12/14/23: Zbořil was not claimed off of waivers, which means he will remain in Providence for the time being.
12/13/23 1:51 p.m.: Zbořil’s waiver placement is not for the purposes of contract termination, reports Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. Rather, the Bruins are accommodating a request from Zbořil to be moved to another organization and are seeing if there are any takers out there who will pick up his contract for free.
12/13/23 1:11 p.m.: The Bruins have placed left-shot defenseman Jakub Zbořil on waivers, as reported by Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN. Considering Zbořil has been on assignment to AHL Providence since October 28, the Bruins likely made this move for the purposes of a contract termination.
It is unclear at this time whether a potential contract termination is mutual or for cause. Zbořil, the 13th overall pick in the 2015 draft, was scratched in Providence’s last game against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on December 9.
The 26-year-old defenseman was the first of Boston’s now-infamous three consecutive first-round selections in 2015. Their selections of Zbořil, Jake DeBrusk and Zachary Senyshyn with the 13th through 15th overall picks were immediately followed by the Islanders selecting Mathew Barzal 16th overall, the Jets selecting Kyle Connor 17th overall and the Senators selecting Thomas Chabot 18th overall. While DeBrusk remains an effective top-nine forward, he’s not the caliber of either Barzal, Connor or Chabot.
Zbořil failed to crack the Bruins roster out of camp this year after doing so in 2020, 2021 and 2022. He went unclaimed on waivers in early October and accepted an assignment to Providence, where he’s logged seven assists and a -5 rating in 19 games, his first AHL time in over three years.
Since making his NHL debut in November 2018, Zbořil has played just 76 games for the Bruins, recording one goal, 15 assists, 16 points, and 135 shots on goal while averaging 15:38 per game. He’s never been able to surpass the role of Boston’s seventh defenseman, playing in a career-high 42 games in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign. His possession numbers have largely been negligible, although in 22 games for the Bruins last season, he posted a Corsi share of 47.6% at even strength – a disappointing figure given the Bruins’ record-setting dominance.
If this is the end of the road for Zbořil in Boston, it ends a disappointing tenure for the organization’s highest-drafted prospect since they selected blueliner Dougie Hamilton ninth overall in 2011. His contract carries a $1.14MM cap hit with $1.3MM due this season in actual salary, making a potential claim over the next 24 hours extremely unlikely. He was slated for unrestricted free agency in the summer.
Assuming Zbořil is indeed headed for contract termination, he would become an unrestricted free agent tomorrow and can sign with any NHL, AHL or European professional team. It would not be surprising to see Zbořil return to his home country of Czechia, where he last suited up for his hometown club HC Kometa Brno in 2020 while the NHL remained on pause due to COVID-19.
Another great pick by Sweeney
At the time, it was.
How many mid-first round picks crap out? Take a look for yourself and see.
Was terrible at the time. Everyone knew Kyle Connor and Matt Barzal were better.
The Bruins had 3 first round picks in a row and blew 2 of them. When they were picked draft watchers went “who?”
20-20 hindsight; everyone did NOT “know” that Connor and Barzal were better. The final Central Scouting Bureau ranking for that year had Zboril ranked higher than both.
A number of other teams whiffed on those guys as well.
You always make your best predictions long after stuff has happened.
Hey Nha, I truly appreciate purposefully spreading misinformation on the internet but not when it makes the bruins look smarter than they actually are.
Per EliteProspects, Mat Barzal was ranked #11 among North American skaters for the 2015 draft. Zboril was ranked #12.
Nha, is twelve higher than eleven?
How many teams passed on Pasternak when the Bruins picked him and how many guys drafted before him have washed out? I’ll wait for your reply.
Exactly, Cooperdooper. Cementheads like Victorerat want to whine about Zboril and Senshyn, and conveniently forget about guys like Marchand (3rd round, 71st overall), Pasta (25th overall), McAvoy (14th overall), Swayman (111th overall).
Hell, idiots like Victorerat were howling not so very long ago about a defense-heavy Bruins trading Johnny! Boychuk! for a 2nd rounder, didn’t that prove that Boston management were bums and losers? The victorerats conveniently forget that that pick turned into eight years and counting of Brandon Carlo, with Boychuk long out of hockey.
Bruins gave Zboril chance after chance after chance and the guy just isn’t an NHL-caliber d-man. Kinda shocked he has lasted this long in the org.
Cant be any worse for the leafs than who they got out on the bottom pairing now but I doubt he falls that far
Has been passed on the depth chart by Lohrei and Mitchell anyway.