Don Sweeney Stirs Up Fan Revolt On First Day Of First Draft
Even keeping in mind that free agency is four days away and the draft is still going on, it’s pretty hard to think that Don Sweeney’s first big day on the job was anything less than a disaster. Sure, there’s still more than three months before the team starts the 2015-16 season to address needs and complete the roster.
But yesterday’s stunning trade of Dougie Hamilton to Calgary for picks and the Bruins subsequent inability to move up in the draft to ostensibly replace the budding star defenseman has pundits shaking their heads in bewilderment and fans shaking their fists in anger. After the Bs landed Calgary’s #15 pick and LA’s #13 pick in the Milan Lucic deal, Boston held three picks in a row—a bounty that certainly looked big enough to land one of the deep draft’s top three D prospects.
Alas, Sweeney couldn’t swing a deal to land a stud prospect and instead used all three picks to draft what appears to be 3/5ths of a boy band that won’t be helping the big club anytime soon. They may well all pan out (or not) but we won’t know for at least a few seasons.
So how the hell do you trade one of the game’s top young blueliners and have nothing to show for him on this year’s roster (yet)? This was like an anti-Belichick trade; instead of trading a longtime solid contributor just before he starts to slip to maximize his value, the Bs traded a guy before he hit his peak and who merely enhanced his resume here.
If, as some have written, the Bs may have gotten more in return than if they’d let Hamilton walk away via an offer sheet, I’d at least have liked to see them let that process play out to show fans they were at least TRYING to keep him. But they just seemed to be all too willing to cut bait so soon. It’s also possible he priced himself out of Boston’s budget because, like all players, he wanted to cash in when he had the opportunity and I don’t begrudge him for that.
Of course, if the previous GM didn’t have almost $11M tied up with 34-year-old and 38-year-old defensemen this season (and next), perhaps the team could have pursued other options. But the current GM didn’t exactly do himself any favors by giving Adam McQuaid a $2.75M/4 year deal either. Hey, I love McQuaid’s game and what he’s done here. But he’s missed 121 games over the last three seasons and doesn’t offer much on the offensive end. Additionally, if he gets lapped by some of the young guys, the team may find themselves paying nearly $3M a year for a bottom-pairing D. Yet they couldn’t get Dougie into the fold. Just frustrating right now.
I can only hope the front office viewed Dougie as a “salary dump” as well (meaning what the Bs had penciled him down for this season because he wasn’t under contract) and that they’re going to use that “space” along with picks/players to land a top-pair D on the trade market. If not, they’ll be a significantly worse team on the back end come October.
I can live with the Lucic deal. The skids seemed to be greased for his departure ever since his handshake line petulance at the end of the 2013-14 season. In his own words, he never got on track last season and it didn’t make sense for the Bruins to take a $6M cap hit for a guy who’d be gone after the season anyways. They got good assets in return though eating nearly half his cap hit sucks. The Cam Neely comparisons were never fair to Lucic because he was never gonna be the bona fide sniper that Neely was. But his inconsistency and propensity to take nights off certainly warranted criticism. At the end of the day, he was a good Bruin who did good things here and helped the Bs win a Cup. So thanks for your service, Looch. It was appreciated.
Unlike many in the media, I’ve never pretended to know much about prospects by parroting what draft experts say but you can easily find those synopses elsewhere. But like all drafts picks, they’re a roll of the dice. Martin Jones may well end up becoming Tuukka Rask’s reasonably-priced, reliable back-up (he’s a RFA coming off a $550K deal) if the Bs aren’t yet comfortable with either Malcolm Subban or Zane McIntyre. Colin Miller had a break-out year for the Calder Cup-winning Manchester Monarchs last season and certainly appears to have great upside. He was also the fastest skater and had the hardest shot at the AHL All-Star Game skills competition.
There’s still a lot of time to fix this roster and this is hardly a rebuild. But for today, Bruins fans are right to ask, “What the fuck is going on here?”
From an organizational level, it’s unfathomable that they have butchered the Phil Kessel deal to this extent. It’s like the NHL equivalent of that tired meme: “10 years ago we had Steve Jobs, Bob Hope, and Johnny Cash—now we have no Jobs, no Hope, and no Cash”. But Reilly Smith has cash, specifically $3.425M for the next two years.
Time to get drunk again.
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