Here are five players who could fit the Bruins with the No. 23 overall selection in this weekend’s NHL Draft

Hockey’s teen idols will take center stage this weekend in Western New York as the NHL hosts its draft at KeyBank Center in Buffalo.

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The Bruins will be active, stocked with eight picks, including the 23rd overall selection in Friday night’s first round.

The Bruins could have picked as high as seventh if the Ping-Pong balls fell the right way at last month’s lottery, but the Maple Leafs wound up winning, pushing the first-round compensation to Boston (via the Brandon Carlo trade) to the future.

Still, Bruins scouting director Ryan Nadeau and his staff have to be prepared for every scenario. He noted two years ago Boston didn’t have a first-round pick until 10 days before the draft, when the team acquired one in the Linus Ullmark trade.

“This year obviously there was a chance we could have been in the top 10 so we’re still really prepared and emphasizing that part of the draft,” Nadeau told the Globe at the scouting combine. “Even in years where we don’t have picks, we still have to look at the entire draft. We still have to be prepared in case we get a pick.”

There’s been a lot of trade activity over the past week and that could continue through draft weekend (Rounds 2-7 are Saturday).

“We’re eager to be participating,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said Wednesday. “There’s been a lot of chatter, so I expect things to continue with player movement heading into the draft.”

Sweeney acknowledged “everything is on the table,” including dealing the No. 23 pick if he feels he can improve the roster.

“The guys upstairs in the amateur [scouting] side of things wouldn’t never want me to be declaring that it’s in play because they’ve done a lot of work, and even this year probably more so,” said Sweeney. “It’s always on the table, to be honest with you, we’re trying to improve a hockey club. We’re competitively driven.”

In addition to the 23rd selection, the Bruins own picks in the second round (56), the third round (88), three in the fourth round (104, 111, and 122), the fifth round (157), and the seventh round (216).

If Sweeney, Nadeau, and Co. hold on to their first-round pick, here are five possibilities who could fit at No. 23:

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Piiparinen is a 6-foot-3-inch, 203-pound, puck-moving, right-shot defenseman from Finland.

Nadeau’s take: “Skates really well, had a strong year starting off at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup for Finland and then playing a lot of league games, and Tappara is one of the best organizations over there. So, real good experience, played World Juniors for them, finished the year on their U-20 team, and then at the U-18. So, real good player, moves around the ice well, defends hard. He has a lot of good pro attributes.”

Another right-shot defenseman with good size (6-2, 194). He’s from Zdeno Chara’s hometown: Trencin, Slovakia.

Nadeau’s take: “Slovak kid who is kind of similar [to Piiparinen] in a sense of started the year at the Hlinka Gretzky with a strong showing, played pro most of the year, World Junior, and then finished at U-18. Kid who’s heavily involved, helps to run the play, will defend, has a pretty good shot, solid with the puck, just does a lot well.”

Sticking with the right-shot defenseman theme, Gudmundsson has length and room to add muscle on his 6-3, 190-pound frame.

Nadeau’s take: “He didn’t play for Sweden at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup but then was a mainstay on the rest of their international events, really played himself up their lineup too at the end of the year. He ended up on their top pair. He’s got some length, moves around the ice pretty well, keeps it fairly simple with the puck, but does have some ability at the blue line, strong defender.”

A 6-3, 205-pound center who just completed his first season at Miami (Ohio). The Moscow native is responsible in all three zones.

Nadeau’s take: “Really strong, big kid, has some detail, was able to play a top-six role and a real tough conference in the [National Collegiate Hockey Conference]. Started the year off with some scoring and being involved offensively. It got a little bit harder as the year went along for him offensively, but the details never went away in his game. Always played hard, was really a real strong point for Miami through the middle of the ice all year.”

It’s likely a long shot that Boston College’s Hemming, a big (6-4, 205), powerful left wing, will be hanging around at 23, but strange things happen on draft night. Hemming won’t turn 18 until August.

Nadeau’s take: “He jumped into [BC’s] lineup around Christmastime, played well, big kid, has some physicality, decent skillset, gets up and down the ice. Obviously we see him a lot in Boston when everyone knows we have a bunch of kids there so really fit in well with their group, maybe probably didn’t score as much as we were expecting coming off of Hlinka Gretzky, but it’s so hard in college, as most people know, especially this year with all the CHL kids that moved in, that college games and particularly some of those strong conferences like Hockey East, it’s not easy for a kid as young as him.”

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