Bruins have the goods to trade for valuable third pick in NHL Draft

The Tuesday afternoon announcement that Boston had signed prospect Zane McIntyre probably didn’t move the needle for anyone outside of Bruins diehards or North Dakota alums. But the agreement with the 22-year-old netminder could signal the team’s readiness to make a significant trade ahead of Friday’s NHL draft.

The Bruins are rumored to be in discussions with Arizona about the third pick in the annual talent grab. Coming off a disappointing season, and with new general manager Don Sweeney ready to put his stamp on the roster, it makes sense that they’d be looking to make some kind of splash by adding someone like Boston College star defenseman Noah Hanifin or explosive winger Mitch Marner. And having McIntyre under contract puts them in a better position to do just that.

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The 22-year-old goaltender is a high-intrigue prospect. He topped the NCAA with 29 wins this season and helped lead North Dakota to the 2015 Frozen Four. He was honored as one of three finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the top player in college hockey, and was selected as the winner of the Mike Richter Award, given annually to the NCAA’s top goaltender.

During a three-year career at UND, McIntyre compiled a 58-24-9 record, tied the school record for most career wins and set new marks in career goals-against average (2.08) and save percentage (.927). Not surprisingly, scouts like him a whole lot more now than they did when he slipped to the Bruins in the sixth round back in 2010. One recently told SI.com that he views McIntyre as having the potential to become “an above-average NHL starter, maybe even more.”

That’s a nice asset to have in the system. The thing is, the B’s already have someone just like him.

Malcolm Subban was acquired with the 24th pick back in 2012 and has developed nicely over the past two seasons with AHL Providence. The 21-year-old is also viewed as a future starting netminder. But with Tuukka Rask about to enter the third year of an eight-season deal, it seems unlikely that he’ll get his chance in Boston.

Now that the B’s have a redundancy in the pipeline, Subban becomes a very intriguing asset to offer as part of a trade to move up in the draft.

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There’s always the risk that the Bruins could move the “wrong” one, much the same way that Toronto infamously kept Justin Pogge and sent Rask to the Bruins in the Andrew Raycroft deal. But the sense is that Subban is the one they’d be willing to deal. He has the better pedigree (making him a more valuable chip) and with two years of pro experience is closer to being NHL-ready. Those qualities should be of great interest to the Coyotes, a team that lacks a legitimate No. 1 prospect in its system (both Louis Domingue and Mark Visentin are viewed as lower-end starters/backups).

Of course Subban alone won’t get a deal done. It’s thought the B’s would also have to include their own first rounder, a roster player and possibly a future pick.

They’d have no problem moving the 14th selection and with pressing cap issues would be willing to include a veteran with a heavy hit, possibly Milan Lucic or Loui Eriksson. The Coyotes have only 11 veterans under contract for next season and need to spend some money to get up to the cap floor, so either of those salaries would address that problem and add a top-six presence to an offense that ranked 29th this season. The key for a team in the early stages of a rebuild though would be the kids. Adding up to three young players who are at various stages of development would make a lot of sense for Arizona.

Of course the Bruins aren’t the only team that is said to be in the mix if GM Don Maloney decides to move the pick. But with McIntyre in the fold, the B’s now look to be the best positioned to give the Coyotes what they need. That’s something to keep an eye on heading into the draft.

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GALLERY: Notable NHL Draft Busts

Notable NHL Draft Busts

1989: Dave Chyzowski

THN’s 1989 Draft Preview was right to call Chyzowski a “boom or bust” prospect. The winger, coming off a 56-goal season with Kamloops, was taken second by the Islanders behind Mats Sundin (Toronto) and became a career minor leaguer. His one big shot came in 1990-91 when he got into 56 games with the Isles and scored five goals. Cut loose in '95, he ended up in Detroit's system. The '90 draft was also awful for the Isles as they used the sixth pick on forward Scott Scissons, who played in all of two NHL games.

1993: Alexandre Daigle

Billed as the next Mario Lemieux, the first pick from a crop that included Chris Pronger (No. 2), Paul Kariya (4) and Jason Arnott (7) had produced three straight 100-points-plus campaigns in juniors. Handed a then-rookie record five-year, $12.25 million deal, Daigle spent four-and-a-half seasons with the Senators, twice scoring a career high 51 points before taking an unremarkable journeyman's path through Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, New York (Rangers), Pittsburgh, Minnesota and on out to Switzerland.

1994: Jason Bonsignore

The ultimate great tools/no tool box cautionary tale. A former junior coach graded Bonsignore’s potential with top marks for natural talent and zeroes for hockey sense and character. Bonsignore later admitted to his own immaturity but by that point it was far too late. He ended up playing 21 games for Edmonton before being cut adrift. Fortunately for the Oilers they compensated (somewhat) by taking Ryan Smyth two picks later.

1995: Steve Kelly

At No. 6, winger Kelly was yet another in a disastrous string of picks by the Oilers who from 1989 to '99 saw only three of their first rounders (Jason Arnott, Ryan Smyth, Boyd Devereaux) play at least 100 games for them. Their entire class of '90—11 picks—washed out without ever appearing in the NHL. Kelly bounced from the Oilers to the Lightning, Devils, Kings and Wild, exiting the league in 2008 with all of 149 NHL games on his resume.

