Management Don Sweeney & Cam Neely speak to the media

[The National]

Highly doubt either Bergeron or Marchand play elsewhere. They are Bruins for life

I do too, and I hope thats the case. We imagine all the Bruin greats to be here for life but it’s not always how it works out.

 

[lopey]

You can spend to the cap and still be cheap. I'm assuming that Donny isn't exactly breaking the bank compared to his peers.

I don't understand, how can you be cheap if you spend to the cap? Is he cheap in other aspect, likely. Did Donny spend the money well, no, but he has this offseason to show what he is. Lots of cap space and lots of needs. If he F's this one up, he will be fired IMO.

 

[rocketdan9]

Martinez? Ekholm?

Isnt Martinez 34 already?

 

[rocketdan9]

I don't understand, how can you be cheap if you spend to the cap? Is he cheap in other aspect, likely. Did Donny spend the money well, no, but he has this offseason to show what he is. Lots of cap space and lots of needs. If he F's this one up, he will be fired IMO.

Can teams spend over the cap but pay a higher tax.. like they do at the nba?

 

[Bruinfanatic]

This is a really weird, interesting, kind of showing their cards quote.

Bergeron's up at the end of the year, Marchand still has another 4 years but his NMC changes to a M-NTC next summer.

So if the best case is one more kick at the can IF all the UFAs come back...does that mean they have no plans for Bergeron beyond this year? Does Marchand need to be moved? Plan on being moved? or is he content with "one more kick at the can" and rotting away the rest of his career?

Tough decisions.

More Bergeron’s age than his contract ,I’m sure he wouldn’t go to another team,but he was asked about when he would retire,he said he takes it year to year now.

 

[The National]

I knew Coyle was injured. Glad Sweeney acknowledged it and hopefully whatever it is will be healed and he’ll be ready to go in September

I’m glad that there may still be hope for him and it was just the injury affecting his game. To me Sweeney mentioning it seemed like he was saving face a bit for that horrible contract he signed Coyle to.

 

[The National]

Can teams spend over the cap but pay a higher tax.. like they do at the nba?

No it’s a hard cap so going over can be penalized by loss of draft picks, multi-million dollar fines, etc.

I believe you can go over with bonuses.

 

[RussellmaniaKW]

Haven't they drafted a bunch of LHD?

have they?

they ran off their captain of 13+ years since those guys so desperately needed to play. Guess it didn't work out like they hoped.

 

[BruinDust]

Why trade Vaak, Frederic, a first and Heinen for JT Miller and Ryan McDonagh? (they even extended both of them lol)

Every single guy this place deems untouchable seems to flame out at some point.

Fact is we spent the past 6-7 years overrating pretty much every single prospect in the system. People are still cringing at the thought of 2021 playoff healthy scratches Trent Frederic and Jakub Zboril being lost to the Seattle Kraken.

Let's face it......6 years ago Sweeney and Co. had a plan. That plan was to be strong on D, G and up the middle.

So they've been strong in net.

And they've been strong up the middle. Added Coyle to 37 and 46. Drafted JFK, Frederic and Studnicka with Top 60 picks in 3 consecutive years. Beecher in 2019. All centers at draft time.

Had Chara and Krug. Drafted Lauzon, Zboril, McAvoy, Carlo and Vaakainanen in the Top 60 of those 3 drafts.

But they simply drafted poorly overall. Eight picks used on C and D in the Top 60 from 2015-17 and they nailed Carlo and McAvoy. But with proper depth on D Lauzon probably is watching upstairs, as would Zboril and Vaak. None of the centers were in the playoff line-up.

So by focusing on C and D, they kind of ignored the wing position, which more and more is becoming where you find goal-scoring talent. If you can't defend now, you can't play in the middle. So being offensively strong but defensively suspect has become the territory of wingers. So that critical piece (goal-scoring) fell by the wayside. Sweeney's only saving grace was that he had Pasta in the fold and Marchand evolving into a top-end goal scorer (no one saw that coming in 2015).

 

[Gee Wally]

Can teams spend over the cap but pay a higher tax.. like they do at the nba?

no.

 

[RussellmaniaKW]

done

rock & a hard place. need that LHD bad in the short term, desperately need first round talent in the long term.

 

[rocketdan9]

No it’s a hard cap so going over can be penalized by loss of draft picks, multi-million dollar fines, etc.

I believe you can go over with bonuses.

Its weird

Because Tampa and Leafs look like they have salaries beyond the hard cap

Tampa look like they have 10 players making around 5m. Stam, Kucherov, Vasilevskye, Mcdonagh, Hedman also make big money

I dont understand

 

[MattFromFranklin]

Reilly had a nice start but playoffs he was super soft.

I keep saying it but the prototype is McDonagh. If they had that guy they might have won 2019 and 2020, and who knows about this year. This is also why it's so hard to get that guy.

Any mention of DeBrusk and what train they have him booked on?

Fluto wrote an article before the trade deadline saying that Sweeney is afraid of trading DeBrusk.

 

[rocketdan9]

rock & a hard place. need that LHD bad in the short term, desperately need first round talent in the long term.

Bruins have the money

But no stud LHD available via FA

 

[The National]

Its weird

Because Tampa and Leafs look like they have salaries beyond the hard cap

Tampa look like they have 10 players making around 5m. Stam, Kucherov, Vasilevskye, Mcdonagh, Hedman also make big money

I dont understand

Well both used LTIR to do that.

 

[rocketdan9]

Fluto wrote an article before the trade deadline saying that Sweeney is afraid of trading DeBrusk.

Why?? Bc Loui will beat him up?

I dont get it. Bruins must Debrusk this offseason

 

[member 96824]

Highly doubt either Bergeron or Marchand play elsewhere. They are Bruins for life

Bergeron yeah maybe, the timing makes sense..though if he wants another kick at the can I could see him taking it and the Bruins not being the best option for that next summer.

