On May 20, 2015, the Boston Bruins hired Don Sweeney as their general manager. Since then, Sweeney has made 42 trades, signed 216 players, and drafted 54 players. It’s likely that Bruins supporters would prefer to forget about a few trades (Kirill Kaprizov for a fifth-round pick in 2016 – Cameron Clarke, who?) and some draft selections, particularly the first round pick in 2015. However, the majority of the trades have gone well: Taylor Hall (with $4 million retained), Charlie Coyle for Ryan Donato and a conditional 4th-round pick, and Curtis Lazar for Anders Bjork and a 2021 2nd-round pick.
First, let me clarify a few things: I did not include Sweeney’s excellent work of re-signing the free agents for the Bruins. Keeping your roster full of talented players is a big part of being a good manager, but that isn’t the focus of this discussion. This has to do with the general manager releasing a statement on July 1 and paying the free agent jewel to join the Bruins. Don Sweeney is more akin to the comedian I occasionally come across on Instagram Reels who declares, “I enjoy rocks.”I simply enjoy their feelings. Sweeney doesn’t seem to be as into precious gems as he is rock music.
Clubs will be searching for those priceless gems and trying to assemble teams that can win the Stanley Cup when Free Agency begins across the NHL on July 1. Throughout his first few years on the job, Sweeney has become a better general manager overall, but his attempts to enter free agency have disappointed and ultimately left the fan base wanting more.
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