Bruins extend GM Don Sweeney

[Allan92]

Hot take time

Don Sweeney is a great GM, one of the best in the game. He's great at finding value players, always builds a great bottom six and d core. He's worked wonders with the cap and people were saying the Bruins were due to collapse due to the core aging out since 2018, and he not only kept things afloat but put together the best team of the decade. And at the deadline he went all in on that team. For a bunch of reasons that team didn't get it done in the playoffs, which is primarily on the coach and players. But Sweeney is not to blame for that at all and if he didn't go all in on the deadline it would've been a mistake.

In a cap world you can't keep everything going forever, and this year everything they'd leveraged for years caught up to them. And instead of trying to patch things up and be mediocre enough to complete for a wild card and one and done, he had the guts to aggressively tear down everything that wasn't bolted down. Marchand, Carlo, Coyle, Frederic. And he collected some good talent and draft picks (and got the first rounder for Marchand to convey). Shut down the injured players, and they put themselves in position to get a high pick (then got f***ed over by the NHL' bullshit lottery system).

Next year might be another DNQ, but with some good futures to work with, expiring cap space, having an elite RW and #1D locked up long-term, and hopefully hiring a new coach who isn't a piece of shit, they could be back on the rise soon enough, and I for one do trust Don Sweeney to lead that rebuild.

this is spot on.

I don't understand why every coach and GM in this league has to be branded as 'old boyz club' or 're-thread' or 'lol as a division rival I love this'.

Sweeney's drafting has to be better but there are so many facets to being a GM besides prospect rankings on the Athletic, and Sweeney nails almost all of them. He's done a great job in Boston

 

[Ghost of Murph]

Awesome move by Boston! The rest of the Atlantic thanks the FO in Boston. While GM his team's playoff success is lacking, and if you take away series wins against the Leafs it's laughable, given the tremendous talent he inherited. Come to think of it, he is the GM version of Toronto's core 4. I actually feel bad for Pastrnak.

 

[ON3M4N]

Awesome move by Boston! The rest of the Atlantic thanks the FO in Boston. While GM his team's playoff success is lacking, and if you take away series wins against the Leafs it's laughable, given the tremendous talent he inherited. Come to think of it, he is the GM version of Toronto's core 4. I actually feel bad for Pastrnak.

They haven't had playoff success? They've been to the SCF twice and coming into this season the Bruins had the 5th most playoff wins in the NHL.....all while Sweeney has been the GM.

 

[John Price]

Sydney Sweeney > Don Sweeney

Not sure how that guy keeps his job. He sucks.

 

[John Price]

Bruce is a great coach but had a shelf life and lost the room. Monty is a loser and a piece of shit who quit on the team.

And he won a cup with Vegas the second after Boston let him go

Firing Cassidy was dumb

 

[Voight]

Marchand wanted 3 or 4 years 7m+ a year.

That's not unreasonable. Marleau at the same age got $6.25 million x 3 years. That was with a lower cap and Marchand is a better player.

 

[jmon1313]

That's not unreasonable. Marleau at the same age got $6.25 million x 3 years. That was with a lower cap and Marchand is a better player.

How'd that deal work out for the leafs?

https://puckpedia.com/trade/121

 

[Howie Hodge]

 

[thebestnic]

The whole Atlantic Division is cheering in unison

 

[thebestnic]

Crazy some people don't realize he inherited one of the best core in the league and did close to nothing to help it

 

[HaNotsri]

They need to rebuild the entire forward group so keep the guy who has failed to draft/add top6 talent for 10 years

He's been saving up all his good picks!

 

[BB79]

As a fan of a division rival...this is awesome.

Not as awesome as that game 7 you guys played

 

[Allan92]

Crazy some people don't realize he inherited one of the best core in the league and did close to nothing to help it

Revisionist history.

Sweeney took over in the summer of 2015 after the Bruins had missed the playoffs.

The core back then was Bergeron, Krecji, Rask Lucic and Chara.

Marchand and Pasta were there but not as integral as they would become later.

Sweeney got rid of Lucic at the right time, got the best remaining years of Chara and Rask. He gave Pasta and Marchand bigger roles.

More impressively, he replaced Chara and Rask pretty seamlessly, or as seamlessly as you can with great players such as those, by drafting McAvoy (adding to the core) and bringing in steady goaltending through Swayman, Ullmark etc.

The core for most of Sweeneys tenure was Bergeron, Krejci, Marchand, Pasta, McAvoy and the back end of Chara and Rask, with good complementary pieces like Carlo and DeBrusk (both drafted by Sweeney). He also found tremendous value, especially at goaltender with Halak and the aforementioned vezina winning tandem, and most importantly, he knew when to cut bait, letting Lucic, Krug, Chara etc walk away

This is a much better position the Bruins were in compared to the 14-15 season

After making it to the 2019 finals and also breaking the record for most dominant regular season team in 22-23, it's pretty safe to say he most certainly did not inherit the best core in hockey

He added to the core and improved to the point where it became better than before.

So I'm not sure how you came to the conclusion that he's done next to nothing

 

[thebestnic]

Revisionist history.

Sweeney took over in the summer of 2015 after the Bruins had missed the playoffs.

The core back then was Bergeron, Krecji, Rask Lucic and Chara.

Marchand and Pasta were there but not as integral as they would become later.

Sweeney got rid of Lucic at the right time, got the best remaining years of Chara and Rask. He gave Pasta and Marchand bigger roles.

More impressively, he replaced Chara and Rask pretty seamlessly, or as seamlessly as you can with great players such as those, by drafting McAvoy (adding to the core) and bringing in steady goaltending through Swayman, Ullmark etc.

