The Boston Bruins had a disappointing season this year. Finally, the Bruins took a step back and missed the playoffs. However, there was a lot of turmoil in Boston with Jeremy Swayman‘s contract, whether Brad Marchand could be traded, Jim Montgomery‘s firing, and the conflict with General Manager Don Sweeney.
The Bruins were already behind the eight-ball out of the gate. It appears that with Montgomery, the Bruins were trying to get rid of him last season. It was a slow start out of the gate after the new acquisitions of Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov were brought in. So there was an expectation of a drop-off this season from those outside the organization. Within the organization the expectations were higher.
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However, all signs were pointing to a new GM in the coming when President Cam Neely said during the year end press conference, “I’m still contemplating the best course of action,” when asked about extending Don Sweeney. If you saw his facial expressions it was clear he was thinking about making a move. But the issue like all these teams have is are there better options out there if you fire your GM before the NHL Draft.
So it was not surprising to the Bruins extended Sweeney for two more seasons. As Dan Rosen of NHL.com told Scott Laughlin and Gord Stellick on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio, this was the right move considering what Sweeney has done for the organization.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Scott Laughlin: “Hey Dan, for the Bruins, Don Sweeney gets extended. He gets brought back, and he’s going to be the general manager, barring something unforeseen, through the 27-28 season. I get the sense that this has generated some sort of a mixed reaction from the Bruins fan base. Many looking at what he’s done over the long haul, is being certainly very good, and the Bruins always being in the playoffs and always being more or less a Stanley Cup contending team this past season, notwithstanding.
Others have said, Look, he’s made some bad moves, and it was time to move on. Regardless, the Jacobs family sees him as the guy to direct this team going forward, along with Cam Neely. What are your thoughts on the Bruins?
And I know they get themselves a fairly decent draft pick to look forward to coming up to the end of next month at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles. But beyond that, though Don has already said that they want to retool and not rebuild, how close are the Bruins to getting back into the playoffs, do you think with what the offseason is going to entail?”
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Dan Rosen: “I’m pretty sure they got a lot of money to spend. So I think that they are pretty good in with their cap right now. And listen, I’m not surprised that Don Sweeney got an extension here. I mean, you’re listening to their post-mortem after the season with Charlie Jacobs with him and Cam, and it pretty much sounded obvious that he’s going to be the guy and they were going to stay the course, but this doesn’t surprise me one bit that he was able to get it.
I’m sure that there are emotional Bruins fans out there in Boston who are looking at it and going, we weren’t good this year. Don did not help. We haven’t won. What’s going on? Let’s make changes. And it doesn’t happen like that very often, obviously, in the National Hockey League, especially with a guy who’s had a decade run of real good success. I mean, they got a .644 points percentage during the time that he’s been the GM, and that’s tied for the best in the NHL right now in that span. So they don’t just fire those guys.
You put some faith into those guys that they can figure this out. And, with money to spend, this off-season, motivation after failing last season, this season, certainly was a failure for the Boston Bruins. I’m very curious to see the off-season they have, how aggressive they get. Sweeney now has a little bit of insurance with the contract. So he might, does that mean he takes a bigger swing here and there will see, but that’s the team is obviously one to watch in the off-season.
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And I expect the Bruins to be very aggressive again. I think that they know they’re not a rebuilding team. They know that Montreal is coming, that Ottawa was there. And Montreal’s still getting better. Ottawa is still getting better, right? What’s going on with Detroit? What’s going on with Buffalo? Boston was the team that dropped. Tampa is not going anywhere. Florida is clearly not going anywhere. Toronto is kind of what it is.
What’s happening with them? There’s an opportunity to jump back in this thing for the Boston Bruins right away with a good off-season, and I’m not surprised with Sweeney still in charge there, because that’s the vibe I got with the way the season ended.”
Again, the Bruins need a new head coach. With so much uncertainty in the General Manager’s position, why would any coach want to say yes with the fear they could be fired next season. So in order to get the coach, the Boston Bruins had to keep Don Sweeney.
Now let’s see if Mr. Sweeney can make up for some past mistakes and get things right. Two years is not a long time. It will be interesting what the Boston Bruins do this off-season to improve.”
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