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www.bostonglobe.com
The question can’t really be whether or not the Bruins should be sellers as the NHL’s trade deadline rapidly approaches, can it?
How many more signs does the franchise need to accept that it’s time to rebuild? If this middling, uninspiring season already had left our resident NHL representatives resembling a staggered and listing fighter, Sunday’s injury updates from general manager Don Sweeney were knockout blows. With Hampus Lindholm definitely not returning this season and fellow defenseman Charlie McAvoy unlikely to be back any time soon, the Bruins approach to this season’s March 7 sell-by date was settled for them.
So no, the question isn’t about whether or not to sell. The question is about having faith in the men doing the selling.
For Sweeney, for his boss and team president Cam Neely, and for their boss, team CEO Charlie Jacobs, the patience of the fan base is running dry, and understandably so. The bill has come due on years of late-season moves that gave up draft capital, years of poor draft choices that left the feeder system bereft of high-end talent, and years of early playoff exits that have failed to fulfill the only measurement by which Jacobs says he gauges success — Stanley Cups.
Here the Bruins sit in the wake of yet another hideous loss. They blew a 3-0 lead to Toronto to lose, 5-4, in overtime Tuesday, and are barely clinging to their Red Sox-style illusion of contention. Even if they defied odds to make the wild-card lifeboat, they would more than likely peter out early again.
With a minus-27 goal differential (bottom six in the league) and without their top two defensemen, any path to the playoffs would require a Herculean effort from goalie Jeremy Swayman — and the 1-0-, 2-1-style wins required would wear Swayman out before the postseason even began. No matter what way you look at this season, there’s just not enough talent to contend with the league’s average teams, never mind the best ones.
So what to do?
Beyond the bad luck from the injury gods, this is no longer a win-now team. The offseason spending spree didn’t work, with the combined $84.25 million in free agent contracts for Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov failing to pay any significant dividend. The protracted contract negotiations with Swayman didn’t help, though he’s the least of their problems. The coaching change from Jim Montgomery to Joe Sacco — the third coach Sweeney has fired in his GM tenure — wasn’t enough to ignite a playoff-worthy hot streak. There aren’t any more buttons to push.
Outside of Swayman, McAvoy, and David Pastrnak, the Bruins should be willing to move anyone. Even captain Brad Marchand.
There are excellent and easily defensible arguments for retaining Marchand, the strongest link to the franchise’s last championship, the heart and soul of the well-established and well-regarded culture in the locker room, and a highly respected leader who can still bring some offensive firepower. Maybe Sweeney finds his way to an extension, maybe that happens in the offseason, or maybe the GM even allows Marchand to call his own shot, greenlighting a trade to a contender or nixing a potential deal in favor of finishing his entire career in one place. That’s assuming there is a big market for the 36-year-old forward.
The point is, everything is on the table. Or at least it should be.
Sweeney said as much Sunday, all but pulling the white flag out of his briefcase.
“I think historically, we’ve been pretty aggressive when our team’s been in a position,” he said. “I think we’ll take a much more cautious approach as we approach the deadline.
“That being said, if there are opportunities to improve our team now and certainly moving forward, whether that’s positional shifts that other teams are trying to identify that we may have a strength at — we will look at all opportunities to improve our team now, but more importantly, moving forward.”
It’s not an easy admission to make, especially for a franchise accustomed to being in the postseason mix. The Bruins haven’t missed the playoffs since 2015-16. Since then, they made it to the Stanley Cup Final and won a Presidents’ Trophy. The first, under coach Bruce Cassidy, ended in the heartbreak of a Game 7 loss at home. The second, under Montgomery, ended with the same heartbreak in Round 1.
The close calls and near-misses, not to mention the cash that comes along with the full stands and concession sales lost with them, seem to be enough to keep Jacobs from blaming his front office duo.
But Neely and Sweeney are the common denominator. The through line that goes from the ill-fated draft bust of 2015 to free-agent duds Matt Beleskey (five years, $19 million in 2015), David Backes (five years, $30 million a year later) and now Lindholm and Zadorov, goes through them. The inability to refill the talent drain left by the retirements of Zdeno Chara (one of their best free agent adds), Patrice Bergeron, and David Krejci does, too.
But on they go, looking again to fix the roster. The decisions are theirs to make.
For now.
