98.5 The Sports Hub Ty Anderson: It Turns Out Don Sweeney Is Real Good At This

[Dueling Banjos]

You cant win them all, just remember how our D looked like 2 years ago. It was voted bottom 5 by a wide majority of HF suckers and it didnt feel all too unnatural. D overhaul alone is something, not to mention all the F prospets.

Big fan!

 

[JRull86]

As for Sweeney, I think the assesments of his drafting and FA signings & trades are bang on.

He's been a breath of fresh air drafting, and has completely turned around the future of the franchise. A+

His FA signing's have been mostly meh to poor. He nailed Riley Nash on that deal, even though he wasn't great last season. Can't beat almost 50 points for 900K. Backes I'm still on the fence with. That has the potential to be a poor deal, but I'm willing to punt on this season due to all the injuries. Beleskey was a disaster.

His trades have been overall hit or miss. Obvious losses are Rinaldo for a 3rd, and Smith for Hayes. No issue shedding Smith, but extending Hayes prior to playing a game was poor. Lucic & Hamilton deals and what they've eventually turned into look like wins right now. I liked the Nash deal, and even though it didn't work out as we all hoped, I have no issue with that deal. No issues not trading Eriksson.

Where he's excelled in the pro-scouting department I think is re-signing his own players. Getting Pasta and Marchand signed for the length and cap hit they are at is a MASSIVE win. Unlike Chiarelli who for whatever reason seemed to overpay his own guys.

Also, moving on from Claude when he did, and hiring "his guy" in Bruce was 100% the right move. He took a risk giving the reigns to a guy who flamed out in his only other NHL HC gig, in a time where they needed someone who could help the kids take the next step.

The future is bright ladies and gentlemen, and Sweeney has done more than enough to warrant praise in my book. Now he needs to sustain it.

 

[maxbme]

His trades have been overall hit or miss. Obvious losses are Rinaldo for a 3rd, and Smith for Hayes. No issue shedding Smith, but extending Hayes prior to playing a game was poor. Lucic & Hamilton deals and what they've eventually turned into look like wins right now. I liked the Nash deal, and even though it didn't work out as we all hoped, I have no issue with that deal. No issues not trading Eriksson.

Agreed for the most part. I don't dislike the Smith for Hayes trade as much, because it wasn't just Smith for Hayes. Moving Savard's contract to get rid of that cap hit was huge.

Also looking through old news articles and found this proposed line up from the time of the Smith/Hayes trade.

Beleskey – DK – Connolly
Marchand – Bergy – Eriksson
Hayes – Spooner – Pasta
Talbot – Kelly – Renaldo

God we are in such a better position with our forwards now.

 

[KrejciMVP]

If give Sweeney a B, but like all Bruin GMs of the past the honeymoon will be over if we don't see playoff success eventually. He'll get 2 more years to win or make a run past the 2nd round.

 

[TorontLoL 67]

If give Sweeney a B, but like all Bruin GMs of the past the honeymoon will be over if we don't see playoff success eventually. He'll get 2 more years to win or make a run past the 2nd round.

Gradual improvement.
2017: 1st round loss
2018: 2nd round loss
2019: ECF win/SCF loss (probably)
2020: as @DKH predicted the Boston Bruins are your 2020 Stanley Cup Champions!

Just kidding. They're bringing the cup home next year

 

[World of Wardlow]

As much as I think Sweeney is good (and going to be better) as GM, what people fail to bring up is his BIG gamble in exposing Colin Miller & Malcolm Subban ... losing them for nothing.

 

[Rubber Biscuit]

As much as I think Sweeney is good (and going to be better) as GM, what people fail to bring up is his BIG gamble in exposing Colin Miller & Malcolm Subban ... losing them for nothing.

What was he supposed to do with Subban? He did not earn a job in Boston and had to go through waivers.

 

[chizzler]

As much as I think Sweeney is good (and going to be better) as GM, what people fail to bring up is his BIG gamble in exposing Colin Miller & Malcolm Subban ... losing them for nothing.

Yeah, that really hurt.

