Last season when Don Sweeney swung and miss in free agency with the overpay's of Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov, yoou would have thought that he learned from his mistake. Apparently not.
On Tuesday, Sweeney and the Boston Bruins had a quiet day on the free agent front, but there was one move that was made that opened some eyes, but opened them for the wrong reasons. Sweeney gave forward Tanner Jeannot a five-year contract with an AAV of $3.4 million. That is certainly a decision of a deal if we're being honest.
Bruins completely overpay for forward Tanner Jeannot
This might be better said, "What are we doing here?" Sweeney gave Jeannot a contract, and the numbers are what they are. This past season in 67 games, he had seven goals and six assists, and the 6-foot-2, 220-pound left wing will come in and is projected to be a third-line player.
The Bruins had this same type of physical, third-line player in Trent Frederic and Justin Brazeau, and they traded them because they didn't want to pay them, but they'll pay Jeannot? Frederic offers more of an offensive upside than Jeannot.
This signing doesn't solve their goal-scoring issues, and truth be told, Boston still has Mark Kastelic in the bottom-six and can solve the reasons why they signed Jeannot. I get it that a lot of the players that were expected to his free agency, or did in the case of Brock Boeser but he re-signed with the Vancouver Canucks, didn't, but spending money just to spend money is certainly a decision.
Boston acquired Viktor Arvidsson before free agency began in a deal with the Edmonton Oilers, and has now signed Jeannot, but neither move is going to close the gap between the Black and Gold and the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. In what is a vital offseason and free agency for Sweeney, it's more of the same: bad contracts to players who are not worth it. It's becoming a common theme, but no worries, Sweeney's extension signed earlier this offseason means there's more bad contracts to come.