It’s not whether Bruins will be sellers at trade deadline. It’s will Don Sweeney and Cam Neely get it right? - The Boston Globe
The bill has come due on years of giving up draft capital, years of poor draft choices, and years of early playoff exits.
www.bostonglobe.com
The question can’t really be whether or not the Bruins should be sellers as the NHL’s trade deadline rapidly approaches, can it?
How many more signs does the franchise need to accept that it’s time to rebuild? If this middling, uninspiring season already had left our resident NHL representatives resembling a staggered and listing fighter, Sunday’s injury updates from general manager Don Sweeney were knockout blows. With Hampus Lindholm definitely not returning this season and fellow defenseman Charlie McAvoy unlikely to be back any time soon, the Bruins approach to this season’s March 7 sell-by date was settled for them.
So no, the question isn’t about whether or not to sell. The question is about having faith in the men doing the selling.
For Sweeney, for his boss and team president Cam Neely, and for their boss, team CEO Charlie Jacobs, the patience of the fan base is running dry, and understandably so. The bill has come due on years of late-season moves that gave up draft capital, years of poor draft choices that left the feeder system bereft of high-end talent, and years of early playoff exits that have failed to fulfill the only measurement by which Jacobs says he gauges success — Stanley Cups.
Here the Bruins sit in the wake of yet another hideous loss. They blew a 3-0 lead to Toronto to lose, 5-4, in overtime Tuesday, and are barely clinging to their Red Sox-style illusion of contention. Even if they defied odds to make the wild-card lifeboat, they would more than likely peter out early again.
With a minus-27 goal differential (bottom six in the league) and without their top two defensemen, any path to the playoffs would require a Herculean effort from goalie Jeremy Swayman — and the 1-0-, 2-1-style wins required would wear Swayman out before the postseason even began. No matter what way you look at this season, there’s just not enough talent to contend with the league’s average teams, never mind the best ones.
So what to do?
Beyond the bad luck from the injury gods, this is no longer a win-now team. The offseason spending spree didn’t work, with the combined $84.25 million in free agent contracts for Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov failing to pay any significant dividend. The protracted contract negotiations with Swayman didn’t help, though he’s the least of their problems. The coaching change from Jim Montgomery to Joe Sacco — the third coach Sweeney has fired in his GM tenure — wasn’t enough to ignite a playoff-worthy hot streak. There aren’t any more buttons to push.
Outside of Swayman, McAvoy, and David Pastrnak, the Bruins should be willing to move anyone. Even captain Brad Marchand.
There are excellent and easily defensible arguments for retaining Marchand, the strongest link to the franchise’s last championship, the heart and soul of the well-established and well-regarded culture in the locker room, and a highly respected leader who can still bring some offensive firepower. Maybe Sweeney finds his way to an extension, maybe that happens in the offseason, or maybe the GM even allows Marchand to call his own shot, greenlighting a trade to a contender or nixing a potential deal in favor of finishing his entire career in one place. That’s assuming there is a big market for the 36-year-old forward.
The point is, everything is on the table. Or at least it should be.
Sweeney said as much Sunday, all but pulling the white flag out of his briefcase.
“I think historically, we’ve been pretty aggressive when our team’s been in a position,” he said. “I think we’ll take a much more cautious approach as we approach the deadline.
“That being said, if there are opportunities to improve our team now and certainly moving forward, whether that’s positional shifts that other teams are trying to identify that we may have a strength at — we will look at all opportunities to improve our team now, but more importantly, moving forward.”
It’s not an easy admission to make, especially for a franchise accustomed to being in the postseason mix. The Bruins haven’t missed the playoffs since 2015-16. Since then, they made it to the Stanley Cup Final and won a Presidents’ Trophy. The first, under coach Bruce Cassidy, ended in the heartbreak of a Game 7 loss at home. The second, under Montgomery, ended with the same heartbreak in Round 1.
The close calls and near-misses, not to mention the cash that comes along with the full stands and concession sales lost with them, seem to be enough to keep Jacobs from blaming his front office duo.
But Neely and Sweeney are the common denominator. The through line that goes from the ill-fated draft bust of 2015 to free-agent duds Matt Beleskey (five years, $19 million in 2015), David Backes (five years, $30 million a year later) and now Lindholm and Zadorov, goes through them. The inability to refill the talent drain left by the retirements of Zdeno Chara (one of their best free agent adds), Patrice Bergeron, and David Krejci does, too.
But on they go, looking again to fix the roster. The decisions are theirs to make.
For now.