 

[Dr Hook]

The bottom line with new or new-ish GMs is always to ask if the team is better or worse after they took over. We have a bunch of Sweeney bashers on here, but I ask you to honestly assess whether the team is better or not since the time he took over? It's an easy question, to be followed up with "is the team heading in the right direction overall, or not?" It's pretty simple. You can bash individual decisions or not, but overall, if you are a Bruins fan, do you like where the team is going in terms of quality, wins/losses, playoff aspirations? I do. I think it's hard for most (even the Eeyore's around here) to say with a straight face that the team wasn't better this year than the year before, and last year's team wasn't better than the year before that.

 

[smithformeragent]

If give Sweeney a B, but like all Bruin GMs of the past the honeymoon will be over if we don't see playoff success eventually. He'll get 2 more years to win or make a run past the 2nd round.

I’m in the same boat.

They had plenty of regular season success for a while there under MOC.

Say what you will about Chiarelli, but the one Cup means more than dozens of Adams, Northeast and Atlantic Division banners.

 

[BruinDust]

As much as I think Sweeney is good (and going to be better) as GM, what people fail to bring up is his BIG gamble in exposing Colin Miller & Malcolm Subban ... losing them for nothing.

A statement like this is kinda comical.

EVERY team had to expose good players in the expansion draft. Sounds you would of preferred the Bruins have shallow depth so no one decent got exposed.

As it stands Colin Miller is still a 3rd pair puck-moving D-man who can work a PP pretty decent. And I'm a fan of Miller but your making it sound like Miller left Boston and became some 5-tool Top 4 D-man.

Subban? The same Subban who did practically nothing to show he was ready for the NHL up to getting placed on waivers. The same Subban who after a decent start, had really inconsistent numbers the rest of the year despite playing behind one of the better defensive teams in the league. The same Subban whose currently watching the Cup Finals dressed in a suit as his coach would prefer to dress Maxime Legace as the back-up in case Fleury went down.

I'm still surprised how many posters are butt-hurt over losing a borderline NHL back-up goaltender in Subban. Guys his caliber get placed on waivers every single year.

 

[pkunit]

A statement like this is kinda comical.

EVERY team had to expose good players in the expansion draft. Sounds you would of preferred the Bruins have shallow depth so no one decent got exposed.

As it stands Colin Miller is still a 3rd pair puck-moving D-man who can work a PP pretty decent. And I'm a fan of Miller but your making it sound like Miller left Boston and became some 5-tool Top 4 D-man.

Subban? The same Subban who did practically nothing to show he was ready for the NHL up to getting placed on waivers. The same Subban who after a decent start, had really inconsistent numbers the rest of the year despite playing behind one of the better defensive teams in the league. The same Subban whose currently watching the Cup Finals dressed in a suit as his coach would prefer to dress Maxime Legace as the back-up in case Fleury went down.

I'm still surprised how many posters are ********* over losing a borderline NHL back-up goaltender in Subban. Guys his caliber get placed on waivers every single year.

I agree but you're selling C Miller short.

I think he is a top ten player on Vegas, and that is why it stings for some people.

 

[Number8]

A in drafting, C in UFA signings (can't tell me he's been more than average there), B+ in trades (overall).

Overall they still need to improve their pro scouting. Backes is very much like the Lapointe signing way back - a guy the B's coveted for a long time who was paid (Lapointe well above market rate) at the going rate for a UFA. Adds a lot to the team and organization beyond the on ice production...

Hopefully next year is a good year where he can get back to being a 45-50 point 2/3 liner and stay healthy. That's fair production for a guy at his range as a UFA. If he loses another step it will be like the Scatchard signing by MOC after the lockout which would be painful to see for a guy like him....

As for Rick Nash - I can see him being a player Sweeney brings back as a 3 zone guy that has some pedigree. If I were Nash however I'd be calling on Thornton in SJ to see about a go there on his wing on a 1 year deal and build up the stats to the go for a last 3 year deal like Marleau. They were dynamite together years back and the style still fits.

It’s possible to look back on the Lapointe signing as similar to Backes in impact/how it played out.

In reality though the motivation for Lapointe was nothing similar. It’s been widely reported/speculated that it was the result of a feud between Jacobs and Detroit owner Mike Illitch (sp?).

That said, Marty Lapointe was a big big win for Boston. Not so much in terms of performance on the ice but because ha and his family was so critical to the early success of one of our best players and maybe, when all is said and done, one of our greatest.

