In the last 2 years alone the team has lost Bergy, Krech, Foligno, JvR, Shattenkirk, Forbort and Ullmark. Chara, Krug, Rask and Backes before that. Now some of those guys weren't in Boston long, but that's a ton of experience, leadership and culture that's walked out of the locker room and for the most part hasn't been replaced. Even Gryz, much as I'm sure he was a pretty quiet presence, he bled black and gold for obvious reasons. In a modem sports world of highly paid mercenaries, that's not common.
Sweeney would have hoped that the void would be filled internally by the likes of McAvoy, Pasta, Carlo, Coyle, Sway and Hampus, and perhaps Elias Lindholm too. But we're really not seeing it. I don't think Marchand is a bad captain, but to all appearances he's not getting much support. For all the changes, this is not a young team. In theory there's quite enough experience and intelligence in that room for these guys to sort themselves out. But it's not happening. Instead the culture looks to have turned sour. I don't know if it can be fixed quickly or easily.