Bruins make it official by extending Don Sweeney’s contract as general manager
The GM labored this 12 months on an expiring deal, which would have produced him an unrestricted free of charge agent on July 13. Crew president Cam Neely explained May 19 he needed to “sit down with Don in the next working day or two and ideally hammer something out,” but it apparently has taken right until now to do so.
At the time, Neely said he required to assess the 2021-22 period just before committing to his lame-duck GM. The two had an knowledge that he would go on to consider to increase the club.
“We experienced a ton of modifications past offseason,” Neely claimed. “I needed to see how that played out. January, February, March were being really very good months for us. The crew truly came jointly. We experienced a large amount of depth. And I was delighted with what he did at the deadline.”
Users of Bruins management were being not offered for remark right after the deal was introduced. Sweeney and Neely are scheduled to communicate to reporters July 6 at the NHL draft in Montreal.
In a statement Monday, Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs mentioned that the crew has been a person of the “winningest franchises in the league and a perennial playoff contender” under Sweeney’s management.
“While we figure out there is do the job to be carried out to realize the greatest goal of bringing the Stanley Cup back again to Boston,” Jacobs explained, “I’m self-assured that Don’s determination to becoming finest-in-class on and off the ice will assist us climb that mountain when again.”
Sweeney, the eighth GM in franchise historical past, replaced the fired Peter Chiarelli in May well 2015. In his seven seasons in the corner business office, the Bruins are 313-162-61 (.584), and have averaged 105 factors per 82 online games. They created the Stanley Cup Final in 2019 — when Sweeney was named NHL GM of the Calendar year — and achieved the playoffs in each individual of the previous 6 seasons. In the Jap Convention, only Pittsburgh, Toronto, and Washington have a playoff streak of 6 seasons or lengthier.
The Bruins, nevertheless, are coming off a very first-round exit at the fingers of the Hurricanes, and two next-round exits just before that.
Sweeney’s trades have mainly worked out — most not long ago Hampus Lindholm and Taylor Hall, acquired at the trade deadlines of 2022 and 2021 — but his absolutely free agent signings and drafting, specifically early in his GM job, have been much less than solid.
He opened his tenure with the 2015 draft, in which he chosen Jakub Zboril (13th in general), Jake DeBrusk (14th), and Zach Senyshyn (15th) ahead of upcoming All-Stars Mathew Barzal (16th), Kyle Connor (17th), and Thomas Chabot (18th). His major UFA additions in his initial two a long time had been Matt Beleskey (5 several years, $19 million in 2015) and David Backes (6 yrs, $30 million in 2016).
His most recent absolutely free agent class integrated the declining Nick Foligno (two decades, $7.6 million), although goalie Linus Ullmark (four many years, $20 million), Erik Haula (two yrs, $4.75 million), Derek Forbort (3 several years, $9 million), and Tomas Nosek (two many years, $3.5 million) offered truthful price.
Sweeney, 55, was an eighth-spherical draft decide (166th overall) of the Bruins in 1984. The Harvard alum played 15 of his 16 NHL seasons in Boston, logging 1,052 game titles below. He joined the club’s hockey functions personnel in 2006, grew to become assistant GM in 2009, and expended 2014-15 as GM of AHL Providence.
Matt Porter can be achieved at [email protected]. Adhere to him on Twitter: @mattyports.