 

[BruinDust]

I agree but you're selling C Miller short.

I think he is a top ten player on Vegas, and that is why it stings for some people.

Maybe I am, I've always like Colin Miller. And before McAvoy's emergence in the 2017 playoffs I was adamant that it should be Colin, Z, and Krug protected.

But McAvoy's play changed all of that. If Colin was in Boston now would he even get much PP time with Krug manning the No.1 unit and McAvoy on the No.2? They were hurting for D-men who could PK this year, would of been a lot worse had they lost Kevan instead of Colin. You likely would of seen McQuaid dressed more to get that 3rd PK D-man and Colin sitting as they couldn't have Chara and Carlo play the entire 2 min PK.

It was so much of a gamble as it was simply a harsh reality that every teams was guaranteed to lose quality players. I can hardly fault Sweeney for that.

 

[Krupp]

Signing Backes and was and always will be a bad move. Heinen and Bjork (and Pastrnak and Donato) were drafted while Chiarelli was the GM.

I stand corrected.

 

[Krupp]

And for what it's worth, i'm glad they kept Kevan. I know he's not the most popular guy because chances are he won't bust out more than 20 points a season or whatever, but I think he's improved his play considerably over the years.

Much as I hate saying it, they should've let Quaider go unprotected during the expansion draft. But it is what it is at this point. I don't think anyone expected Colin to play up the way he has this year.

 

[BruinDust]

And for what it's worth, i'm glad they kept Kevan. I know he's not the most popular guy because chances are he won't bust out more than 20 points a season or whatever, but I think he's improved his play considerably over the years.

Much as I hate saying it, they should've let Quaider go unprotected during the expansion draft. But it is what it is at this point. I don't think anyone expected Colin to play up the way he has this year.

Nothing wrong with saying it, considering McQuaid WAS left unprotected in the expansion draft.

 

[Krupp]

Nothing wrong with saying it, considering McQuaid WAS left unprotected in the expansion draft.

Apparently, i'm just screwing things up left and right lately...

 

[RedeyeRocketeer]

I think not enough is said about Neely and Sweeney being so late to the speed game. We're still paying the cap price for their obsession with size. But I'm willing to say that's heavily on Neely too.

 

[ODAAT]

As much as I think Sweeney is good (and going to be better) as GM, what people fail to bring up is his BIG gamble in exposing Colin Miller & Malcolm Subban ... losing them for nothing.

Big Gamble? Are we talking about a Norris and Vezina finalist in Miller and Subban? Every team had to expose players and while we can agree or not on whom we think he should have exposed, how bout the Panthers losing Smith and Marchessault? I`d argue that was/is a tough one to swallow

I can fault Sweeney with some moves he`s made but not having either Miller or Subban in the organization still isn`t one of them

 

[BMC]

Apparently, i'm just screwing things up left and right lately...

It's Monday.

 

[DKH]

Yeah, that really hurt.

I went back and read the post GDT against Chicago preseason and there are 2 posters pumping Subban’s style and changes and 20 still saying he suck

Dom was one and the other was moi

 

[chizzler]

I went back and read the post GDT against Chicago preseason and there are 2 posters pumping Subban’s style and changes and 20 still saying he suck

Dom was one and the other was moi

I think I should have put a sarcastic emoji there instead.

 

[LouJersey]

And for what it's worth, i'm glad they kept Kevan. I know he's not the most popular guy because chances are he won't bust out more than 20 points a season or whatever, but I think he's improved his play considerably over the years.

Much as I hate saying it, they should've let Quaider go unprotected during the expansion draft. But it is what it is at this point. I don't think anyone expected Colin to play up the way he has this year.

My argument is they would never have taken Kevan Miller. Look st their draft and did they take on guy with 3 years left on his deal?

 

[DKH]

I think I should have put a sarcastic emoji there instead.

Ok haha

I’m laughing at some who are bashing Sweeney now for letting Subban go - they had no option other than to keep him over Khudobin which was not the right move st the time then and probably now.

As for Colin Miller I like him a lot but Kevan Miller was the correct move and when you look at tbe beatdown Minnesota Columbus and Florida took its astounding

The Knights are in the Finals so teams gave up talent

I took American history not Revisionist history and leave it at that