When word came out late Sunday night that Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney landed Taylor Hall from the Buffalo Sabres, there was a lot of speculation about what the return might be.
Did Sweeney part ways with the Bruins’ 2021 first-round pick in July’s Entry Draft? Two of the last three seasons at the trade deadline, the Boston GM has sent the clubs first-round pick in deals with the New York Rangers and Anaheim Ducks.
Come to find out, Sweeney did part ways with a draft pick, but it was the Bruins second-round pick in July’s draft, along with Anders Bjork. Getting Curtis Lazar in the deal as well, could be seen as a good trade package that Sweeney sent to Western New York. It sounds like what the Sabres got, is not what they were looking for early in trade talks.
The Sabres reportedly wanted one of the Bruins two rookie goalies, but Sweeney refused to give up with one.
According to Elliotte Friedman in his recent 31 thoughts column, Buffalo asked about Jeremy Swayman or Dan Vladar in a deal for Hall, but Sweeney refused to make either available in a deal, even for Hall.
First of all, the Sabres and general manager Kevyn Adams would be crazy to at least not ask about the availability of either goalie and why not. Both have been impressive in recent weeks for the Black and Gold, giving the Bruins a nice problem down the line. For arguments sakes, Swayman certainly looks like the better of the two, for now, but both are certainly in the running to be the goalie of the future on Causeway St.
Instead of parting ways with a goalie of the future, Sweeney got the Sabres to take the struggling Bjork. Of course in his first shift as a Sabre, Bjork assisted on Colin Miller’s goal in Tuesday night’s 3-2 Bruins shootout victory, but moving on from Bjork, a bottom-six forward, is not a bad thing. In fact, you could say that Boston might have upgraded their bottom-sox forward grouping with Lazar, but it’s only been one game, so let’s not get too excited.
Sweeney needed to do something to upgrade the roster and he was able to do it without jeopardizing the future. Dealing either goalie would have qualified as jeopardizing the future. With Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak both in the final year of their contracts, there’s a lot of questions as to whether either returns next season. If one or both do move on, the Bruins are prepared with a plan in place, something that the Buffalo wanted to break up, but Sweeney refused.