Boston Bruins

Bruins Extend Sweeney and Backtrack On Accountability

Published

4 weeks ago

May 20, 2025

AP Photo/Charles Krupa

The Boston Bruins signed general manager Don Sweeney to a two-year contract extension on Tuesday, and that should not come as a surprise.

Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs and president Cam Neely made it abundantly clear, both in a letter released to fans shortly following the conclusion of the regular season and at the team’s end-of-year press conference last month, that their faith in Sweeney was unwavering, and it’s easy to see why.

Sweeney has been at the helm of the team’s front office for a decade, making him the fourth-longest tenured general manager in the NHL. The Bruins have been one of the most successful and consistent teams in the league under Sweeney, appearing in the playoffs eight times and compiling a regular-season record of 458-233-91.

However, it was also in that letter and during that very press conference that Jacobs, Neely, and even Sweeney himself called for increased accountability across the organization.

Where is that accountability now?

The Bruins are coming off a nightmarish season in which they finished with the fifth-worst record in the league and dead last in the Eastern Conference.

Over the course of the year, Sweeney fired head coach Jim Montgomery, who had led the Bruins to the best record in league history just two years prior, and tore down the roster by trading away the franchise pillar Brad Marchand, stallwarts Brandon Carlo and Charlie Coyle, and role players Trent Frederic and Justin Brazeau.

Those moves were not easy to make. They were certainly unpopular at the time, but they were also the right ones.

“Don has navigated a disappointing period for our club with conviction, purpose, and a clear vision toward the future of the Boston Bruins,” Neely said via a statement. “He made difficult decisions around the trade deadline with the confidence they will pay dividends as we craft a path back to contention.”

However, by signing Sweeney to an extension now rather than in a year, it feels like the Bruins are ignoring the decisions he made that put them in that situation in the first place –such as multiple ill-advised free agent signings or allowing Montgomery to begin last season as a lame duck– and absolving him of any fault.

This summer and upcoming season should’ve been about Sweeney earning a new contract by nailing the seventh overall pick in the draft, signing impact players in free agency and making savvy trades to return the Bruins to contention. Instead, Boston gave him the extension before he made a single move of consequence this offseason.

The timing of the extension is curious, considering that the Bruins are in the middle of a search for what will be the fourth head coach they’ve had under Sweeney and third in the last five years.

Sweeney pushed back strongly at the year-end press conference against the notion that potential candidates would be wary of the fact that his previous head coaches didn’t have a particularly long leash, or that his uncertain contract situation may affect the search.

“Every coach that comes through the door will be looking forward to working for the Boston Bruins,” said Sweeney. “We have a 100-year history. We have an incredible amount of success that’s going to drive the bus. Don Sweeney interviewing the person is not driving the bus.”

Now that they’ve reportedly interviewed as many as 15 candidates and don’t appear any closer to hiring someone after more than a month of searching, those words may be ones that the Bruins and Sweeney are regretting.

And so too will be this extension if this season turns out like the last.

The Bruins could’ve very well waited to see how the moves Sweeney makes pan out before deciding whether or not to bring him back.

But instead, they decided not to, and it’s a decision they’ll be held accountable for one way or another.