Marchand, kind of doubt it. He's in that tough in-between stage age where if he's here at his age, we'd pretty dumb for keeping him to do our best to battle for a wild card spot.

But the "not going anywhere, retiring here" stuff, never ever buy it. Many many many said the same of Paul Pierce, Tom Brady, Zdeno Chara, Gronk, etc. Often times it doesn't make sense for the player, it doesn't make sense for the team(almost never makes sense for the team), it's just fans clinging to the emotional side of the sport.

Not that it matters at all, but for me, I prefer the Ainge/Belichick approach vs. the sentimental approach of having like a 40-year-old Patrice Bergeron walk off the ice for game 82 after 7 minutes of 4th line time just to say we kept him.

 

[BMC]

I do too, and I hope thats the case. We imagine all the Bruin greats to be here for life but it’s not always how it works out.

Zdeno Chara.

 

[ap3lovr]

No surprises here, pretty much exactly what the fans saw all year. A bit surprised about commenting on the previous draft in such a way. Not normal to see that level of honesty and candor about a managerial screw up.

The third line sucked, the fourth line was atrocious (that was obvious every shift)
D injuries hurt us (injury luck is a big part of the NHL playoffs every year)
We need another mobile d-man (Us and 28 other teams)
We believe in the kid (no surprise there, even if they didn't you need to say this)

Looking to next year there are some big holes to fill. Sadly the talent pool will be a little thinner for every team except for Vegas.

 

[BMC]

Fluto wrote an article before the trade deadline saying that Sweeney is afraid of trading DeBrusk.

Is he afraid of Louie or afraid with a change of scenery DeBrusk turns back into a near 30 goal scorer? Both?

 

[rocketdan9]

It was interesting to hear Donny admit defeat ... that Islanders gm did one better

They even traded away Toews at the deadline...bc they didnt see a fit

 

[member 96824]

Bergeron yeah maybe, the timing makes sense..though if he wants another kick at the can I could see him taking it and the Bruins not being the best option for that next summer.

Marchand, kind of doubt it. He's in that tough in-between stage age where if he's here at his age, we'd pretty dumb for keeping him to do our best to battle for a wild card spot.

But the "not going anywhere, retiring here" stuff, never ever buy it. Many many many said the same of Paul Pierce, Tom Brady, Zdeno Chara, Gronk, etc. Often times it doesn't make sense for the player, it doesn't make sense for the team(almost never makes sense for the team), it's just fans clinging to the emotional side of the sport.

Not that it matters at all, but for me, I prefer the Ainge/Belichick approach vs. the sentimental approach of having like a 40-year-old Patrice Bergeron walk off the ice for game 82 after 7 minutes of 4th line time just to say we kept him.

Wally said it in the other thread, and I agree..but re-posting cause it's relevant here.

to me this is the fork in the road. Im betting both guys will be interested as to what’s happening with the other.

If you cant/wont land the pair and decide to move on then it may be time to also talk to 63 & 37 to see what they want to do.

On that note: If Krejci goes home, Rask decides to hang them up? I have that very hard conversation this summer with Bergeron and Marchand and start preparing for 2023-2024.

The good news is the 2022 and 2023 drafts are incredible drafts to execute a rebuild and re-tool if needed and maybe we could get an exterminator to schedule a visit to the front office before they got the chance to f*** those ones up.

 

[RussellmaniaKW]

Why?? Bc Loui will beat him up?

I dont get it. Bruins must Debrusk this offseason

probably because he thinks it'll end up like another Reilly Smith situation, where he looks like a totally different player after the trade.

Personally i think that's a stupid fear to have as a GM and the wrong way to approach trades. The problem with the Smith trade wasn't that he turned out to be good player, it's that they got f*** all to show for it. He should be worried about the long-term fit & return, not what the guy might do elsewhere. I can almost guarantee Jake will start scoring goals again wherever he goes. I've resigned myself to it, but I also have zero belief he'll start scoring again if he stays. The goal should be to get something of value for him and fill his roster spot with someone who can be part of the solution.

 

[MattFromFranklin]

Why?? Bc Loui will beat him up?

I dont get it. Bruins must Debrusk this offseason

I have no inside information, but my guess is it's either 1 of 2 reasons, or perhaps a combination:

1. He's afraid that Jake will revert back to having goal totals that mirror 18-19 and he'll be another young player that was dealt away and will burn them.
2. Jake is the only semi-decent thing from that abomination of a 1st round and he's aware of the bad PR that will come with trading him.

If it's the first one, it's understandable although I believe he is wrong. Jake literally can't score unless he's spitting distance from the net. He's a one-dimensional goal scorer. Tipped shots, crashing the net, wide open rebounds, etc. 23 of his 27 goals in 18-19 were when he was right near the net. He has a mediocre shot and when he floats he is pretty much useless. Jake has nowhere near the upside that Seguin, Kessel, and Hamilton had when they were traded.

If it's the latter, that is a horrible reason and he should not belong in a front office. With that being said, this is an organization that is super anal about PR and they often leak stories to their bobos in the media in an effort to not make the organization look as bad.

My guess is it's the first one. It's understandable, but Sweeney is dead wrong about DeBrusk's upside. He's a very flawed player who can really only score a few feet/inches from the net.

 

[LouJersey]

rock & a hard place. need that LHD bad in the short term, desperately need first round talent in the long term.

Agreed, but if they go in w Hall, DK and even Rask they need to keep going. Go big or go home. If your top two LHD are 2 of Gryz, Reilly (or similar) and Lauzon you're not winning anything. Same goes with Jake or Smith in your top 6, sorry you aren't winning.