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The 2025 NHL Draft has concluded, and the immediate discussions around each class can begin. The Boston Bruins were one of the more intriguing teams entering the draft, given their draft position. For the first time since 2010, Boston owned a top-10 pick in the NHL Draft.
The Bruins had success with their last two top-10 picks prior to Friday night. Boston drafted Tyler Seguin in 2010 and Phil Kessel in the 2006 draft. Kessel went on to the Toronto Maple Leafs through trade, which landed them the picks used for Seguin and defenseman Dougie Hamilton. Seguin was traded in 2013, but helped them win a Stanley Cup in 2011.
Boston hopes the players selected remain with the team for a lot longer than a few years. They are looking to retool their roster, and they may have done so in the 2025 NHL Draft. Let's take a deeper look at their class and hand the Bruins an initial grade for their haul.
The Class of 2025.
📰: https://t.co/WXsQYR4A7L pic.twitter.com/ohnr4d6IiU
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) June 28, 2025
Bruins land potential franchise cornerstone
The Boston Bruins entered the 2025 NHL Draft needing an impact player down the middle. Their center depth across the entire organization was rather barren. Boston had to do something to change this. Thankfully, the impact player they were seeking fell right into their lap.
The Bruins made James Hagens the seventh-overall pick in the draft. ClutchPoints graded this selection an A, and for good reason. Hagens is a potential franchise cornerstone for Boston to build around. He is the sort of center prospect they've lacked since the days of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci.
Hagens is not the prototypical Bruins player. He isn't a bang-and-crash forward who plays with an incredible edge. He's certainly no shrinking violet. But he relies a ton on the high-end skill that certainly could have made him the top pick in this draft.
The Bruins traded Seguin in part because of his reliance on skill. It's hard to imagine this happens to Hagens, though. The organization is happy to have the Boston College prospect. And he's embraced the organization with open arms. It's as close to a perfect match as one can get in the NHL Draft.
Boston overhauls center depth
Hagens is not the only notable center Boston picked up in the 2025 NHL Draft. In fact, he isn't the only one with top-six potential. Boston's second pick — 51st overall — was American center William Moore. Some had him pegged as a potential first-round pick at times this season.
A couple years ago, Moore falling out of the first round would've been a bold statement. However, he never made a significant leap while with the US National Team Development Program. He flashed impressive skill and skating ability, as well as some power elements. However, he struggled to put all of this together.
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Moore brings positional versatility to the table, as he can play on the wing. However, there's a good chance he sticks down the middle. If he can string everything together, he has the makings of a solid No. 2 center who crashes the net and generates offense in multiple ways.
Boston's final two picks were also centers. Cole Chandler went in the fifth round, while Kirill Yemelyanov was a sixth-round selection. With this, the Bruins added four centers to their prospect pipeline, giving them more depth than they've had in recent seasons.
Later rounds are hit and miss
Boston's decisions in the later rounds do cast a shadow over the quality of this class. Chandler and Yemelyanov are perfect examples of the hit-and-miss nature of these final selections, in fact. Chandler provided some secondary offense for the Shawinigan Cataractes of the QMJHL this year. However, he is primarily a defense-first forward who may struggle to translate his offense to the NHL.
Yemelyanov, meanwhile, may be a legitimate steal. He shined in the MHL playoffs with the Loko Yaroslavl junior team. This helped propel him up draft boards in a major way. Some evaluators had a third-round grade on him. He has the tools to make it at the NHL level. And he does play an annoying, physical brand of hockey that Bruins fans can appreciate.
Their other late-round selections don't carry the same value. Liam Pettersson and Vashek Richards-Blanar were major reaches. In fact, many evaluators didn't have Richards-Blanar coming close to being drafted. Cole Simpson is a fine selection for where he went, though. Overall, it's going to take some work for these late-round selections to make any sort of noise in the NHL.
Grades and final thoughts
The Boston Bruins receive a good grade for their 2025 NHL Draft class. The selections of Hagens and Moore carry this grade on their own for the most part. However, the selections of Simpson and Yemelyanov help keep it toward the high end of the league. In saying this, Boston took some major gambles on players that may never pan out.
Bruins draft grade: B+
Best pick: James Hagens – Round 1, Pick 7
Worst pick: Vashek Richards-Blanar – Round 4, Pick 100
Most intriguing: Kirill Yemelyanov – Round 6, Pick 165
