Oliver Wahlstrom represents Don Sweeney’s latest post-hype gamble for the Bruins
Don Sweeney has had a type in recent years. And it’s clear that his type is an attempt to make up for past problems in the draft.
Whether it’s his own picks that flamed out, or draft capital shipped to other teams in trades, Sweeney has been trying to fill out the Bruins roster with recent first-round prospects that didn’t live up to the promise of their high stock with the teams that selected them. The Bruins’ latest waiver claim, former Islanders forward Oliver Wahlstrom, is simply the latest example.
And it’s a gamble that makes a ton of sense for Sweeney and the B’s organization. Wahlstrom grew up in Maine rooting for the Bruins and played a year at Boston College before turning pro. He brings the kind of size the Bruins have sought in the past year (6-foot-2, 205 pounds). He can really shoot the puck, which could make him an asset on the Bruins’ struggling power play. And interim head coach Joe Sacco may be the right coach to hone his details and improve the rest of his game.
“He’s looking at [the Bruins] like a new opportunity, just like most players would,” Sacco said Monday on Wahlstrom. “You get an opportunity to go somewhere else, and hopefully at some point you get a chance to show the other team what you can do.”
Wahlstrom watched Brad Marchand win the Stanley Cup in 2011, when he had just turned 11 years old two days prior. Now they’re teammates, and Marchand seems to be pumping Wahlstrom up by giving him the lofty comparison of “Big Pasta.” The new guy isn’t exactly going there just yet.
“That’s outrageous (laughs),” Wahlstrom said Monday. “Pasta’s Pasta. Obviously the shot’s there, but I’ve been working on a lot of other things in my game that maybe helps get to those areas too. I don’t know when I’m going to play, but maybe get some game action and see who I’m playing with and go from there.”
Wahlstrom has been tried out at both wing spots in his first practices as a Bruin, according to Jim McBride of the Boston Globe. The most recent practice lines from Monday had Wahlstrom working in at third-line right wing next to Trent Frederic and Charlie Coyle.
Sacco told reporters Monday not to read too much into the Bruins’ line configurations at practice, and has yet to decide who’s playing on Tuesday night against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome. They’re scheduled to hold their morning skate on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. ET, with puck drop set for 9 p.m. ET.
Wahlstrom may need a few practices under his belt to actually get into the Bruins lineup, but Sacco appears to be giving him every opportunity to slide right in. (UPDATE: Per No changes to the #Bruins lineup tonight in Calgary. Jeremy Swayman gets the net. Oliver Wahlstrom’s debut will wait at least one more game.
Circling back to Sweeney and what the Wahlstrom addition represents … the 24-year-old winger never panned out with the Islanders, who drafted him 11th overall in 2018. He has amassed only 36 goals and 35 assists in 220 career NHL games to date. His advanced numbers aren’t more promising, as his career-best “expected goals for” (xGF) was in the 2021-22 season at 35.1, which ranked 394th in the league.
This has become a routine gamble for Sweeney, who has drafted only two players in the first round in the past five drafts: Fabian Lysell in 2021 and Dean Letourneau in 2024. He has invested in various other so-called “post-hype prospects” from recent first rounds, most notably Pavel Zacha, who was the sixth overall pick in the stacked (in Sweeney’s case, infamous) 2015 draft.
It remains to be seen whether Zacha can truly measure up to that big-time status, but he’s settled in as a legitimate middle-six forward for the Bruins, with two straight seasons of at least 57 points. He’s scored at a 62-point pace since Sacco took over as interim head coach.
There are other recent additions in the same mold, that haven’t worked out so well. The B’s signed Max Jones and Riley Tufte, the 25th and 26th overall picks in the 2016 draft, in the off-season. Both have since been waived and reassigned to Providence. There may yet be hope for them in Boston, but their tenures are certainly off to a rough start.
Wahlstrom has more skill and scoring potential than either Jones or Tufte, and the scoring-starved Bruins need that more than anything else right now. Sweeney is hoping that Wahlstrom simply needed a change of scenery and took longer than the average prospect to round out his game and realize his potential. If he can even turn out like another Zacha and become a 50-point player in Boston, that would be a win for the GM.
But it’s a statement on the current state of the roster, that this is the route they need to take to find offense.
Matt Dolloff is a writer and digital content producer for 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read all of his articles here.
