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The Gut Reaction: Don Sweeney As GM of the Bruins

By Evan Marinofsky

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When Peter Chiarelli was hired back in May of 2006, a mangled team awaited his crafting. The situation Chiarelli seemed to be getting himself into was a rebuilding scenario.

But not with his successor.

“We are not as far away as people may think” said Don Sweeney.

Today the Boston Bruins announced that Don Sweeney will be the next General Manager of the team. Sweeney has spent 10 years in the front office of the Bruins, 6 of those as the Assistant GM. Sweeney also played 15 seasons and 1,051 games with the Bruins. He is also 1 of only 4 players in team history to play in over 1,000 games.

“Today is a new era for Boston Bruins hockey”-Charlie Jacobs

Saying he knows the team is an understatement.

Many points emerge from today’s press conference that the Bruins held for Sweeney.

The first of which is his displeasure regarding last season.

Sweeney consistently brought up how the Bruins just didn’t seem to have the fire that they used to play with, which is entirely true. He even referenced the game against the Calgary Flames in which the Bruins were caught up in their own end for the whole third period and eventually lost on a weird bounce off of Tuukka Rask.

Ironically, the Flames made the playoffs.

The Bruins did not.

Feb 24, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; NHL linesman

Brian Murphy

(93) tries to break up Vancouver Canucks right wing

Derek Dorsett

(51) and Boston Bruins left wing

Brad Marchand

(63) after the final horn of the Vancouver Canucks 2-1 win over the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Sweeney also harped on the fact that the Bruins need to gain the momentum back that brought so much success: the same momentum that allowed them to lift Lord Stanley’s Cup in front of 18,000 riotous fans in Vancouver.

When Sweeney became open for questions, the first one regarded the state of current Head Coach Claude Julien.

Sweeney approached this topic quite gingerly by hinting that Julien’s status as Head Coach was unsafe. He said that all personnel will be further evaluated from Julien down. He also said that he had spoken with Julien about the future.

Sweeney also seemed to take a small jab at Julien when talking about last year’s system. He referred to the past Bruin’s system as a “retreat” mentality and basically said that it doesn’t matter how well you can defend: if you can’t score, you can’t win which is something Bruins fans have been waiting to hear from management for a long time.

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This means that if Julien would like to keep his job as Coach, he will have to change his systems and go with a much more offensive approach. Judging by what Sweeney said today, it seems as though he will have no problem putting Julien in the unemployment line if he can’t change his systems to Sweeney’s liking.

Which brings me to one of the more interesting points of the entire press conference: young player’s growth and development.

“We’ve made some mistakes,” said Sweeney. “We’ve allowed some players to leave this organization that we might regret.”

This is the first time in which someone from the Bruin’s organization has called out the Tyler Seguin trade as a mistake.

Mar 28, 2015; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Dallas Stars forward Tyler Seguin (91) scores against Vancouver Canucks goaltender

Eddie Lack

(31) during the third period at Rogers Arena. The Dallas Stars won 4-3 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports

And Sweeney is the perfect guy to do so.

Why? Because back when the Bruins made the deal to send Seguin to the Stars, Sweeney was not seen in any cuts on the team’s reality show “Behind the B”. The show covered the entire process of the Seguin deal. Whatever the reason was for Sweeney’s absence, whether it was him not being able to make the meetings or whether it be his disagreement of the trade, he was never seen touting the trade.

Even though it was indirect, Sweeney’s the perfect guy to admit that the Seguin trade was a mistake.

He also said how the team will be much more patient with its younger players and the tradition of being a Bruin will be instilled upon them from the time of arrival and that message will be conveyed through the established, veteran leadership this team has.

Sweeney also hit upon the importance of communication with players. He said that he’s talked to most of them and that they are all anxious to go out and play next year.

But here’s the vibe exhibited in the “communication” aspect.

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It almost seems as though the Bruins needed some sort of therapy after last year’s disappointment. None of the players expected the outcome to be so dismal last year and are working as hard as they can at making sure that doesn’t happen next season.

For Sweeney to be successful, he will need to improve young player’s development and break the restraints of the salary cap that currently have the Bruins in a head-lock.

If Sweeney legitimately believes in all of the things he touched upon today, then I think Charlie Jacobs said it best: “Today is a new era for Boston Bruins hockey”.

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