The core for most of Sweeneys tenure was Bergeron, Krejci, Marchand, Pasta, McAvoy and the back end of Chara and Rask, with good complementary pieces like Carlo and DeBrusk (both drafted by Sweeney). He also found tremendous value, especially at goaltender with Halak and the aforementioned vezina winning tandem, and most importantly, he knew when to cut bait, letting Lucic, Krug, Chara etc walk away

This is a much better position the Bruins were in compared to the 14-15 season

After making it to the 2019 finals and also breaking the record for most dominant regular season team in 22-23, it's pretty safe to say he most certainly did not inherit the best core in hockey

He added to the core and improved to the point where it became better than before.

So I'm not sure how you came to the conclusion that he's done next to nothing

So in ten years he got McAvoy and Debrusk. I'm supposed to be impressed ?

 

[Allan92]

So in ten years he got McAvoy and Debrusk. I'm supposed to be impressed ?

yep, that's all that was in that post. Good job

 

[goeb]

Crazy how they managed to go from record breaking regular season to a non-playoff team in 2 years.

Granted they lost Bergeron, but still. I think firing Montgomery was a band-aid solution that won't fix much. We see how well the Blues have done so far with Montgomery. He is a solid coach.

 

[thebestnic]

yep, that's all that was in that post. Good job

Of course in 10 years he's gonna make good and bad moves(the goalies, replacing Julien with Cassidy, drafting Mcavoy). At the end of the day, for that long of a tenure, I would want more than Mcavoy, Debrusk as core players added if I were a Bruins fan. As a Habs fan Bergevin made some great moves but at the end of the day he didn't add any core player to Subban/Weber, Price and Pacioretty. He's rightfully seen as a bad GM because of that...

 

[Allan92]

Of course in 10 years he's gonna make good and bad moves(the goalies, replacing Julien with Cassidy, drafting Mcavoy). At the end of the day, for that long of a tenure, I would want more than Mcavoy, Debrusk as core players added if I were a Bruins fan. As a Habs fan Bergevin made some great moves but at the end of the day he didn't add any core player to Subban/Weber, Price and Pacioretty. He's rightfully seen as a bad GM because of that...

Results show. He oversaw two retools (15-17 and 19-21).

He made more than 'a few moves'. He navigated the cap well and kept contracts team friendly and rarely made bad trades. He showed a good aptitude for coaching hires.

He didn't win a cup, but that's insanely hard. He built the best regular season team in history and made the finals.

Your argument has very little merit. With the exception of drafting, which he isn't terrible at but not the best either, he has excelled against every metric a GM can be judged by

As mentioned, he also knows when to walk away. Not just from players, but he also accepted reality and kickstarted another retool before it got too late.

This board seems to think hoarding prospects is the only way to be 'a good GM'.

You said he did next to nothing with what he inherited. That is unequivocally, patently false

 

[I am Bettman]

So in ten years he got McAvoy and Debrusk. I'm supposed to be impressed ?

And Carlo, Hall, Zacha, Lohrei, Coyle, Frederic, Geekie, Hampus Lindholm, Ullmark, Swayman, Elias Lindholm (jury is still out looked great at iihf), and Zadorov.

 

[thebestnic]

And Carlo, Hall, Zacha, Lohrei, Coyle, Frederic, Geekie, Hampus Lindholm, Ullmark, Swayman, Elias Lindholm (jury is still out looked great at iihf), and Zadorov.

There is nothing there

 

[I am Bettman]

There is nothing there

Vezina winner, hart trophy winner, a 2C who has averaged about 55 pts a season, a C who is one season removed from a 60 point year with selke votes, a top pairing defenseman, a 30 goal scorer this season, a budding offensive defenseman, and one of the best young goalies in the league is nothing apparently. Expect nothing else from a habs fan.

 

[thebestnic]

Vezina winner, hart trophy winner, a 2C who has averaged about 55 pts a season, a C who is one season removed from a 60 point year with selke votes, a top pairing defenseman, a 30 goal scorer this season, a budding offensive defenseman, and one of the best young goalies in the league is nothing apparently. Expect nothing else from a habs fan.

Feel free to remindme in 1,2,3 years how great your retool is working

 

[I am Bettman]

Feel free to remindme in 1,2,3 years how great your retool is working

Responding to none of my points and changing the subject. We were fortunate enough to have over a decade of success and a cup. Considering the Habs haven’t won in 30 years, I’m guessing you are either too young to have seen them win a cup in which case I forgive you. I would also be pissy watching your fan base ruin young players. The other alternative is that you are old enough to have seen them win in which case you are way to old to be trolling on the internet.

 

[wintersej]

Of course in 10 years he's gonna make good and bad moves(the goalies, replacing Julien with Cassidy, drafting Mcavoy). At the end of the day, for that long of a tenure, I would want more than Mcavoy, Debrusk as core players added if I were a Bruins fan. As a Habs fan Bergevin made some great moves but at the end of the day he didn't add any core player to Subban/Weber, Price and Pacioretty. He's rightfully seen as a bad GM because of that...

Don't forget Hampus Lindhom, Ullmark, Swayman... how many core players every year is he supposed to add while being a contender every year and having late draft picks?

 

[BB79]

Crazy how they managed to go from record breaking regular season to a non-playoff team in 2 years.

Not really. Fluke year with the hottest goalie tandem will do that. The core was aged out and they were on borrowed time at that point. We were expecting the collapse about 2-3 earlier than it happened. It was a nice surprise