DON SWEENEY IS ON FIRE!
Holy shit! What a morning. Thank you sir may I have another.
Just when you thought the Sweens was all done swindling he goes and bulks up the top 6 with Tyler Bertuzzi. We saw Hall and Foligino go down in back to back games. Who knows if that forced the Bruins hand to assure themselves a stacked forward group for the cup run or if they had it planned. Regardless you’re looking at a ridiculously stacked line up top to bottom. Hall will hit the LTIR with a lower body injury first. I say first, because I wouldn’t be surprised to see some roster manipulation in a few weeks to gear up for the play offs. If you want to play that game take a look at projected lines
Marchand - Bergeron - DeBrusk
Zacha - Krejci - Pastrnak
Hall - Coyle - Bertuzzi
Foligino - Frederick - Hathaway
Sheesh.
And then BAM! Right in the kisser. This one has been coming for a long time. We had reports of how close the two sides were getting all season. Maybe they were waiting until all the deadline moves were done to have a strong idea of what the cap situation would look like? Who knows. All I know is 11.25 AAV for the top goal scorer in the NHL aint a bad deal.
Pasta locked in for 8 years, McAvoy and Lindholm locked in as a top pairing, Marchand still at the top of his game, Bergy expected back next year, a Vezna winner in Ulmarck, young talent in Zacha, DeBrusk, , and now a handful of deadline pick ups to make contract decisions on in the off season. You are looking a how to in rebuilding a championship team on the fly.
Looking at Sweeney’s moves over the past year or so
Sign Linus Ulmark. Four years $5 million. AAV. Shoe in for the Vezna
Hampus Lindholm - Trade deadline acquisition. The Bruins gave up Urho Vaakanainen, John Moore, 2022 first-round pick, second-rounders in 2023 and 2024. Lindholm signs 8 year deal with a $6.5 million cap hit. He’s your top pairing Left Defenseman with a .5 point a game.
Hire Jim Montgomery - Bruce Cassidy had the 4th most wins in the NHL as his time as Bruins coach. He was one Poopy Tuukka diaper away from a Stanley Cup in 2019. But, his message had ran dry. He had lost the room. Sweeney has clearly hit a home run with his replacement.
Trade for Pavel Zacha - The Bruins gave up Eric Haula. That’s it. Then signed Zacha for $4.5 AAV. All he’s done is surplant former MVP Taylor Hall on the 2nd line with a +19 and 41 pts in 60 games.
Resign Bergeron and Krejci - I don’t know how much of this was Sweeney, but he still gets credit. Top two lines engaged.
Trade for Orlov and Hathaway - Another 1st round pick out the door was tough to swallow but fuck it. LA Rams this shit. They also were able to dump Craig Smith’s $3 million cap hit. Win win. Orlov has made an immediate impact and bolsters the top 2 D pairings. Hathaway’s physicality will undoubtably show up come playoff time.
Trade for Bertuzzi- It’s full Rams mode now. the 2024 1st round pick for secure a top 6 LW stays on the ice with Hall and Foligino going down. You can easily make the argument Bertuzzi is an upgrade over Hall. I don’t we’ve seen a goal from #71 in a month.
Sign David Pastrnak - Bringing an Elite NHLer back on a below market deal seems to be Sweeney’s specialty. Marchand, Bergeron, Krejci, McAvoy, now Pasta. All taking a little less, sometimes a lot less for the betterment of the spoked B. You love to see it. 8 years $90 million. Signed in a contract year where in a world where Connor McDavid didn’t exist, the MVP- Con Smyth would already be in Boston. Forty two goals for Pasta trail McDavid by 10. That’s nuts. But, it’s still a 60 goal pace. He would be only the 2nd Bruin to hit the mark. Phil Esposito did it four times.
If you take a look at the official transaction list from the Bruins in the past year you really won’t find a move that has not worked. A lot of the success of course is due to the players. It’s one of the strongest locker rooms in sports thanks to the core that has held it down since pre Obama.
Also, when you have the green light to dump every 1st round pick you own and mortgage a good chunk of the future it helps. Being the top bidder generally gets you what you want. Though, due to the cap restraints it’s obvious Sweeney and his team had to work hard to get creative and find partners to deal with. But, for a guy who was almost as good as dead this time last year Sweeney has earned himself a ton of credit. Now, if they don’t win the cup…