Bruins Shouldn’t Extend GM Don Sweeney Beyond 2028

The Boston Bruins’ beleaguered playoff run has ended.

After losing in the first round to the Buffalo Sabres, the Bruins will need to readjust for the upcoming season. Tasked with this purpose is general manager (GM) Don Sweeney, who hasn’t been the most popular amongst the Bruins fanbase in the last two seasons.

Much to head coach Marco Sturm’s credit, he’s been able to turn this scrappy lineup into a competitor in his first season. But after this season’s closing press conference, we have to wonder if Sweeney has cause to stay beyond his two-year contract.

Let’s examine his record as the Bruins GM. In 864 games leading the Bruins front office, he has a record of 503 wins, 263 losses, and 101 overtime losses, with a .641 winning percentage.

The Bruins have made it to the playoffs nine times under Sweeney, and to the Stanley Cup Final once in 2019. His sample size is large enough to see trends in his work and to deduce whether or not he’s been a successful GM.

His trades for Fraser Minten and Pavel Zacha are two successes that helped the Bruins make it to the playoffs this year. However, his shortcomings were at the forefront of the series loss to the Sabres.

The roster he’s built wasn’t good enough and was outplayed on the ice. Bruins president Cam Neely acknowledged where Sweeney’s faults lay in roster construction post-trade deadline.

“Obviously, we got bounced in the first round. So yeah, we need more talent,” Neely said. “We need more speed. That’s something that we have to try to acquire one way, shape, or form. But you look at the elite teams in the league, we’re not there.

“And like I said two years ago, when you strip it down like we did, you’re not going to be there in one season. So it’s going to take some time. But what we accomplished this year, give the guys credit. But early on, it’s building blocks. So we’ve still got work to do to improve this club, still.”

from ‘7 takeaways from Bruins’ end-of-season press conference’, Boston Globe, 5/6/26

In the six-game series, the Bruins had a 46.72 Corsi-for percentage and an expected goals-for percentage of 47.10. They weren’t dominant at all.

After the series ended uneventfully for the Bruins, the team held a postseason press conference where CEO Charlie Jacobs felt they did a great job and put themselves on the right path. If you watched the series, you could see the flaws immediately.

A decade on, the Bruins shouldn’t be a team that was described like this by Neely.

“Disappointing the way we played at home in the playoffs, can’t skate around that,” Neely said. “Our home regular-season record was outstanding. For whatever reason, we couldn’t make it happen in the playoffs, so that’s on us.”

Sweeney has had the luxury of being treated with kid gloves by president Neely and CEO Jacobs for far too long. He’s fired four head coaches (Claude Julien, Bruce Cassidy, Jim Montgomery, and Joe Sacco) and hired five (Marco Sturm).

Somehow, he’s managed to find scapegoats every time to bail him out of his own issues with poor roster construction. To be fair, he’s made some excellent trades in recent years, but none have been enough to help the team win a Stanley Cup other than the 2018-19 season.

The Bruins’ Shortcomings At The NHL Draft

Under Sweeney, the Bruins made nine selections in the 2024 and 2025 Drafts. Of those 11, only one has gotten any playtime in the NHL: James Hagens. A seventh overall selection in 2025, he has quickly advanced in the ranks of the Bruins system, uncharacteristically unlike prospects who continue to languish in the American Hockey League (AHL).

He’s made 35 total draft picks in a decade as the Bruins GM. Notable talent who has graduated to the NHL or moved on: Jeremy Swayman, Daniel Vladar, Charlie McAvoy, Mason Lohrei, John Beecher, Urho Vaakanainen, Trent Frederic, Brandon Carlo, Jeremy Lauzon, and Jake DeBrusk.

Ten legitimate NHL players have developed out of the Bruins’ system, out of 33 draft picks. We’re not counting Hagens just yet as he’s still developing and could be sent down to the AHL in the future if needed.

The system the Bruins have now under Sweeney doesn’t focus on building for the future, and those who are NHL-ready and capable of proving themselves could work to find a new home at the end of the season. Another mistake in the organization has failed to develop them. In contrast, the team stacks the lineup with third and fourth-line players from other teams.