THE NHL DRAFT was held this past weekend and the next step is ... patience.

Outside of a “can't-miss” type prospect picked in round one, most of these players will (assuming they become NHL regulars) elicit a “where did we get him again?” remark once they make that first blip on a fan's radar.

That means it's impossible to tell right now how the Boston Bruins and Los Angeles Kings (whose prospects could skate in Manchester with the Monarchs) fared with their selections.

Unlike the NFL draft, where the players taken are most likely playing in the coming season or don't make the team, the NHL draft involves players tabbed for heading back to junior and college hockey. Only time will tell if they were worth the pick.

But that doesn't mean you can't look ahead.

Boston Bruins

Several other teams wowed with trades to make themselves better. The Bruins stayed in their lane (making one minor trade with Tampa Bay to acquire a fifth round pick by moving Benoit Pouliot for Michel Ouellet) and made their picks.

Boston's first round pick (24th overall) was goaltender Malcom Subban (brother of Montreal defenseman P.K. Subban ... whose jersey isn't exactly a big seller in the New England region). Malcom Subban wasted little time getting into the spirit of the Bruins/Canadiens rivalry.

“The rivalry is just about to begin,” Subban said. “I don't think he's going to like me too much. But to be honest, I never liked him that much.”

Subban was one of just two goalies taken in the first round and the move shows that Boston is being proactive with Tim Thomas' future status in doubt. The scouting report on Subban says that he's got great lateral (across the crease) movement, a fast catching glove and is overall an excellent athlete.

It's always a crapshoot with goalies (just like quarterbacks in the NFL), but Subban looks like a solid bet to develop into not just a No. 1 NHL netminder, but possibly an elite one if his potential is realized. This was a very solid first round pick for the Bruins.

Boston went local with third round pick Matthew Grzelcyk, a defenseman from Charlestown, Mass. who will play at Boston University in the fall. Grzelcyk is small at 5-foot-9, but his skating and good hockey sense will make the difference for him as he develops.

Boston picked a pair of forwards in the fifth round with Seth Griffith and Cody Payne. Griffith doesn't have the size and speed combo you'd like to see at 5-foot-10, 185 pounds, but he is an ace passer who could develop into a solid set-up man in the NHL. Payne has decent size (6-foot-2) and toughness but will need to work hard to make the NHL.

The Bruins closed out the draft with sixth round pick Matthew Benning (nephew of Bruins assistant general manager Jim Benning) and seventh rounder Colton Hargrove. Benning is a defenseman and the pick honestly smells like a favor since the scouting report on Benning doesn't show much NHL potential. Hargrove is the typical “could be a wash, could be a sleeper” you'd expect of a seventh-round pick.

Overall, Boston didn't snag a high profile draft crop, but if Subban gets to the point the Bruins think he can, he alone will make the draft a good one. If even one of the other guys turns into a serviceable NHL player then that's another win.

Los Angeles Kings

Fresh off the franchise's first-ever Stanley Cup championship, the Kings helped themselves with some solid picks, including one that some are calling a steal in first-rounder Tanner Pearson.

Taken with the 30th and final pick of the first round, Pearson has all the tools and a high hockey I.Q. to boot. Why he slipped so far in the draft is anyone's guess, though a major part of it might be his late-bloomer status as a kid who started junior hockey at the late age of 18. Still, he looks to be a sure-bet NHL playmaker who might see a little time in Manchester before making the jump to L.A.

The rest of the Kings' crop are more likely to spend major time in Manchester as they develop. In the fourth round, L.A. took Russian winger Nikolai Prokhorkin. He plays a physical game and can move the puck. Injuries have been a concern, but he has good upside and should be in a Monarchs uniform soon.

Fifth-round pick Colin Miller is a defenseman who must have impressed the team in development camp last year. With the Kings deep at the D position, Miller projects to be in Manchester for the long term once he arrives.

Sixth-round pick Tomas Hyka has a lot of exciting words attached to him like “dynamic” and “speedy” and that should be noted by Monarchs fans because he could be fun to watch in Manchester while he works on rounding out his game.

Paul LaDue, a defenseman picked in the sixth round, will spend the next few years developing at the University of North Dakota. The final L.A. pick was defenseman Nick Ebert in the seventh round. Ebert has a massive shot from the point, but his development seemed to stall this past season in the OHL. He looks like a long-term project with questionable potential.

But for Los Angeles, it's hard to find any bad news. It's a young team that just won the Cup and has some promising prospects in Manchester waiting for a chance to crack a crowded roster at the NHL level.

With youngsters Jordan Nolan and Dwight King expected to stick in L.A., that means the Monarchs should reap the benefits of other young players needing time to develop. Manchester fans should not only have some fun players to watch, but ones who create a winning formula.

Ian Clark covers pro hockey for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. His e-mail address is iclark@unionleader.com.