By now, Don Sweeney and the Bruins are used to sitting on the sidelines for the key moments of the NHL Draft.
But this year’s draft, which wrapped up with Thursday’s Day 2 in Nashville, had to be especially painful for the Bruins. Without a first-round pick or second-round pick as a result of multiple swings for the fences in search of the franchise’s first Stanley Cup since 2011 — and after a massively disappointing playoff run that ended after just 13 days — the Bruins could do nothing but fold their arms and wait their turn as the first 91 players were called by their respective clubs.
“It was very difficult for me as a general manager to sit patiently with the group because of the work that I’ve known that they put in throughout the year,” Sweeney admitted following the 2023 NHL Draft. “So, you feel badly, full disclosure. As a general manager you feel badly that you have not rewarded them for the work that these guys have done and that’s on me. I need to figure out ways to pick up extra draft capital so that they get more swings. Which we’ve had my first early years in the draft, and we haven’t recently, so that’s on me. I make sure they know that, so their work has not gone unnoticed or not appreciated.”
And with five picks (trailing only 2020’s four-pick class as Boston’s smallest since Sweeney took over in 2015), the Bruins did what they could took to replenish what’s an obviously depleted pipeline…
No. 92 overall: Christopher Pelosi
MONTREAL, QC – MARCH 21: A detailed view of the Boston Bruins’ logo is seen during the second period against the Montreal Canadiens at Centre Bell on March 21, 2022 in Montreal, Canada. (Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
With their first pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, the Bruins went with forward Christopher Pelosi.
A 6-foot-2, 185-pound skater, Pelosi’s move to the Bruins organization came following a 2022-23 campaign that was split between the North American Hockey League and United States Hockey League. Skating in 24 games for the Janesville Jets (based out of Wisconsin, in case you’re curious like me) of the NAHL, the left-shooting Pelosi scored 10 goals and totaled 17 points, along with a plus-14 rating. Out of the NAHL and up in the USHL, and skating for the Sioux Falls Stampede, the New Jersey native added 13 goals and tallied 19 points in 43 games.
“We think it’s 200-feet in detail, a little bit of a different path over the course of the year,” Sweeney said of Pelosi’s game. “We like the conviction in the young man to sort of take the setback in stride and pick himself up and move forward and then realize that… I don’t think that he necessarily thought he was going to be in the lineup every night, and then they brought him up for a couple of games and next thing you know, you can’t get him out. So, he ingratiated himself in that way and just kept getting better and our guys just continued to appreciate it.”
The 18-year-old Pelosi is expected to join Qunnipiac University for the 2023-24 season.
Notable No. 92 overall picks in NHL history: Casey Cizikas (2009), Will Borgen (2015), Connor Dewar (2018).
No. 124 overall: Beckett Hendrickson
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – JUNE 29: Beckett Hendrickson celebrates after being selected 124th overall pick by the Boston Bruins during the 2023 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Bridgestone Arena on June 29, 2023. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Back on the clock with the No. 124 overall pick, the Bruins went with a player with NHL bloodlines, as they selected Beckett Hendrickson, who is the son of ex-NHLer and current Wild assistant coach Darby Hendrickson.
A 6-foot-2 pivot, Hendrickson’s selection by Don Sweeney & Co. came following a 2022-23 season with the U.S. Development Team program, and with seven goals and 16 points in 21 games in the USHL.
Hendrickson also appeared in action for the U.S. U-18 NTDP, with 13 goals and 34 points in 52 appearances, along with two assists in seven games for Team USA at the U-18 World Juniors.
“Detail and work ethic, high motor, that’s Beckett’s calling card,” Sweeney said. “He had a little injury that might have affected a little bit of an opportunity for production, but sometimes at the Development Program guys get slotted in a bit. You know, let’s be honest, the high-end side of that, the top two lines there are pretty skilled, but he’s got a lot of details in his game that we appreciate. We even spoke about it at the Combine, it’s things that his dad just reinforces that you have to have, and Darby was that way, so that resonated with us.”
Hendrickson will play 2023-24 with the Sioux Falls Stampede of the USHL and is committed to playing at the University of Minnesota beginning in 2024-25.
Notable No. 124 overall picks in NHL history: Joe Reekie (1983), Scott Walker (1993), Marty Turco (1994), and Ethan Bear (2015).
