Bruins
“I feel like I slow the game down a bit, and I’m very good at finding little seams.”
With the seventh pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, the Bruins have their best shot in over a decade at adding a potential franchise center to their system.
Given the glut of pivots projected to get plucked off the draft board within the top 10 on Friday night, it remains to be seen which blue-chip talents will be up for grabs when Don Sweeney and his staff finally get on the clock.
One might assume that the best path forward for a talent-deficient Bruins pipeline is to simply select the best player available at No. 7.
The question, of course, is whether or not there will even be a consensus “best player available” at No. 7 — not when this projected draft order has been about as linear as a Christopher Nolan script.
In Brady Martin, the Bruins could add a pugnacious forward with a low risk of floundering at the NHL level. But there is valid criticism when it comes to utilizing a top-10 pick on a player who might be entrenched more in the middle-six segment of a lineup.
At 6-foot-5, playmaking center Roger McQueen would seemingly check off plenty of boxes for Boston. But a back injury that severely hampered the pivot this past season does stand as a glaring red flag for a Bruins team that can’t afford to whiff on this pick.
Even if the former No. 1 projected player in this draft in Boston College forward James Hagens fell to Boston at No. 7, questions would remain over whether the skilled center’s size (5-foot-11, 178 pounds) would nullify some of his elite talent at the next level of competition.
There is no perfect prospect in this draft class, nor will any of the players Boston opts for at No. 7 be immune from criticism or legitimate concerns about their NHL ceiling.
But when it comes to minimizing said risk with such a coveted draft selection, the Bruins might be best served targeting Jake O’Brien: a playmaking center whose game may not be all that flashy, but whose upside also offers plenty of appeal for a team like Boston.
In some respects, O’Brien is cut from a similar cloth as longtime Bruins regular David Krejci.
“I feel like I slow the game down a bit, and I’m very good at finding little seams,” O’Brien said at the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo earlier this month.
The 6-foot-2 O’Brien is not the most fleet of foot on the ice when compared to skaters like Hagens or Michael Misa. The Toronto native doesn’t wield the same blistering shot as Anton Frondell, nor is his game predicated on landing welts like Martin.
But O’Brien is the type of cerebral, playmaking pivot who can elevate an NHL roster in a variety of ways if he hits his stride in the pro game.
“I like to compare myself to [Dallas forward] Wyatt Johnston — just the way he kind of knows the game, smarts, hockey IQ,” O’Brien said. “The way he’s deceptive around the net, and the way he’s able to score goals. So I’d say him.”
O’Brien may not be capitalizing on rush chances or hammering home one-timers. But the 18-year-old forward has stuffed the stat sheet over the last few seasons with the OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs by orchestrating scoring chances with ease.
After earning OHL Rookie of the Year honors in 2023-24 (13 goals, 51 assists over 61 games), O’Brien followed that up this past year by scoring 32 goals and 98 total points over 66 games.
O’Brien’s poise with the puck, high hockey IQ and vision could make him the type of player who — while not flashy himself — could rack up points on a line with a proven scorer at the next level.
His value is further bolstered by the fact that even though O’Brien is a lanky 177 pounds, his 6-foot-2 frame paints the picture of a player who could withstand the punishment that awaits in the NHL once he adds on some pounds.
O’Brien noted that he is hoping to reach 185-190 pounds by the start of next season, while Bruins director of amateur scouting Ryan Nadeau also noted that O’Brien has the potential to be a strong two-way player in the pros.
“Jake O’Brien is a really skilled and he’s got a lot of vision, lot of good offensive creativity. … He helped to drive the bus offensively for [Brantford],” Nadeau said. He’s got a little bit of length. He’s worked hard throughout the year in improving his skating, he’s able to play both sides of the puck. He takes a lot of responsibility in the D zone.
“His play has been really impressive. Kind of plays a pretty mature game, but yet has some excitement offensively. He can really manipulate time and space. He tends to want to slow the game down a little bit because he’s so good with the puck, but it’s been fun to watch him play.”
O’Brien will need to spend plenty of time in the gym moving forward, while his focus on skating and faceoff work might mean that he’ll need some time to really settle into a groove once he makes it to the NHL.
But O’Brien still offers a lot of what the Bruins would seemingly be enamored with in a top-10 pick: a pass-first center with legitimate top-line upside, a 6-foot-2 frame, and a two-way profile.
Drafting O’Brien won’t incite the same type of debate and discourse both online and on the radio airwaves — at least when compared to other potential options like Martin, McQueen, or Hagens.
But that might be just what the Bruins are looking for with such a crucial pick — especially when factoring in O’Brien’s upside.
“I’m just staying confident, believing in my ability,” O’Brien said. “I don’t want to get too into the draft list and everything. Just trying to make an impact from where I get drafted to, and go from there.”
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