Bruins Update: What is the plan, Don?

Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney is still developing his off-season plans for team improvement.

When Don Sweeney took over as Boston Bruins GM last year, fans were told that there would be more of a commitment to speed, skill, and developing younger players. Now looking back at the season none of those things ever happened, and from day one of the Sweeney experience he hasn’t really made a great move.

Milan Lucic and Dougie Hamilton were shipped out for picks and prospects and it looked like a major overhaul could be coming. Sweeney did well in the Lucic trade by obtaining Martin Jones but then shipped Jones out before he even tried to get a plane ticket to Boston. Jones is now having a pretty good cup run, your 7 million dollar goalie wasn’t well enough to play in the biggest game of the year.

A third round pick for Zac Rinaldo is unbelievably bad, Sweeney couldn’t give him to another team right now. Reilly Smith for Jimmy Hayes would have made some sense, if Hayes could play. Smith falls into that unfortunate non Bruin type of player category, not big enough, not tough enough, not bad enough. Problem is that since Smith has been a full-time NHL player starting in 2013-2014 he has out scored Hayes in that time frame 141 points to 64 points. That is a big swing and a miss for Sweeney.

The same GM and team then fail to move on from a real asset in Loui Eriksson at the deadline.  An asset that should have been worth at least a second round pick and a good prospect, Cam Neely and Sweeney came out to tell fans that there were no real offers for him, which I think is the biggest load of crap he has spewed.

"“I don’t regret that. I said at the time I felt this group — inconsistiencies were there — (but it) wasn’t a complete team per se. We were a team that was well positioned to be in the playoffs. Loui was having a fantastic season. I felt I will always do what’s best for this organization. This team, at that time, deserved to have players added to that group.”"

The moves that Sweeney did make are even more confusing, four draft picks and a prospect ( Anthony Camara) to get Lee Stempniak and John-Michael Liles. A 2017 second round pick for Stempniak but there were no offers better than that for Eriksson? Throw in the two second round picks to get Brett Connolly, that was not Sweeney who made the move but none the less that is a huge piles of wasted assets to get close to nothing.

Now comes signing some of his own players in free agency and this also has made no sense thus far. Kevan Miller just got four years at 2.5 million a year. Not exactly a bank breaker but Miller is a bottom pairing player, he’s 29 and has a long injury history. Why commit years and money to that player when you already have that in Adam McQuaid? It doesn’t make sense or add up.

The team has some young options that we still don’t know enough about in Collin Miller, Joe Morrow, and Zach Trotman if you want to throw him in.  Now the Bruins have four players on the back-end that are signed, Torey Krug is still looking for a contract and is probably going to get double what Miller got. There has to be an upgrade on defense coming so someone has to be changing their address in the next few months.

So again I ask, what is the plan Don?

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