Why the Don Sweeney extension could set the Bruins back more than fans think | Jones & Keefe

Why the Don Sweeney extension could set the Bruins back more than fans think | Jones & Keefe

That was Cam Neely what, a month or so ago? Yeah. Defending the drafting track record of Don Sweeney, which is amazing. It is amazing. I’ve actually tried to take that stance before. I tried. I mean, you’re more I think forgiving about his drafting in in general than maybe a lot of people, but I don’t think you can forgive him at all for 2015. I mean, that trying to do that is insane. It is insane. And also the draft, he was asked about the draft like overall and Cam Neely specifically went back to 2015. So he knows how bad that was and he knows how much, you know, crap Sweeney has gotten for it. And rightfully so. Sweeny’s been good with trades. Sweeny’s been more 50/50, I would say, in free agency. And he’s been last year really looms large in dragging that down. But he had been pretty good with like the NHL level moves. Yeah. But the drafts have been overall atrocious. And it’s amazing. He makes it sound like in 2015 Cam uh Don Sweeney was out of hockey and he just showed up that day of the draft. No, he was the assistant GM or whatever his title was, right? Like he was with the Bruins. He’s like, he better have never even thought about being the GM. He’s like, he didn’t? Wasn’t that like his path? Was that his trajectory? That should have been its own red flag if that were the case. And then he’s like, guys, that’s kind of on us. We should have regrouped or the picks. It’s like you didn’t talk in between the picks. It’s crazy. What is that? So, and they drafted three guys. Only De Brusk is like an NHL player and then the next three picks were all allstars in the league. Yeah. And I think their whole Right. Well, so they’re still to be the millionth person to say it. They are still paying for that draft. You can’t just be like, “Oh, that was just one bad draft.” That that was a draft where you borderline couldn’t miss and they missed over and over and over and over again. I brought up how it’s like, you know, Nikquil Harry, but you correctly pointed out it’s like drafting three Nikquil Harrises and then having AJ Brown and DK and like the best guy there is Dusk who’s fine. He’s an NHL player. I mean, the other two guys weren’t even NHL players. Zabor, but that was another one of Sweeny’s defense. He was like a lot of guys we drafted are like N played in the NHL. Like what? That’s the baseline. Awesome work. They all kind of stink with the I mean a couple exceptions. Obviously, Charlie Makavoy is a really good pick. That was in 2016. Number 14 overall. They got Swayman and I know right now stock down on Swayman, but that’s a good pick. That’s a good pick. Good pick. Fourth round pick. I mean, just about everybody else like I’ll give you Trent Frederick and then he traded him away. Uh, and I don’t know, maybe minus Lai will turn into something. We’ll see. We’ve been hearing getting sold a bill of goods on Fabian Lysel. I don’t know. It’s a bad d Now when I would defend him and Sweeney didn’t even do or Neie didn’t even do this. They’ve traded a lot of first round picks at the deadline. Well, he kind of did. Remember with Dupont, he went back and forth and he’s like, “Well, where are we drafting?” You know, he’s like, “We’re not many top 10 picks.” That’s you got to hit on the top 10. So, the other ones, I guess, are all dart pros. So, I guess he does he’s not really worried about any of their picks until this year. This year, they’re in the top 10. So, you know, I just find the whole thing to be, you know, such a turnoff. And it’s it’s incredible. 10 years ago, that draft was 10 years ago. Yeah. And like he’s still getting flak forward. It’s still thrown in his face and he’s still the GM. You could bungle that draft so badly. It’s not like they’ve won a cup in the meantime. They’ve not won a cup, but they have. They went to a cup final. They went to a cup final. They won a lot of games. Most regular season games in NHL history and gagged spectacularly. I mean, they’ve had some massive, massive chokes. They’ve been through various coaches as you pointed out and the guy burned it to the ground in his first draft and he’s still the GM a decade later and they’re rewarding him for missing the playoffs. Yeah. I mean that that’s the optics of it. You missed the playoffs. Congrats. Here’s a two-year extension which is just wild. 6177797937. We’ll get into Bill and his reported engagement. Yeah, congrats. Which, as the text line is pointing out, may or may not be news to him based on the way that story was written in the New York Times. That’s true. Uh there’s more items in there. We’ll get into that coming up in just a moment. But Bob in London Derry wants to discuss Don Sweeny’s extension. Go ahead, Bob. Hey, I I agree with your uh everything you’re saying. It’s very obvious. Um Sweeney was supposed to go a long time ago. Instead, he gets rewarded. But that’s just how the world of sports in the regular world works. Politics, it doesn’t matter. You fail, you get rewarded. Imagine Brad Marshan. He must be sitting back laughing going, “Thank God I’m out of that place.” Because I can tell you, come this season, like I’ve been telling you, do not hold your breath on the Bruins. One, they need a coach. They have no goalender and nobody that can score. And the guys coming back on the team that are arguably okay are going to be a year older, a year slower, and a year stupider. So, I don’t know what results you’re expecting, but I sure feel bad for the diehard Boston Bruin fans. It’s It’s sad to watch this whole thing fall apart. Yeah. I’ll tell I’ll tell you what. I love the passion, Bob, but I don’t agree with all of it. No. Well, what do you disagree with? They don’t