What’s At Stake For Bruins Monday In Huge Night For Franchise

Once again, the Bruins are faced with a pivotal spring night in their franchise history, just not in the way they’ve become accustomed to.

Boston would love to be gearing up for Game 1 against Toronto or Florida (more on that in a bit), but instead, the Black and Gold will have its eyes on Seacaucus, N.J., on Monday night for the most important night of the franchise since being eliminated from the playoffs a year ago. In some cases, you could argue it’s even bigger.

The NHL draft lottery will go down Monday night in the Garden State, where the Bruins hope the ping-pong balls bounce their way. Boston finished with the NHL’s fifth-worst record, which means it will draft no worse than No. 7 next month in Los Angeles.

With a little bit of luck Monday night, though, the Bruins could move all the way up to No. 1. Here are the percentage odds to select at each possible draft position for the B’s.

No. 1: 8.5%
No. 2: 8.5%
No. 3: 0.2%
No. 4: 0%
No. 5: 24.6%
No. 6: 44.7%
No. 7: 13.5%

The four teams in front of Boston with better odds are San Jose, Chicago, Nashville and Philadelphia. There’s still plenty of time for opinions to change, but there’s a pretty strong consensus that Erie Otters defenseman Matthew Schaefer, a 17-year-old from Canada, will be the No. 1 pick.

Adding to the drama this year is the fact that for the first time, the NHL will conduct the lottery drawing live in-studio. In the past, the selections were made behind the scenes and then announced to the public shortly thereafter.

In slightly less exciting news, the lottery also precedes Game 1 of the Maple Leafs-Panthers second-round series in Toronto. Boston traded captain Brad Marchand to Florida at the NHL trade deadline for a 2027 conditional second-round pick. That pick becomes a first-round selection if the Panthers win two rounds and Marchand plays 50% of the Cats’ postseason contests.

So far, so good on the participatory conditions. Marchand played in each of Florida’s first five playoff games. That means that after rooting for some figurative puck luck earlier Monday night, Bruins fans should be hoping to see the franchise legend help the Panthers keep it rolling — as painful as that might be.

On the bright side? They get to root against the Leafs again.