Sweeney Frustrated With Grzelcyk, Bruins Trade Rumors

Since the Boston Bruins were eliminated from the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Florida Panthers back on April 30, Bruins defenseman Matt Gryzelcyk has been rumored to be on his way out via trade.

With the Boston Bruins entering the 2023 offseason right up against the NHL salary cap, it was no secret that the Bruins would have to suffer some salary cap casualties. That happened last Monday when the Bruins made a straight-up salary cap dump. The Bruins traded winger Taylor Hall and his $6 million salary cap hit, as well as the rights to the unrestricted free agent-to-be Nick Foligno in exchange for two defense prospects in Ian Mitchell and Alec Regula.

Numerous sources have confirmed to Boston Hockey Now that Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney has also had trade conversations about goalies Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman, defensemen Matt Grzelcyk, Brandon Carlo, and Derek Forbort, and forwards Jake DeBrusk, and Trent Frederic. That doesn’t mean that the Bruins are necessarily shopping all of those players but rather that teams have inquired about them.

On Saturday, Sweeney was asked point blank about the Grzelcyk – who carries a $4.2 million salary cap hit – trade rumors and didn’t hold back what is understandable frustration about the cap situation he and the Bruins are in.

“I didn’t start any rumors. So, you want to ask me where they came from?” Sweeney replied, seemingly exasperated. “You want to look in the mirror? Maybe you guys started them, you know, is it hypothetical that they’re having conversations about players, our lineup? No. It’s fact, and there’s no question that I’m never going to discuss whether or not a team has called me. That’s just the job. It doesn’t matter who it is. That’s disrespectful to a player, from my point of view, being a former player.

So, in that case, we know that Matt can play with Charlie McAvoy in a top-player role and play well. We split around the lineup. How we were composing our lineup, and how we made some decisions at the moment. Yeah, he was in and out a lot. Orlov was a really good player and I wish him luck in Carolina, but Matt is a hockey player, you know, and we feel, as I referenced earlier, he plays a big part of a lot of success in the regular season and he will be a lot of success going forward and is very comfortable within our lineup.”