have a guy who could score. Poster had 60 goals a couple years ago. He’s a pretty good scorer. They have a good goal scorer. The goal I wouldn’t say don’t have a goalie. They definitely have a goalie who needs to turn it around. Mhm. Two years ago, he was good. He only played half the games. They asked him to play more games this year. He wasn’t ready for camp. So, like, will Swayman be better? Like, we’ll see. I don’t know. I’m not as worried about the coach thing. Should I really be really worried about the coach thing? They don’t have a coach yet. Um, well, you do just wonder if guys want to take the job, right? I mean, so I I guess I’d be worried on it on that level where it’s like is Sweeney and and really it goes higher than Sweeney, Neely, the Jacobses, the way they’ve handled some of these coaches, Montgomery and Cassidy, but if it goes south, they’re just going to fire him anyway, right? But I but is there a hesitation to take the job? Especially when you look at all the talent they traded away. I mean, may that that would be my level of concern. I’ll tell you what Sweeney should do. If you want to win back the fan base a little bit, quit. Well, that if he traded Swayman, it would be a popular move. Might not be a might not be the right move. Might not be a good move. I I think the smart thing to do, wait it out, deal with the flack in the meantime, and hope that he has a better year next year because he’s outside of this past season, which was a miserable season, a lost season, arguably one of the worst seasons by a Bruins goender in the last 25 years. Um, you ride it out and you bank on him bouncing back next year. But if you want like a popular PR move that would win you back with the fan base a little bit. If they traded Swayman, I think fans would be very much on board. I think you could still sell a coach on the Bruins. I mean, you could be like just down the line you have Pos Makavoy Swayman. One of the reasons why the team was so bad last year. You can explain is that Swayman missed camp and was the whole contract thing that’s settled. That’s out of the way. This is how you have to sell it. Makavoy missed a ton of games down the stretch. one of the reasons why they kind of tanked and went in the in the toilet. But you have those three guys that are all young. They’re all under contract. So, you sort of center it around them. Like, I I don’t know. I I think that is a solid selling point. And I can’t imagine there’s super job security with any of the gigs that are open, right? They’re all open for a reason. They all just fired their coach a second ago. NHL uh coaching doesn’t last very long. No, but the Rangers and Flyers weren’t exactly good teams last year, right? Right. I mean, the Flyers were worse than you. I think the Flyers had 76 points. So, same as the Bruins. I’m sorry. There wasn’t a lot of teams worse than the Bruins. They were neck andneck. The Rangers were not a very good team last year. I mean, they were better than the Bruins, but they missed the playoffs. Yeah. Yeah. Those guys both, they snapped up coaches like that. Mike Sullivan, who the Bruins, we think were in on, took the Rangers gig. Rick Tocket, who we think the Bruins were in on, took the Flyers gig. So, those to me look like two guys who either turned you down or preferred another job to the Bruins. So I I would say yeah, I have some concerns about that. Yeah, but they’re not talentless. I mean, yeah, I still think if you believe in Swayman, looking at it with Postronok, Makavoy, and Swayman, you could talk yourself into a decent core there. I mean, the Rangers haven’t had long uh coaching tenures. You know, you go back the last several years, it’s kind of similar to the Bruins. You know, they had Quinn for three years, Galant for two, Lavlet for two. So, I mean, it’s not like, oh, we give you a three-year deal, you’re going to see all three of these. Nope, not happening. Okay, so there’s that news today. 6177797937. Uh we also have the news that Bill Bich, and this is again according to the New York Times. Uh Bill Bich and Jordan Hudson are reportedly engaged. She is my muse, my flame. Pretty good. Your wife update that acknowledgements in the book. Maybe your wife. Yeah, my fiance. Do you think he says fiance? You think he’s a big fiance? Well, my I bet in that face you kind of have to be, oh, here’s my fiance. Well, because if she’s ever an earshot and you don’t call her the fiance, you can’t be like, that’s my girlfriend. Oh, that’s bad news. That’s like get ready for a all out all out war. I did it as well. Yeah, that’s not great. You’re like, that’s my girlfriend. And then it’s like, you can’t be me and my girlfriend. She’s like, my huh, I swallowed a bug. I got to go. Yeah. So, I think if she’s with an earshot, you you’re contractually obligated. Or she’s almost like Daenerys Targaryen where he has like 20 titles. She’s like COO of Bellich Industries, my creative muse, my uh my Yeah, you got to do the whole thing with her. The laundry breaker of chains, the unburnt, Daenerys Thornburn of the House Targaryen. That’s her making her way to all these appearances. Nice. I’m excited. There’s definitely no distractions for the North Carolina football team. Barely ready to go. You saw they sold out their whole a lotment of season tickets, though, right? You should. So, there you go. You I mean, I guess you can make the argument it’s going very well for Bill at North Carolina in some ways. I I personally wouldn’t make that argument, but I guess there’s uh some material for you to do

The #bruins and GM Don Sweeney have agreed to a two-year contract extension. It’s not a surprise — but it is disappointing, and it could set the Bruins back more than fans expect. Adam Jones and Rich Keefe explain.

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