After trading their first-round draft pick Friday to Utah for immediate help in J.J. Peterka, the Bruins went to the long game on Saturday in drafting 17-year-old Russian goalie Yuri Ivanov from Moscow Spartak in the second round with the 56th pick overall.
It was a curious pick, especially with how high they drafted a goalie. How long it takes the 6-foot-2, 165-pound Ivanov to get on the Bruins’ radar as far as being an NHL option remains to be seen. Jeremy Swayman has six more years left on his contract and is the No. 1 goalie for the foreseeable future and they still have Michael DiPietro, who was named the AHL Most Outstanding Player on Thursday. They signed Merrimack’s Max Lundgren in the spring and just re-signed Simon Zajicek, who played his first season in North America last season in Providence.
But given the development time, it’s not like any of the roster players should be looking over their shoulders. Ivanov was the first of two goalies the B’s took Saturday.
“It’s a long time line and we felt we needed to get back out in front of having depth in that position, so we attacked it today,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said. “It presented and our guys did a lot of work to feel like they were good in that spot.”
— The Fabian Lysell era is finally over. The B’s traded their 2021 first-round pick (21st overall) to Colorado in exchange for 23-year-old center Ivan Ivan. Lysell, who was set to be a restricted free agent and needed to be qualified, flashed some occasional skill in Providence but never did enough to earn a long look in Boston. He saw 12 games in Boston two seasons ago when the B’s bottomed out but he could not gain any traction, scoring one goal with two assists. The 23-year-old Ivan, who was undrafted, is also a restricted free agent. He played 40 games with the Avalanche in 2024-25, scoring five goals with three assists, but played just nine games with the juggernaut Avs last year, with one assist. In 66 games with the AHL Colorado Eagles Ivan posted 11-15-26 totals.
“I spoke to Fabian today and we want to wish him well. He’s been a very productive player in the American Hockey League level. He hasn’t fully grasped at the NHL level what it requires to play each and every night. He took ownership of that today. We took ownership of, could we have done more and better in terms of supporting him? Yeah, probably,” Sweeney said. “We’re excited about Ivan… because he’s played games. He’s got experience, he’s got versatility to his game. Here’s a player who’s worked his way from being an undrafted player to a tryout to an AHL deal to playing games on a really good team. So we think there’s some versatility there, a change of scenery for him will be welcome. He’ll come and compete for a job.”
— In the third round, the B’s chose Swedish right wing Nils Bartholdsson with the 88th overall pick. With the Rogle BK Jr. team, the 5-foot-10, 175-pound Bartholdsson produced 32 goals with 19 assists.
“A really competitive kid, plays a gritty type of game, good at carrying pucks through the neutral zone, likes to get pucks on net,” Bruins director of amateur scouting Ryan Nadeau said. “I saw him over in Sweden and got to see him on their national team. A really big part of their offense. Not shy about shooting, not shy about competing on pucks. Just a player type that we value and we’re happy to take that pick where we did.”
— The B’s went into the draft with three fourth-round picks and with their first of three (104th overall), they chose another 17-year-old Russian, left-shooting right wing Matvei Kotkov. In 36 games for the Yaroslavl junior team, the 6-1, 185-pound Kotkov had 14-17-31 totals. The scouting staff had some familiarity with Kotkov, having drafted his teammate Kirill Yemelyanov in the sixth round last year. On top of his regular-season work, he led Yaroslavl to the Kharlamov Cup, notching 9-6-15 in 18 games, earning him the playoff MVP.
They did not make all their fourth-round picks, however. They moved the 111th pick to Pittsburgh for the 170th overall pick and Winnipeg’s fourth-round pick in 2027. With that pick, the Penguins chose defenseman Parker Von Richter from the Ontario Hockey League.
The B’s did use their third pick in the fourth round on Swedish left wing Oscar Olsson. The 6-foot-4, 187-pound Olsson scored 14 goals with 16 assists in 32 games for the Orebro HK junior team.
— The B’s took their first North American player with their pick in the fifth round, taking left-shot defenseman Jacob Vandeven with the 157th selection. The 6-foot-5, 183-pound Vandeven played just eight Canadian major junior games last year with the London Knights (OHL) after playing most of the season with the Komoka Kings of the Greater Ontario Hockey League.
— With the sixth round pick they got from Pittsburgh, the B’s chose their second goalie of the day, taking Green Bay Gambler (USHL) netminder Roberto Henriquez with the 170th pick. The 6-1, 168-pound native of Bratislava, Slovakia went 21-9-4 with a .921 save percentage and 2.22 GAA for the Gamblers. He is committed to Boston College for the upcoming season.
“We didn’t want to go a draft without picking a BC guy,” joked Nadeau, referring to the steady streak of Bruins draft picks who have gone through Chestnut Hill.
— With their final pick, the B’s chose a commodity that’s lacking at the NHL level — a right-shot defenseman. The B’s took 6-1, 199-pound D-man Cullen McCrate. The 19-year-old Michigan native had 10-20-30 totals in 61 games for the Fargo Force of the USHL. McCrate is committed to Michigan State.
— The trade activity settled down Saturday but Sweeney expects it to reignite leading up July 1 free agency and perhaps beyond.
“I think you’ll see a re-attack of teams trying to reposition…That’s because the free agent market might not be as deep as you might hope and then you’ve got to do it through trades,” Sweeney said. “I do believe there will be a revisit and that might not end on July 1.”
The B’s are still in the hunt for a right-shot defenseman and they have shown interest in re-signing their own free agents Viktor Arvidsson and Andrew Peeke but Sweeney may need to off-load some salary to get that done. The B’s have under $8 million available under the cap.
— While travel details are still being worked out, most if not all of the picks will be at Development Camp, which starts Monday at Warrior Ice Arena.