No. 188 overall: Ryan Walsh
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – APRIL 23: The crowd waves a Bruins flag before Game Seven of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs. (Omar Rawlings/Getty Images)
Back to work in the sixth round, the Bruins continued to make moves at the forward position, this time with the selection of forward Ryan Walsh.
The 19-year-old Walsh appears to be a late bloomer, at least by NHL standards, as his 2022-23 campaign featured 30 goals and 79 points in 61 games for the USHL’s Cedar Rapids RoughRiders.
“A little bit of a longer trajectory there. I mean, the area guys really feel strongly about his path. He’s going to go to Cornell next year and probably, as a young player, make an impact there and to see the progression he made in one year in that league, that speaks to us,” Sweeney said of Walsh. “You do a lot of work trying to figure out, especially as a guy who is maybe a little older and you start to wonder, okay is it because he’s older in that league? Mason [Langenbrunner] was a good example of that. That’s a difficult league and the first year you do have to meet certain benchmarks and he did that.”
As noted by Sweeney, Walsh will make his way to Cornell University next season.
Notable No. 188 overall picks in NHL history: Kelly Buchberger (1985), Manny Legace (1993), and Pierre Engvall (2014).
No. 214 overall: Casper Nassen
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – SEPTEMBER 23: A detail of the Bruins logo during the first period of the preseason game between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on September 23, 2019. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
With two seventh-round picks to their name in the seventh and final round of this year’s draft, the Bruins decided to cross the ocean and look to Sweden by way of their selection of forward Casper Nassen.
Standing at 6-foot-4 and weighing 205 pounds, Nassen is a definite heavyweight forward, and is coming off a strong season in the Swedish junior ranks, with a team-leading 23 goals and 40 points in 48 games for Vasteras IK J20.
Nassen also earned a three-game look with Vasteras IK of Hockey Allsvenskan.
The current plan calls for Nassen to join Miami of Ohio in 2024.
And for such a late pick, No. 214 overall actually has quite a few players to have decent NHL careers, with six players drafted in this spot having NHL careers of at least 200 games. That group includes Igor Larionov (1985), Kyle Brodziak (2003), Troy Brouwer (2004), Uwe Krupp (1983), Stefan Persson (1974), and Cristobal Huet (2001).
No. 220 overall: Kristian Kostadinski
BOSTON, MA – MAY 08: Fans react after Jake DeBrusk #74 of the Boston Bruins scores in the second period against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 4 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on May 8, 2022. (Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
And with their final pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, the Bruins opted to stay in Sweden, this time with the selection of defenseman Kristian Kostadinski.
A 6-foot-5 left-shot defenseman, Kostadinski spent his 2022-23 campaign with Frolunda’s junior squad, and tallied two goals and 10 points, along with a plus-13 rating, in 43 games played.
Kristian Kostadinski, #2 in yellow for Sweden, lays a booming hit as a forward comes at him on the forecheck. #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/ip4oq28Tnr
— Robert Chalmers (@IvanIvanlvan) June 29, 2023“Kostadinski did play on the national scene, so he was seen by a lot of cross over people,” Sweeney noted when discussing the fifth and final member of their ’23 class. “Size is a thing that stands out, competitiveness. [P.J. Axelsson] and [Victor Nybladh] and our Swedish guys spending time with them realizing that he knows that he has deficiencies and he’s willing to work on them, and he has a great work ethic, so excited about it.”
The selection of Kostadinski also continued what’s been a noticeable trend for the Bruins of late, with seven straight defensemen whose heights begin with a ‘6’ dating back to the 2020 NHL Draft.
The height of the last seven defensemen drafted by the Bruins since 2020.
— Ty Anderson (@_TyAnderson) June 29, 2023
Mason Lohrei: 6-foot-4
Mason Langenbrunner: 6-foot-3 Ryan Mast: 6-foot-5
Ty Gallagher: 6-foot-0
Frederic Brunet: 6-foot-2
Jackson Edward: 6-foot-2
Kristian Kostadinski: 6-foot-5 https://t.co/TevpU4PvoVNotable No. 220 picks in NHL history: Anson Carter (1992), Paul Gaustad (2000), and David Moss (2001).
