just as puzzling back then, those 3 were clear BPA and Bruins just decided to go way off the board

McKenzie's Final 2015 Ranking: McDavid, Eichel and... - TSN.ca

The 2015 NHL Draft will take place in Sunrise, Florida in three weeks, where Connor McDavid will be coronated as the first-overall selection. But there's plenty of intriguing options after McDavid and Jack Eichel, as revealed in TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie's final TSN Draft ranking.

www.tsn.ca

McKenzie's final survey/ranking had Zboril at 14 and Chabot at 25. Zboril going in that range wasn't too shocking in the moment.

Not to pile on the B's, but one layer of the onion that I always found interesting was that they had signed Matt Barzal's WHL linemate Justin Hickman as an undrafted free agent ~3 months before the draft. So they seemingly must have had plenty of viewings of Barzal. I remember reading some articles about Barzal having an intense/contentious meeting with Boston. Maybe a thin line between being confident and being offputtingly arrogant?

 

[Moridin]

Kaprizov

I forgot he was drafted in 2015..