Boston Bruins: Is This a Make or Break Offseason for Sweeney?

In his six years as general manager of the Boston Bruins, Don Sweeney has overseen one trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2019 against the St. Louis Blues and we know how that ended in Game 7 at the TD Garden.

In his tenure as GM, the Black and Gold have made playoffs in five of the six seasons, but aside from 2019, they have struggled to get by the second round. This year was no different with a second-round exit at the hands of the New York Islanders in six games after winning Game 1 in impressive style.

With the Bruins core of veterans seeing their window close and close quickly on a championship run, this is a big offseason for Boston to add to their roster for one more run with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.

While it’s a big summer as far as putting together a roster to make a deep run in the 2022 playoffs, could this be a big summer for Sweeney in terms of job security?

The Bruins have some big-name free agents that need to be retained if Boston is serious about making a playoff run next spring, but also the roster needs additions from the outside. In net, with the bottom-six forwards and on defense.

Sweeney’s trade history has been nothing to write home about. His best trade may have been in April when he acquired Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar from the Buffalo Sabres and Mike Reilly from the Ottawa Senators.

In previous seasons, Sweeney has not had the best trade deadlines, never mind going into his draft history, see the 2015 Entry Draft, mainly the first-round. With the Entry Draft, Seattle Kracken expansion draft, and free agency all happening in July, this is a vital month in terms of the roster makeup for 2021-22.

With six years on the job, is this the most important summer for Sweeney? Certainly, there are going to subtractions and additions to the roster with Don having the final say.