When Don Sweeney said he probably wasn\u2019t going to be aggressive at the trade deadline for a change, the Bruins\u2019 GM wasn\u2019t just playing poker.<\/p>\n
Trade deadline season always holds out some hope, as well as rampant rumor-mongering, that something big will happen and the B\u2019s were the subject of much talk. But in the end, Sweeney held onto his four first-round draft picks and his prospects and left his team intact to go earn a playoff spot.<\/p>\n
Sweeney made some minor adjustments to his organizational depth, trading Brett Harrison and Jackson Edward to Philadelphia for fellow minor leaguers Massimo Rizzo and Alexis Gendron, while taking a flyer on 2020 first-rounder Lukas Reichel from Vancouver for a 2026 sixth-rounder. All three new players will be headed to Providence.<\/p>\n
It seemed like anyone of consequence who was moved \u2013 Justin Faulk, Brayden Schenn, John Carlson, Nazem Kadri, even Nicolas Roy \u2013 cost a first-rounder plus other assets. The return Vancouver got for Conor Garland was not as prohibitive (a 2028 second-rounder, 2026 third-rounder) but his contract (six years at $6 million) would have been a tough swallow.<\/p>\n
With the B\u2019s hanging on to a playoff spot by a single point going into the weekend, Sweeney elected to let the status quo play out, adding his first round picks weren\u2019t \u201cburning a hole in his pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have liked to have added to the group,\u201d said Sweeney. \u201cWe always would like to, always want to improve our team. We did enough due diligence and maybe that applies at the draft or afterwards. Or maybe we take our picks because we\u2019re committed to the process that we started.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t deviate from what we felt was the right choice and I\u2019m hoping that pays dividends right now with the guys that are still here, because they\u2019ve earned that right to carry us forward and moving forward as an organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the big names that could have accelerated Boston\u2019s retool, St. Louis center Robert Thomas, did not move. Whether Sweeney laid any groundwork to revisit landing the 26-year-old No. 1 center in the summer remains to be seen. The Rangers\u2019 Vincent Trocheck also did not move.<\/p>\n
The B\u2019s did not land the right-shot defenseman for which they\u2019ve been in the hunt. Sweeney did concede that the uncertainty around two of the four first-round picks (the Toronto pick this year is top-5 protected and the Florida pick next year is top-10 protected) added to the reticence to move any of them.<\/p>\n
But he said the way his team has played coming out of break \u2013 they\u2019re 2-2 and needed great goalie performances to score the wins and were stomped by an in-flux Nashville team on Thursday \u2013 did not add to his caution. Considering all the players they offloaded last year at this time \u2013 Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, Brandon Carlo, Trent Frederic, Justin Brazeau \u2013 the team\u2019s progress is pretty much on schedule, despite how it\u2019s been trending lately, especially on the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was honest the other day when I said I don\u2019t think we\u2019re playing to the same standard as we were prior to the break. We\u2019ve lost a little momentum and we need to get it back,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we had charted the course last year that we knew this wasn\u2019t going to be one and done. Our intentions were to get back to right where we are and be the most competitive we can be. The guys have done a great job and the coaching staff as well. We\u2019re still excited about that. The odds are, if we play the way we\u2019re supposed to be playing before the break, we\u2019re going to be a tough out and get in. That\u2019s the challenge to the group.\u201d<\/p>\n
While he was non-committal about No. 7 overall pick James Hagens joining the team after Boston College\u2019s season is over, he didn\u2019t rule it out, either. He even referenced a couple of blasts from the past in Craig Janney (USA) and Bob Joyce (Canada), who came right from their respective Olympic programs and stepped right onto the 1988 team that went to the Stanley Cup Final.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach player determines (when he\u2019s ready to contribute),\u201d said Sweeney.<\/p>\n
Sweeney said he did his due diligence and listened to calls on his two pending UFAs, Viktor Arvidsson and Andrew Peeke, but he stayed true to what he had said earlier in the week, that he wasn\u2019t going to take from this current team for mere futures. He wants to give this roster a chance. He also said he held discussions with each player\u2019s camp on possible extensions.<\/p>\n
Sweeney admitted that watching teams around him in the standings making moves \u2013 the Islanders landed Schenn, the Blue Jackets got Garland and Detroit acquired Faulk \u2013 got the competitive juices flowing.<\/p>\n
But ultimately, Sweeney decided to stand pat, neither buying nor selling. It\u2019s tough to be passionate about doing nothing but, right now, it seems like it was a perfectly reasonable path for him to take.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Don Sweeney said he probably wasn\u2019t going to be aggressive at the trade deadline for a change,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5099],"tags":[154,95,5132,530,593,5,40,4,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-489985","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-bruins","8":"tag-boston","9":"tag-boston-bruins","10":"tag-bostonbruins","11":"tag-bruins","12":"tag-don-sweeney","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116184738932051467","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}