On Tuesday, Don Sweeney celebrated 10 years as GM of the Boston Bruins. And it was no coincidence that on that day, the Bruins announced a contract extension for Sweeney that will last through the 2027-28 season.
Sweeney would’ve been entering a lame-duck campaign in 2025-26 – but while he’s far from a perfect GM, he has done enough to merit his new extension.
Only twice in his tenure as GM did Sweeney preside over a Bruins team that missed the playoffs – his first year running the team, and this current season. In between, Boston won seven playoff series, including a run to the Stanley Cup final in 2018-19, where the Bruins came within one win of a championship.
Boston also won its division twice under Sweeney and finished second another three times. In 2022-23, they won the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s best regular-season team with a record-breaking 135 points and 65 wins. By many metrics, Sweeney has delivered solid results, and despite stumbling this season, it could prove to be only a blip on the radar for Boston.
Some may say Boston not winning the Cup makes Sweeney’s tenure an overall failure, but we’d beg to differ. Bruins fans have been treated to a lot of terrific hockey under his guidance, and Sweeney has shown the ability to make tough decisions and balance the short-term needs of his team with the long-term picture.
This past season was Sweeney’s worst as GM, as the Bruins plummeted to eighth place in the Atlantic Division. But despite the bottom falling out for Boston, Sweeney wasn’t foolish enough to make a push for the mushy-middle of the Eastern Conference standings. Instead, he dumped a slew of veterans overboard via trades, including sending captain Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers, defenseman Brandon Carlo to the Toronto Maple Leafs and center Charlie Coyle to the Colorado Avalanche.
It would’ve been easy for Sweeney to hold onto those veterans, but he did the hard thing and sent them packing. Dealing Marchand and Carlo to Atlantic rivals also spoke to Sweeney’s fearlessness as an executive.
The assets Sweeney picked up from those trades – prospect center Fraser Minten as part of the Carlo deal, a first-rounder from Florida as part of the Marchand deal and Casey Mittelstadt as part of the Coyle deal – all will help the Bruins in the long haul.
Another element of Sweeney’s many moves this season is the salary cap space he’s carved out that will help him retool on the fly. The Bruins have about $28.8 million in cap space this off-season with 11 of 23 roster spots filled to add some fresh faces after deciding what to do with their five RFAs and three UFAs. You could argue his cuts could’ve been deeper, but Sweeney still has veterans who likely have no stomach for a full-on rebuild. So you can expect Sweeney to be one of the more active GMs in trades and free agency this summer.
Sweeney also has to hire a coach this off-season, as Joe Sacco finished the season with the interim tag. But now that he has a contract extension of his own, Sweeney can move ahead with the confidence of Bruins ownership and set the stage for a bounce-back year.
The Atlantic will be even more competitive in 2025-26, so there’s no assurance Boston will get back into the playoff picture. But the Bruins will push the competitive envelope in 2025-26 and beyond, and having Sweeney guiding things almost assuredly will lead to better days.
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