After the Boston Bruins made news last night by relieving head coach Bruce Cassidy of his duties, general manager Don Sweeney met with the media today to explain the decision. Sweeney told reporters including Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic that it was time for a new voice, and that he and Cassidy had already decided assistant coach Kevin Dean would not be returning.
Chris Kelly and Joe Sacco, however, are currently still under contract. It obviously remains to be seen whether they are kept on by whoever the Bruins hire next, but they were not relieved of their duties with Cassidy. Here are some more notes from Sweeney’s presser:
- The team is not expected to buy anyone out this offseason, despite lots of speculation about Nick Foligno after his poor debut with the club. The 34-year-old forward (35 in October), is signed for one more season at a $3.8MM cap hit and scored just two goals in 64 games this season. The Bruins already have more than $80MM committed to next season, though with the injury timelines of players like Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy, long-term injured reserve can obviously give them some flexibility to start the year.
- Of course, that also doesn’t include Patrice Bergeron, who is an unrestricted free agent this summer after winning his record-setting fifth Selke Trophy. Matt Porter of the Boston Globe relays comments from Sweeney which suggest a “directional shift” if Bergeron doesn’t return, or if the injured players struggle to get back to full strength. It seems unlikely that a full tear down is on the horizon, given the team just recently traded for and extended Hampus Lindholm, but Sweeney already seems to be preparing for the possibility of a down year in 2022-23.
This team is a joke. Sweeney needs to go
The B’s are screwed. They are up against the cap, have no #1 pick this year and have very little NHL caliber talent in the system (Thanks Don). That’s why they had to pay $3 million to their 7th defenseman last year. They had nobody making $10 million, or $9 million, or $8 million, or even $7 million yet they had no cap space at all! Not one player in their top 10 for points was on a rookie contract. That’s management’s fault. The B’s problems are caused by poor scouting, poor drafting and poor player development.
Watching Bruins fans toss fits while pretending to know how to run a team is fun!
It isn’t that far of a stretch to say that any of the fans could do a better job than Sweeney. If it’s not apparent now how bad he is as a GM, it will be in the next year or two
Doghockey,
Why is it that New Dork fans in all aspects of sports are such a**holes ? When will the Rangers or the Islanders win another Cup? Heck you have 2 teams in New Dork and still can’t get it done !
link to youtube.com
Rebuild , possible big trade
I love how he says he’s not sure IF they will have a down year this year. It was never a question of “if”, pal. There will be several down years upcoming
A new voice? Fact of the matter is that Sweeney hasn’t produced an NHL player since the 2017 draft. That’s an objective fact. You have you’re whole top line making a combined $19 mil and can’t produce enough cap to find secondary scoring in the bottom 6? And that’s Cassidy’s fault? Cassidy might not be right for the direction Sweeney is taking the team, but honestly, I don’t like the direction he’s going in anyway.
Free Cassidy. Free Bergy.