Bruins Don’t Have History on Their Side With 122nd Pick
Unless Boston Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney makes a trade or two at the upcoming 2024 NHL Entry Draft, his team will not make a selection until the fourth round at 122nd overall. Since the introduction of the draft in 1963, there have been 52 picks from the 122nd spot, with only 15 of them making it to the NHL.
The Bruins have one of the lowest-ranked farm systems in the league, with The Hockey Writers’ Logan Horn ranking them 28th. Under Sweeney’s guidance since 2015, Boston has only seen one fourth-round pick make it: Jeremy Swayman (111th overall) in 2017.
Historically, 2024 will mark the fifth time that the organization will select at 122nd, with none of the previous four draftees: Gary Carr (1975), Ralph Cox (1977), Terry Taillefer (1983), and Stephen Foster (1989) skating in the NHL. Thus far, the Bruins have made 56 fourth-round picks, with just 25 advancing to the league. Joe Juneau undoubtedly had the most successful career of those selections with 828 games and 572 points, including holding the club’s rookie record for points (102) in a single season, achieved in 1992-93.
Although we are not here today to discuss the best fourth-round picks in Bruins or NHL history, we want to zero in on the legacies of the players selected at 122nd overall. If Boston maintains that position as its first pick, there’s only a 28% chance of that player impacting the club.
122nd Overall Picks With 100 or More Games
As mentioned, only 15 players selected at 122nd overall have played in the NHL, with only one skating in more than 400 games: Dmitry Yushkevich. At the 1991 Entry Draft, the Philadelphia Flyers selected Yushkevich in the sixth round. He played 786 games over 11 years with four teams, including the Flyers (twice), Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers, and Los Angeles Kings, scoring 43 goals and 225 points.
After Yuskevich, Chris Wagner (122nd overall, 2010) has skated in the second-most games, 373, through the 2023-24 season. Initially drafted by the Anaheim Ducks, he has played with the Colorado Avalanche (twice), New York Islanders, and Bruins. Wagner wore the Spoked B for 186 games from 2018 to 2023 before relocating for a second time to Denver.
Next on the list is Chris Mason (317 games), just one of three netminders to make it to the NHL from the 122nd spot in the draft. Despite being selected by the New Jersey Devils, he never dressed for the club, debuting with the Nashville Predators, then playing with the St. Louis Blues and the Atlanta Thrashers, and becoming a member of the Winnipeg Jets after relocation in 2011.
Tim Sweeney is another former player drafted at 122nd overall and eventually ended up with Boston. A sixth-round pick of the Calgary Flames, he played briefly in Alberta before coming to the Bruins in 1992-93. He left for two seasons with the Ducks before coming back. Sweeney finished his 291-game career with one season on Broadway with the New York Rangers.
Norm Barnes was the first 122nd overall pick to make it to the NHL. He joined the Flyers in 1976-77 after being their eighth-round pick in the 1973 Amateur Draft. He played only 82 games with the organization before moving up the East Coast to skate 74 more with the Hartford Whalers.
The Montreal Canadiens selected Charles Hudon at the 2012 Entry Draft, and he debuted three seasons later in 2015-16. After five seasons and 125 games, he didn’t skate in the NHL again until 2022-23, when he played nine games with the Avalanche.
Finally, the last player from this draft position to skate in over 100 games in the NHL is Corey Potter, who the Rangers selected in the 2003 Entry Draft. Despite a brief 130-game career, he bounced around with six teams, including stops with the Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Rangers, Flames, and Predators, and a three-game stint with the Bruins in 2013-14.
122nd Overall Picks With Less Than 100 NHL Games
Getting drafted by an NHL franchise is an exciting experience, but dressing in an NHL game is even more special. Seven players from the 122nd spot have skated in over 100 games, meaning the remaining eight have played at least one while others made it to 85.
The Flames drafted John Emmons in the fifth round at the 1993 Entry Draft, but he never played with the organization, debuting with the Ottawa Senators in 1999-2000. After just 51 games, he moved to the Tampa Bay Lightning before finishing his 85-game NHL career with the Bruins in 2001-02, playing 22 games.
Dustin Tokarski is the second goalie on this list to make it into the NHL, getting 80 games after the Lightning drafted him at the 2008 Entry Draft in the fifth round. He debuted in 2009, skating eight games with Tampa Bay before getting a chance with the Canadiens. From there, Tokarski skated with the Ducks and Penguins while earning the most starts with the Buffalo Sabres.
Mario Kempe, whose younger brother Adrian Kempe plays with the Kings, had a brief career with the Arizona Coyotes from 2017 to 2019. Although the Flyers drafted him in the fifth round at the 2007 Entry Draft, he never cracked the lineup there and moved to the desert, where he played 70 games over two seasons.
Three players drafted at 122nd overall have come from Massachusetts, with Patrick Leahy being the third, along with Wagner and Sweeney. Interestingly, all three played with the Bruins, as Leahy made his NHL debut in 2003-04 with the club. Initially a fifth-round draft pick of the Rangers, he never dressed in New York, playing 49 out of his 50 career games with Boston while suiting up for one contest with the Predators in 2006-07.
Boston has a lot of history associated with 122nd overall draft picks, as Phil Von Stefenelli, a Vancouver Canucks selection in the 1988 Entry Draft, debuted with the Bruins in 1995-96. He skated 27 games for the team that season before finishing up his 33-game career with the Senators in 1996-97, never scoring a goal.
Finally, three 122nd-overall picks have never registered a point during their one chance in the NHL, including the Canadiens’ 1987 pick, Les Kuntar (six games), the Senators’ 2004 pick, Alexander Nikulin (three games), and the Islanders’ 2009 pick Anton Klementyev (one game).
Historical Perspective
Fifteen players drafted 122nd overall have made it into the NHL to play 2,515 games, scoring 177 goals, 407 assists, and 584 points. No one from this position has ever won the Stanley Cup or made an All-Star Game. Although the Bruins have a significant history with this draft spot, none of the players who skated with the organization compiled a double-digit goal season.
Considering Boston is in a win-now mode as Brad Marchand just turned 36, David Pastrnak is in his prime at 28, and Swayman is showing glimpses of a promising future at just 25, Sweeney needs to make some moves in the upcoming draft to get some early-round selections. Banking on a fourth-rounder to be your first pick with a farm system that needs improving is no way to ensure the club’s contender window remains open for the next decade.
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