1996: Alexandre Volchkov

The Russian sniper, the fourth pick, was too lazy for the pro game. In his defense, he was a member of one of the weakest draft classes in NHL history. Ahead of him were J.P. Dumont, Andrei Zyuzin and, at first overall, Chris Phillips. Nothing against Phillips, but he doesn't strike you as "first overall" material. Still, here's the difference between Phillips and Volchkov: Phillips missed as many NHL games between 2006-07 and 2011-12 as Volchkov played in his entire NHL career: three.

1997: Daniel Tkaczuk

Contextually, Greg Nemisz was a bigger miscue but that 1998 first-rounder was taken 25th overall. Tkaczuk’s name was called sixth, the second-highest selection in Flames franchise history, making it all the more painful when the former Barrie Colts star was the only top-12 pick who failed to play at least 250 NHL games. After skating in 19 games for the Flames he fled to Europe where he starred in the Italian and German leagues.

1998: Michael Henrich

The No. 13 pick by the Oilers, defenseman Henrich holds the distinction of being the only member of the class of 1998's first round to never play in the NHL. At least goalie Mathieu Chouinard (No. 15 by Ottawa) made it into one game.

1999: Patrik Stefan and Pavel Brendl

Chosen No. 1 by the Thrashers, Stefan (center) developed into a decent third-liner for the Atlanta, but hardly lived up to his draft status and was traded to Dallas in 2006 when his contract expired. After 41 games, the Stars had seen enough and he wasn't re-signed. Brendl (right) went to the Rangers at No. 4 and his potential helped New York land Eric Lindros from the Flyers in a 2001 trade. Brendl notched 13 points in 50 games with Philly and was out of the NHL by 2006-07.

2000: Brent Krahn

The Flames' No. 9 pick battled a recurring knee injury and did not reach the NHL until 2009. By then he'd been let go by Calgary and picked up as a free agent by Dallas for whom he appeared in all of one game, and that was in relief. He then spent the remaining two years of his pro career with the Stars' AHL affiliate.

2001: Alexander Svitov

The Lightning had big dreams for Svitov, the youngest player to skate in the Russian Elite League, when they used the No. 3 pick to land him. The big, strong center seemed like he would fit nicely into their roster but he topped out at 18 points, and that was in his final NHL season (2006-07). But then he was with Columbus, having managed only 11 points in 74 games for Tampa Bay. As unproductive for the Jackets as he was for the Bolts, Svitov ended up returning to Russia to finish his career.

2002: Petr Taticek

Only one player selected among the first 14 picks of the ’02 draft skated in fewer than 480 NHL games. That was Taticek, a center who played less than 20 minutes total before the Panthers fully grasped what a fraud he was. Making his selection even more painful: Florida actually sent a fourth-rounder to the Flames in order to move up one spot and grab him.

2003: Hugh Jessiman

Jessiman may be the greatest draft blunder of 2000s. The 6' 6", 230-pound winger's monster freshman season at Dartmouth prompted the Rangers to grab him ahead of Dustin Brown, Zach Parise, Brent Burns, Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Kesler, Corey Perry, Mike Richards and others. Injuries and his lack of high-end hockey sense doomed him to wander the hockey hinterlands before he finally made his NHL debut with Florida in 2011. While a dozen players selected after him are All-Stars, he’s now skating in the Austrian league.

2004: Alexandre Picard

Not to be confused with the defenseman of the same name who was drafted in 2003, this Alexandre Picard was a forward taken eighth in 2004 by Columbus. The Jackets gave him plenty of opportunity to make it on the big stage, and he played 67 games over the course of five seasons. What did he have to show for it? Two points.

2007: Thomas Hickey

The Kings have pulled bigger busts out of the hat, but no pick was more controversial than this undersized puck-moving defender, the greatest reach in recent memory. The first blueliner chosen, at No. 4, from a crop that included P.K. Subban, Ryan McDonagh, Kevin Shattenkirk and Karl Alzner, Hickey never played for L.A. Claimed on waivers by the Islanders in 2013, he's slowly matured into a serviceable defender, but he should not have come off the board that early.

2008: Kyle Beach

A bruising, agitating power forward who drew comparisons to Owen Nolan early in his draft year, Beach was destined for great things ... until his leaden stride and hamster-wheel hockey sense made him perhaps the biggest bust in Blackhawks history. He spent six seasons in the minors but never came close to earning a call-up. In July 2013, the Hawks gave him one more shot with a one-year deal, but he appeared in all of seven games for AHL Rockford before he was traded to the Rangers. He’s currently plying his trade in Austria. Meanwhile, Tyler Myers (12th) and Erik Karlsson (15th) are doing O.K. for themselves in the NHL.

2009: Scott Glennie

The Stars' first pick (No. 8) in a stacked draft is a center who impressed in the WHL but has so far been unable to justify his draft status. Bedeviled by injuries, he continues to languish in the AHL. He'd appeared in one NHL game as of the end of the 2014-15 season while a procession of Stars prospects had moved on to the big club. With his contract up, Glennie's future with the organization is in doubt.