The Boston Bruins drafted defenseman Vashek Blanar at No. 100 in the fourth round of the NHL Draft.
When looking up Blanar on Google, not many draft profiles, or even stats, pop up. The Czech defenseman didn’t seem to appear on any draft rankings. So when the Bruins drafted Blanar, many people were left scratching their heads over the pick.
During the first day of development camp, though, people started to realize why Boston picked him.
Boston.com’s Conor Ryan said the 6-foot-4, 193-pound defenseman was fun to watch on Monday. Other fans took to X to say he was the best defenseman of the day, and his skating jumped out.
“I feel like I’m a two-way defenseman who plays pretty offensively,” Blanar told reporters on Monday, according to Bruins Breakdown. “(I) started playing physical the past few months.”
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Blanar was born in Colorado but moved to the Czech Republic at four years old because his parents are Czech.
He recently changed his name to Vashek Richards, according to the Boston Globe, which is why he is hard to find on Google.
In 38 games for IF Troja-Ljungby in Sweden, Blanar had six goals and 15 assists for 21 points along with 59 penalty minutes. He told reporters on Monday that he will play one more season in Sweden before deciding on his next steps.
The Bruins found him due to their traveling scouts who were high on him. General manager Don Sweeney joked the media that he threw them “a curveball” after drafting Blanar.
“It’s just a testament to the scouts traveling anywhere and everywhere,” Sweeney told reporters on Saturday. “You’re just trying to make sure. You might find a young man, in this case, that’s pretty raw. He’s in a bit of an underdeveloped frame right now. Great skater, wants to compete. He’s probably trying to do too much at times. I’ve used this analogy before, but there’s a piece of clay that you want to get a hold of and see if you can start to mold and stretch and understand the attributes he has that are really attractive.”
