Keith Gretzky was excited and scared. It was June 27, 2014, and the
Bruins’ former director of amateur scouting saw a prize ready to be plucked.
But there was a problem.
The Bruins, owners of the 25th pick, were waiting on one club at No. 24. It was Vancouver.
A month earlier, the
Canucks had hired Jim Benning as general manager. Benning was formerly the Bruins’ assistant GM.
Benning, an eight-year Bruins employee, helped write their playbook for the 2014 draft. Not only did Benning know every player his former employer preferred, he shared many of their team-building philosophies.
The Bruins adjusted their list following Benning’s exit. This didn’t guarantee, however, that Benning wouldn’t one-up his former employer.
Gretzky’s nerves were somewhat calmed by the 2013-14 viewings he conducted alongside Benning. His ex-colleague had a thing for
Jared McCann, the hard-nosed left-shot center who had scored 62 points in 64 games for Sault Ste. Marie of the OHL.
“Every time I would take Jim to a game, he scored a couple goals,” Gretzky said. “I knew he liked him. How much say he had in it, I don’t know.”
Sure enough, the Canucks drafted McCann at No. 24. Gretzky and his coworkers tried to stay composed. But the energy at the Bruins’ table at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center crackled.
The Bruins were about to draft
David Pastrnak.