GM Don Sweeney has to decide how to improve on a 135-point regular-season team (mission impossible) that doesn’t figure to have Patrice Bergeron or David Krejci back.
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One week after his team’s spectacular crash and burn on the playoff stage, Bruins general manager
Don Sweeney has yet to hold his end-of-season news conference. Eight years into his gig as resident rainmaker, this was by far the toughest of all endings for Sweeney and his charges, harder on the fandom than even the loss on Causeway Street to the Blues in Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.
The 2018-19 team, 49-24-9, didn’t enter the postseason with everyone around here and across North America expecting a June coronation. The Bruins gained traction and belief that spring with series wins over Toronto, Columbus, and Carolina, and were strutting with house money by the time they made it to the Cup Final, ultimately falling one win short of hitting the jackpot.
Whereas this time around, the duck boats were gassed and polished, with “ye olde parade route” loaded on their GPS, never to leave dry dock after the Panthers ran the table in Games 5, 6, and 7. The dumbstruck crowd watched as aged captain
Patrice Bergeron trudged to the room in the funeral din of the Garden.
Sweeney, expected to address the media on Tuesday, now has to decide how to improve on a 135-point regular-season team (mission impossible) that doesn’t figure to have Bergeron or
David Krejci back ever again in Black and Gold (the unimaginable turns inevitable).
To that latter point, the vibe Tuesday on locker cleanout day was that both veteran centers will bid the Hub adieu. Vibes, like tea leaves, are hardly certain, but man, the looks on the two classy veterans’ faces suggested the obvious: slim chance, after their combined 2,656 games (playoffs included) wearing the Spoked-B, that same time next year would produce a different ending.
Sweeney, always loathe to make public his thoughts, again is unlikely to provide much substantive detail about how he plans to rework and reload the best regular-season team in NHL history.
He does, though, despite what looks to be extremely limited salary-cap space, have surprising elbow room to make moves. Possibly bigmoves. If Sweeney indeed opts for an aggressive remake, he can be a dynamic player in the wheel-and-deal market in the weeks leading to the June draft and July 1 free agency.
Normally, in the wake of a record-setting 65-win, 135-point season, the idea of a bold retool would seem risible and unnecessary. Yet there is that chance, largely because of the, shall we say, eyesore of an ending to 2022-23.
Also, let’s not forget Sweeney has a history of unexpectedly swinging for the fences. Exhibit A: his shock move of less than a year ago, when he abruptly cashiered
Bruce Cassidy just a couple of weeks after assuring his then-coach that he would be back behind the bench for 2022-23. Indeed, Cassidy was back, but as coach of the Golden Knights (still doing playoff business, by the way, in Round 2 vs. the Oilers).
Keep this in mind: Because of Sweeney’s astute contract negotiations, there are only two roster players who can’t be traded: star winger
David Pastrnak and
Hampus Lindholm, the slick defenseman whose game mysteriously withered in the heat of the playoffs.
Everyone else, including franchise faces
Brad Marchand,
Charlie McAvoy, and even No. 1 goaltender
Linus Ullmark, can be dealt. In most all cases, other than
Jake DeBrusk,
Matt Grzelcyk,
Jakub Zboril, and McAvoy, the players have the right to trim the number cities where Sweeney can shop them, but if wants them gone, they’re gone. Restricted free agents
Jeremy Swayman and
Trent Frederic also have zero control over where their contract rights can be shopped.
It would be a shock if McAvoy were wheeled, but a disaster like we witnessed in Round 1 has to have Sweeney considering every option, and McAvoy’s contract, with its $9.5 million cap hit, does not convert to no-movement status until after next season.
There are far more likely candidates to be shipped out, if Sweeney wants to shed money, allowing him to seek a different personnel mix or retain would-be free agents.
mitry Orlov. No telling if Orlov wants to stay. He loved his time with the Capitals, and he could be presented with a legit offer to return.
Up front, sending out
Taylor Hall (two more years at $6 million per) could be the way to go if Sweeney prefers to retain UFA
Tyler Bertuzzi, who finished tied with Marchand for the club’s postseason scoring lead (10 points).
Charlie Coyle ($5.25 million) would seem a sure keep, along with
Pavel Zacha ($4.75 million), particularly in light of the expected departures of fellow pivots Bergeron and Krejci. Marchand ($6.125 million) and DeBrusk ($4 million) will stay put
There could be a dilemma, if not a crisis, in goal, where Ullmark is signed for two more years ($5 million cap hit). Swayman, his partner, has arbitration rights and again delivered solid numbers (24-6-4) this season. He could easily be awarded $4 million a year via arbitration.
Amid the pain, sorrow, and frustration of the Cup slipping through their outstretched hands, Sweeney and team president
Cam Neely have some painful decisions to make in the next few weeks. They also have a number of surprising options, some that those outstretched hands could be forced to use.
