Kalman: Sweeney Succeeds In Setting Up Bruins For This Season and Future
BOSTON (CBS) -- Apparently one of the ways Bruins rookie general manager Don Sweeney is going to get his team to play with more energy and cause more anxiety in the opposition is by fulfilling his role in the front office with the same verve and vigor.
Sweeney's aggressive ways from last week's NHL Draft carried over into the first day of free agency Wednesday, when the Bruins signed highly coveted left wing Matt Beleskey and traded for emerging right wing Jimmy Hayes.
In addition to his tenacity, Sweeney proved a man of his word Wednesday. He said he wanted to find wingers that could score. So he imported two players who combined for 41 goals last season. That should boost the Bruins' dreadful offense, which ranked 22nd in the NHL last season.
Sweeney also managed to perform the challenging tap dance of improving the Bruins in the present without mortgaging the future. Although Beleskey was one of the top free agent forwards on the open market, he agreed to a cap charge of just $3.8 million over just five years, which was a deal less than what many were projecting when Beleskey's breakout 22-goal season ended.
Hayes, meanwhile, is a restricted free agent who should get less than the $3.425 the departed Reilly Smith (traded to Florida with Marc Savard's contract for Hayes), was going to cost the Bruins. Restricted free agent Brett Connolly will probably wind up eating up a healthy portion of the Bruins' cap space as well, but as it stands now the Bruins have almost $9 million to work with and just the two restricted free agents to worry about now that Ryan Spooner is back in the mix on a two-year contract worth a cap charge of $950,000.
Dougie Hamilton's refusal to negotiate with the Bruins pushed the team in this direction, but the "cap jail" former general manager Peter Chiarelli locked the Bruins in has now been sawed open. The Bruins are going to miss Hamilton, especially if he continues to develop into a top-two defenseman. But Sweeney and his staff have tried to make the most of a bad situation, and their plan now entails more than just waiting for all those draft picks to mature into NHL players or giving their best players whatever they want out of the vault. Although the Bruins don't have the same amount of talent as they had last season, they have enough talent to compete. Barring a major drop-off from Beleskey and Hayes (19 goals last season), the two newcomers should combine with Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Brad Marchand and Loui Eriksson to give the Bruins enough offense to succeed. Hamilton left a gaping hole in the defense corps, but there are still some capable veterans and a couple of improving prospects around. Tuukka Rask is always going to be Tuukka Rask in net.
Sweeney said the Bruins might not be done with their summer restructuring. That might mean adding another player or two, or shedding another high salary. The Bruins now have the luxury, though, of being able to pick their spots for maneuvers.
"I think now we're taking a position where any trade that we look to make or any player movement we look to make is one that we absolutely want to and not have to," Sweeney said. "And we have some flexibility now to look at things completely that way going forward."
Going forward could mean later this summer or during the season leading up the trade deadline. Or it could mean the time beyond the 2015-16 season. This time next year, the Bruins will have Brad Marchand in the same position they had Lucic in this summer, with Marchand heading into the final year of his contract. Marchand will be looking for a major raise over his $4.5 million cap hit on his next extension, which he'll be eligible to sign July 1, 2016. Defensemen Torey Krug and Zach Trotman will be due new deals as restricted free agents. David Pastrnak will be entering the last year of his entry-level contract.
As much as Beleskey's contract should benefit the Bruins this season in terms of goal scoring, it's also a positive for them in terms of cost certainty. They were able to get Beleskey for less than market value partly because they were willing to give him a no-movement clause for the first two seasons. Everyone was pining for the Bruins to get a deal done with defenseman Mike Green, but the $6 million he got from Detroit (albeit over just three years) would've put the Bruins back in salary-cap chains. So with Beleskey in a cap-friendly contract, Hayes under team control for several more years, and Loui Eriksson and Chris Kelly scheduled to come off the books for a cool $7.5 million, the opportunities for the Bruins to begin adding elite talent again will expand.
By virtue of their trades, the Bruins have the five players they drafted in the first two rounds this year added to their prospects pool. They also now have two first-round picks next year. These assets could pay off between now and the trade deadline. And if the Bruins don't do anything to chew up too much of the cap space that'll be available next summer (and the cap maybe increases a tad), the Bruins will have a chance to be players in a much richer unrestricted free agent market that right now is scheduled to include Steven Stamkos, Brent Seabrook and Jakub Voracek among a laundry list of stars.
Sweeney's plan, though, isn't about targeting specific stars in 2016 and getting them at all costs. The plan is about having the choice to pursue those stars or make trades or rely on reinforcements from the farm system, and do it on his own terms. He's not going to put any players' desires for riches and security above what's best for the sustainability of the organization. And he's not going to suffer anyone that doesn't want to wear the black and gold.
"That, to me, now, is what the entire focus is about. It's about wanting to be a Boston Bruin, and hitting your high side to win," Sweeney said. "And every one of our development guys are going to hear about it, and all the way forward going forward with all the discussions we have, it's about being excited to play for us.
Sweeney's main job is to assemble the right amount of talent to win. His approach to the job, though, could also inspire that talent to want to do its best for him.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
