GM CRIME DAWG
Joined: Mar. 2019
Posts: 4,925
Likes: 2,686
Post from Mar 30th below (not always a logical choice B Silk as Barzal in the moment 2014/15 shows - not in hindsight):
MBarzal: "Seattle top prospect Barzal sustains knee injury" (news article November 19th, 2014).
MB was drafted June 2015...Prior to that though he had a slow rehab and a bit of a setback in his recovery. Needless to say, many teams not only didn't see him as much as they would have liked but they were reluctant to go for a small guy with a bum knee. Furthermore, MB's highest goal total in junior career = 27 (post-draft year)...nice but not exactly Gretz or Mario.
Bruins are the poster child for bad knees - Orr and Kluzak anyone? NO WONDER they passed....NEXT!!
Bruins did (are doing) fine and every team could fill a toilet roll w/ what "if's" when it comes to drafting!
One final point/fact - MB wouldn't have gotten the same chance down the middle in Beantown (#1C Bergy, 2C Krej then maybe 3C/4C MB...) as he's been given w/ NYI.