Bruins Winding down
Two weeks remain on the Bruins regular season schedule, and eight games left to be played, it brings out the realization that there is much to do in the upcoming Boston off-season. A heavy workload for Bruins president Cam Neely and general manager Don Sweeney, as they bear the task of rebuilding a broken team, and with a bare minimum of pillars to build on. They will work with a foundation that includes, David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, and Jeremy Swayman, in an attempt to return the organization to playoff status, and maybe even a long shot of a return to Stanley Cup competition. Not an easy task, as it will take some risks for Sweeney to come out with a winning hand, something he’s dealt with for the decade of moves he’s made in his tenure as general manager, that began in 2015. That decade includes the firing of two coaches (Claude Julien and Bruce Cassidy), and the promotion of assistant coach Joe Sacco to the role of interim coach. In that time, the locals lost the talents of Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci (2023), and the previous year the retirement of Tuukka Rask (2022), the defensive forces of Zdeno Chara’s move to the Washington Capitals (2020), and the recent trade of captain Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers for a draft pick. All these subtractions in that period of time left a huge hole on the Bruins’ roster. Despite the off-season signings of Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov by Sweeney to very generous contracts, it was not enough to fill the gaping holes. All leading to their first miss at the playoffs since 2016.
Add to this, the Bruins signing goaltender Jeremy Swayman to a $66 million dollar eight-year contract, following a decent regular season, and a strong playoff, and the trade of backup Linus Ullmark, and the magic came undone! Swayman’s competitive edge disappeared, and his play on many occasions was not as sharp as expected. Neely’s comments regarding the coaching position made recently in an interview with The Boston Globe’s Jim McBride a few days ago, were rather interesting as Neely stated: “Sacco will be in consideration for the head coaching job, and will be in the mix when he and Sweeney have offseason discussions about what direction they will go in a coaching search.” Remember, the organization cleaned house prior to the trade deadline, and that certainly didn’t help Sacco’s chances of being successful as interim coach, he certainly deserved a better situation for his loyalty and longevity to the team. Neely and Sweeney may think along those lines in their off-season discustions, and return the Medford native to the Boston coaching staff for the 2025/26 season. One of the few plusses this season has been the play of Morgan Geekie who netted his 27th goal, a career high for him. The five losses on the recent road trip to the Golden Knights, Sharks, Kings, and Ducks…extended the Bs current losing streak to eight-games (0-7-1). Boston’s eight remaining games (four at home…four on the road), will have the Bruins hosting Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, tonight (Tuesday 7pm) as the GR8 Race continues with Ovechkin at 890 goals scored, now needs just five goals to top Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record (894) for most goals scored. Next up, a visit to Montreal to face the Canadiens (Thursday 7pm); back toTD Garden ice (Saturday 7pm) versus Carolina Hurricanes; with a back-to-back in Buffalo (Sunday 6pm) and a stop in New Jersey on Tuesday 7pm with the Devils.