Matt Grzelcyk
After spending his entire career with the hometown Bruins after a career at Boston University, Matt Grzelcyk hit free agency and the writing was on the wall that he wasn't returning. The emergence of youngster Mason Lohrei along with the addition of Zadorov allowed Grzelcyk to walk.
He signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins to play for Massachusetts native Mike Sullivan. This season he has a goal and 16 assists and he has seen his ice time balloon to over 20 minutes a night on average at 20:08.
James van Riemsdyk
Two summers ago, Sweeney had very little cap space and signed a handful of veterans to one-year contracts. One of those players was James van Riemsdyk who came in and made his presence felt on and off the ice.
In the locker room, he was another veteran leader and on the ice, he had 11 goals and 27 assists, a production that not a lot of people saw coming. He had six power-play goals and 12 of his points came on the man advantage. This summer he signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets and he has four goals and nine points. Of course, one of his goals came earlier this year when Columbus came into the TD Garden and beat the Black and Gold. Boston will see him this week after the holiday break is over as the Bruins and Jackets will play a home-and-home on Friday and Saturday.
Every off-season there is bound to be change with every team in the NHL, which leaves front offices with tough decisions. That is what Sweeney faced last off-season with a ton of cap space, but it went away quickly with the signings of Lindholm and Zadorov, while also leaving enough to re-sign Swayman, something they did in early October.