from Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun,

The NHL playoff picture would surely look different today if not for a series of mistakes the Boston Bruins made six years ago.

Mistakes team president Cam Neely admitted to on Tuesday.

First, some background …

At the 2015 entry draft in Sunrise, Fla. — because of the returns on trading Milan Lucic and Dougie Hamilton — the Bruins found themselves in an enviable and unprecedented position.

They had the 13th, 14th, and 15th picks of the first round.

With those choices, they took defenceman Jakub Zboril, left winger Jake DeBrusk and right winger Zachary Senyshyn.

Selected with the 16th, 17th and 18th picks were Mathew Barzal (Islanders), Kyle Connor (Jets) and Thomas Chabot (Ottawa).

Barzal, the Islanders lone marquee player, had goals in Games 3, 4 and 5 while racking up six points in the six-game elimination of the B’s in Round 2.

Imagine him down the middle of the Boston depth chart between Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci.

Imagine one of his wingers being Connor, who has averaged 33 goals over the past four seasons, two of which have been shortened by the pandemic.

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