Swayman was included as he hasn't played a hundred games yet. He'll likely cross over this season, barring injury, but he's at 88 right now. And I didn't include 2016 because I was talking about the last 5 drafts since the most recent one isn't really applicable, and barely anyone across the league has made a roster from the 2022 draft as it's very early still as well. Which I mentioned before by saying their numbers may obviously change.
But don't take my word for it, go look. You can see that in the 2019 draft, only three teams had their first round pick not play at least a game. Guess who is one of the three? Of the 5 players they drafted in this draft, zero have played a game. Of their 7 picks in 2018, only Lauko has played for the team and that was for all of 23 games. In 2017, Swayman is the big winner with the aforementioned 88 games. Next closes was Studnicka, who isn't really a an NHL regular and will likely never be one. And then Urho Vaakanainen rounds out that draft class for games in the NHL with 68 games played and more played for other teams than Boston, like Studnicka. The other 5 guys? No games at all.
So like I said earlier, going back to 2017, they've basically found one NHL caliber player in Swayman and really not much else. I'm not sure how that's even something you can argue if you look at their picks.
[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TH]Round[/TH]
[TH]Percentage of Players to play an NHL[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]First[/TD]
[TD]94%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Second[/TD]
[TD]70%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Third[/TD]
[TD]54%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Fourth[/TD]
[TD]44%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Fifth[/TD]
[TD]34%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Sixth[/TD]
[TD]31%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Seventh[/TD]
[TD]26%[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TH]Draft Year[/TH]
[TH]Percentage Played in NHL[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2020[/TD]
[TD]0.9[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2019[/TD]
[TD]5.5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2018[/TD]
[TD]12[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2017[/TD]
[TD]26.7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2016[/TD]
[TD]34.6[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2006[/TD]
[TD]42.7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2004[/TD]
[TD]44[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2014[/TD]
[TD]44.2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2007[/TD]
[TD]45.9[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2015[/TD]
[TD]46.9[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2005[/TD]
[TD]48.2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2013[/TD]
[TD]48.8[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2010[/TD]
[TD]50.1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2008[/TD]
[TD]50.7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2012[/TD]
[TD]51.2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2009[/TD]
[TD]55.2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2011[/TD]
[TD]59.2[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
The NHL is an elite club and it's a significant achievement to even get drafted by a team — but it's a whole other story to end up playing in your first NHL
bshockey.com
Basically, 49% of players drafted will play at least one game in the NHL. Go do your own math to see what the Bruins hit rate is. I can tell you with certainty, it's not even close to 49% in the last 6-7 years. But yeah, I'm the jerk here for pointing out how the many many misses by Sweeney in the draft is a problem.
That's because it's pure speculation with zero actual evidence of even being remotely true. I respect Dom and his opinion, but given the Bruin's track record of drafting and developing, I'd say this is a 100% best case scenario and not likely.