Don Sweeney On The New Boston Bruins Locker Room
The Boston Bruins have certainly had their ups and downs during the draft and free agency. While the Bruins were able to find some young talent and make appropriate moves to get their team ready for October, it cost them eight members of last year’s squad to do so. (Well, seven and Matt Bartkowski.) The Bruins will now need to look to their core of leaders to help welcome and prepare the newest Bruins for the 2015-16 season.
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney knows that he’s made some moves that have aggravated the fan base. He also knows some of those moves were necessary to get the team back on the playoff track. He also acknowledged there likely will be a few moves between now and opening night.
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“I don’t know if anybody picks their team, per se, in July,” said Sweeney to the media via a conference call. “I think you assemble a group of guys you feel confident with, and I think now we’re taking a position where any trade that we look to make, or any player movement we look to make is one we absolutely want to, and not have to [make]. We have some flexibility now to look at things completely that way going forward. No promises; a lot of balls still in the air, a lot of players still to get back to their high side of their capabilities, and be excited about being a Boston Bruin.
“That, to me, is what the entire focus is about now. It’s about wanting to be a Boston Bruin, and hitting your high side to win. Every one of our development guys are going to hear about it, and all the way forward going forward with all the discussions we have, it’s about being excited to play for us.”
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With Jimmy Hayes and Matt Beleskey joining the top six, the Bruins have hoped to bring back some snarl and power back to the Bruins. They also brought in two players that are absolutely thrilled to be back in Boston. For Hayes, it’s a homecoming for the Dorchester native. As for Beleskey, you can’t jump on social media without see a picture of him telling you how happy he is to be in Boston.
“Boston is one of the best sports town in the world. The way they play the game, their style of game, Original Six team… It’s been a very easy choice to come to Boston.” – Matt Beleskey on signing with the Bruins
“The first conversations you have with those players is they’re excited, and I think that’s infectious. We’ve gotten a lot of younger players that are going to come through the door here for our development camp that they’re going to be as equally excited about them being drafted, identified and development begins,” said Sweeney. “So you know what? As I said before, you learn from some of the experiences that are behind you, and you move forward, and [get] excited about the ones, the challenges, that are in front of you.”
The Bruins still have a few challenges ahead of them. They still need to find a reasonable inexpensive top four defenseman. They’ll need to integrate the new players into the Julien system. They’ll also need to prove to the fans that last season was just a fluke as well. We’ll certainly get a better look at everything as the Bruins move closer to opening night.