After taking Boston College center James Hagens seventh overall Friday night, the Bruins made six more picks on Saturday in Rounds 2-7.
If there was one over-arching theme from Boston's draft, it was that they targeted offensive skill and upside over safe, reliable two-way play more than years past, a process that was only accelerated by Hagens falling into their lap.
“I think having more picks and having some higher picks allowed us to probably look at some players with a bit more offensive ability and upside that, sometimes in the areas where we tended to be picking, we didn’t have some of those players available,” said Ryan Nadeau, the Bruins’ director of amateur scouting. … I just think we ended up in a spot this year where we could really take some swings at some sort of higher upside offensive players that, maybe in the past, we haven’t had as many swings on that style player.”
It was a sentiment echoed by general manager Don Sweeney.
“Overriding theme would be that we were looking for, as I mentioned last night, the high level of skill that we can find, the compete level we can find,” Sweeney said. “…We’re looking for players that continue to drive offense, but are also competitive on both sides of the puck.”
Here is a breakdown of each of the Bruins' selections:
Round 2, Pick 51: William Moore, C/LW, U.S. Under-18 Team
The Bruins like having their prospects playing in their backyard, apparently. Moore is committed to Boston College for this fall, where he could team up with Hagens and four other Bruins prospects (Dean Letourneau, Oskar Jellvik, Andre Gasseau and Kristian Kostadinski).
Make no mistake, though, this isn't just a pick of convenience. Moore was great value at pick 51, as most draft rankings had him as a top-40 player, and maybe even a first-rounder.
Moore is listed at 6-foot-2, 174 pounds, so he'll certainly have some bulking up to do. A left shot, he can play either center or wing. In 64 games for the U.S. Under-18 Team last season, he had 27 goals and 32 assists to rank second on the team in points.
Moore is a skilled player with the puck on his stick who can play a bit of a power forward game and get to the net, although - again - he's probably going to need to put on some muscle if he's ultimately going to be able to play that way in the NHL. Moore has been knocked for being inconsistent at times, but his talent certainly makes him worth the late second-round pick.
Round 2, Pick 61: Liam Pettersson, LHD, Vaxjo (U20 Nationell)
An interesting project type of pick. Pettersson was not ranked in the top 100 in most pre-draft rankings, although Sportlogiq did have him 68th.
Pettersson is a 6-foot-2, 170-pound left-shot defenseman. He grades out as a very good transporter of the puck in transition with some offensive skill, and he could get even better in that area if he continues to improve his skating. He had 21 points (6 goals, 15 assists) in 39 games this season in the J20 Nationell, Sweden's highest junior league.
Pettersson has a lot to work on defensively, though, and how much he's able to improve in his own end and in preventing zone entries could determine whether he has an NHL future or not. Still, the puck-moving ability could make him a player worth betting on, even if this was higher than many projected him to go.
**Bruins trade pick 69 to Montreal for picks 79 and 108**
Round 3, Pick 79 - Cooper Simpson, LW, Shakopee (Minnesota High School)
Back to offense at 79. Simpson is a 6-foot-1, 179-pound pure goal-scorer. He led all Minnesota high schoolers with 49 goals in 31 games for Shakopee this season, then added seven goals in nine games with the Tri-City Storm in the USHL at the end of the season.
Simpson has a very good shot and is also a very good skater who can threaten defenses off the rush. The rest of his game is pretty raw, so he'll be a bit of a project, which is not unusual once you get this far into the draft.
Simpson is heading to the University of North Dakota this fall, where he'll be teammates with fellow Bruins prospect Will Zellers. Zellers was acquired from Colorado in the Charlie Coyle trade in March, and will also be a freshman this year.
Round 4, Pick 100 - Vashek Blanar, LHD, Troja-Ljungby (J18 Region)
As far as I could tell, Blanar was not ranked by any major outlet. In the sake of full transparency, I knew absolutely nothing about him at the time of his drafting, and cannot find any detailed scouting reports on him. He does not appear in Elite Prospects' Draft Guide, which includes over 350 prospects.
Here's what we do know: Vashek Blanar recently changed his legal name from Vashek Richards. He is Czech, but was born in Colorado. He's a left-shot defenseman who is listed at 6-foot-4, 183 pounds. He had 21 points (6 goals, 15 assists) and 59 penalty minutes in 38 games this past season for Troja-Ljungby in the J18 Region league, one of Sweden's second-tier junior leagues.
While the Bruins went way off the board with this pick, it is worth noting that they have a strong presence in Sweden with PJ Axelsson, the team's European scouting coordinator, based there, as well as several other scouts in the area.
"A little longer path for both those kids, from the standpoint of developing," Sweeney said of the two defensemen, Pettersson and Blanar. "They both have size. They both skate really well. Now you just gotta allow them to sort of get into playing at that higher level and allowing those things to continue to translate. They both have some options they're going to pursue over the next two years in terms of whether or not they just stay where they are, where they're comfortable. But usually, those kids start to get phone calls pretty quickly after getting drafted and quickly understand what they may want to pursue. For some of the kids, it's colleges. Now some of the CHL stuff opens up.
"We'll be supportive in what they want to do, but open-minded when they come in, if they have questions for us, to be able to have them understand what that development path for each one individually, most importantly. But both of them physically have to continue to develop, skating, size. And again, I think there's skill sets there. We feel we can teach the defensive side of the game. But as I said before, we're looking for players that continue to drive offense, but are also competitive on both sides of the puck."
**Bruins trade pick 108 to Tampa Bay for 2026 fourth-round pick**
Round 5, Pick 133 - Cole Chandler, C, Shawinigan Cataractes (QMJHL)
The Nova Scotia native is listed at 6-foot-1, 187 pounds, and is regarded as a good, responsible defense-first center. He did not put up a ton of points this past season (13 goals, 19 assists in 64 games), but started to flash a little more offense late, including five goals and seven assists in 16 playoff games, which put him among Shawinigan's team leaders in postseason scoring.
While the Bruins' first four picks zeroed in on offensive-minded players, this is a case of taking a smart player who is committed defensively, but who will need to grow his offensive game if he's ultimately going to have a chance in the pros.
Chandler told reporters that the combination of an injury that ended his 2023-24 season and then an illness affected his start to the 2024-25 season. He said he didn't really start to feel like himself until around Christmas, and that he felt much better about the way he ended the season.
Round 6, Pick 165 - Kirill Yemelyanov, C, Loko Yaroslavl (MHL)
Another center who comes advertised as a smart, responsible, two-way player. Yemelyanov is listed at 6-feet, 170 pounds. He had 13 goals and 10 assists in 35 games this past season for Loko Yaroslavl in the MHL, Russia's top junior league. The Bruins believe and are hoping he may have some untapped offensive potential based on some of the skill they see in him.