Don Sweeney Prepares Boston Bruins For Now And The Future

It has been an uphill battle for Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney.

Boston Bruins general manager has taken a lot of flak over the last year. Some of the fans (and members of the Boston media) have not liked the moves made by the B’s sophomore GM. At the moment, the Bruins defensive pairs look practically identical to last season, and that has made many fans groan over the team’s possible fate next season.

Could the Black and Gold dig down deep and surprise us? Absolutely. The Boston Bruins were atop the Atlantic Division for a brief period before their breakdown in the last few weeks of the season. The odds are sort of against them though.

So what has Don Sweeney done? He’s tried to make the best of the situation he inherited from Don Chiarelli. He’s let a few overpaid players go. He orchestrated the buyout of Dennis Seidenberg. But where Sweeney has really been focusing on is the near future.

That’s why Sweeney has made many of the draft picks he made. He’s been looking at the current set of AHL and collegiate prospects and seeing the future. He believes the Bruins can be a playoff team now, and can be a serious Cup contender just down the road.

“[Defense has] been an area of need that we wanted to address,” said general manager Don Sweeney according to CSNNE.com . “It’s something I identified in taking over, that we hadn’t drafted a lot of players in the first two rounds of previous drafts on the back end. So it was an area we targeted . . .

“These [defensemen] are all going to grow up together, and be a big part of our future going forward. You add [those younger guys] to Matt Grzelcyk and Robbie [O’Gara] coming out of college that are a little older. It’s a good group.

Sweeney is taking responsibility for the Bruins. He’s making reasonable moves that will help the team grow. Now, all he needs is a little bit of luck, and a decent amount of patience. Patience with the fans, and patience with the prospects.

“Patience is a word that’s not readily thrown around in this marketplace, and I understand that,” said Sweeney. “We’re in a competitive business, and we want to win every year. But you have to grow your players, I firmly believe that and I’ve been committed to that since I took over the job. Working in development, I have always believed that the internal search is the best place to find your players. I think we’re in a much stronger player to allow these players [to succeed], and they have to hit. If they don’t [hit] then that’s on us for misidentifying them.”

Don Sweeney also wanted to remind the fans that there are still moves that the B’s could make. The Bruins still have $6,731,677 in cap space. That extra cap space gives him a little more flexibility that he didn’t have in his first year as GM. The Bruins might actually lure Jimmy Vesey to Boston when his free agency opens up on August 15.

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“It’s only July,” said Sweeney about the rest off the offseason. “Do I think there are opportunities to continue to explore and improve the roster? Sure. But part of that was the draft, where everybody was trying to do that as well, and you have to balance the prices of acquisition and see whether or not you find a fit. Teams are thinking the same thing: They’re kind of looking at their roster and seeing how it all takes shape. They might be more inclined (to make moves) whether it’s August or September, or whatever the case may be. We’re in a position now to act upon that, and we have some [cap] flexibility. We’ve been planning for this year, next year and the years after that. We (want to) maintain that flexibility while building the best possible team we can.

We all knew Don Sweeney inherited a semi-dysfunctional dumpster fire. He’s making the proper moves to fix the club. He’s trying to improve the deficiencies, amplify their strengths, and make the team more competitive in October. So far, he thinks the Bruins are on the right track.

Next: Bruins Next Move: Sign Brad Marchand

“I think we’re an improved hockey club,” offered Sweeney in the defense of his moves. “We addressed some areas where we wanted to get deeper: Certainly the middle of the ice, penalty-killing and a little more balance on the back end to have transitional play getting back on pucks, moving pucks.

“We have players that need to continue to gain experience, but where are they going to do that except at the National Hockey League level? Are they ready to assume large roles? That’s to be determined. It’s not going to stop me from thinking about tinkering, or acquiring, a player with a more ready-made (ability to contribute). But there are two sides to that. We feel comfortable (with our roster), but we want to continue to improve.”

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