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If Boston Bruins general manager
Don Sweeney’s goal was to return the Boston Bruins to the glory days of his playing career in Boston, when the Black and Gold were a league-wide punchline for their constant mismanaging of valuable assets, he’s off to a good start.
In an absolutely baffling Friday, Sweeney dealt future franchise defenseman
Dougie Hamilton to the Calgary Flames for a first-round pick (15th overall) and two second-round selections (45th and 52nd overall), re-upped third-pair d-man
Adam McQuaid for four years, and traded
Milan Lucic to Los Angeles for cap relief (but for some reason ate almost half of Lucic’s salary).
To quote Chris Farley in Black Sheep, “What in the
hell was that all about?!”
(Blogger’s note: It’s kinda weird how we’ve always ignored the fact that Black Sheep is nearly 100% the same movie as Tommy Boy. Farley plays the family screw-up that needs to come up big and save his family. And David Spade is the wiz-kid assistant that’s assigned to make sure he doesn’t screw up. He always begins the movie hating Farley, but they’re best friends by the end of it, and it turns that Farley is an actual genius. The only difference is that Rob Lowe is replaced by Gary Busey in Black Sheep. OK.)
Obviously, it begins with the franchise’s biggest move, the Hamilton trade.
Three years into a career that went from Canadian juniors straight to the National Hockey League, the 22-year-old Hamilton was sent packing out of Boston. Hamilton entered this summer as a restricted free agent, and as negotiations apparently went nowhere real fast, a player on track to become one of the game’s best defenders a lot quicker than most seem to realize, was gone for a less-than-acceptable return. The Bruins said that they made ‘generous offers’ to Hamilton, but it was clear to them that they didn’t think Hamilton was comfortable with a long-term future in Boston. Again, so they say.
In the blink of an eye, as quick as it began, Hamilton was, again, gone.
And a day later, I still can’t make the slightest bit of sense when it comes to this decision.
The rumor was that Hamilton wanted to be paid top dollar. Between $6.5 to 7 million per year, maybe. But rather than sit down and find the middle ground for a fix -- be it in the short of long term scope of things -- Sweeney traded Hamilton as if to send a message to future free agents that the Bruins will not held hostage in contract negotiations. Just like they did with Phil Kessel in 2009. And just like they did when it came to begin Seguin’s higher-priced (but really a bargain now) $5.5 million per year contract. And thus this actually infuriating cycle continues. (Seriously, at a certain point, you’re going to have to bite the bullet and pay a player that doesn’t do
everything you ask or hasn’t fully grown into who he is as an NHL player, and it’s gonna be worth it, I swear.) And the Black and Gold will regret this.
They’ll regret this trade more than they’ve come to regret the Seguin trade. It won’t even be close, too.
I think that that’s one of the most frustrating parts of this whole thing, too. It’s not as if the Seguin deal was a decade ago. Sweeney was part of the braintrust that went forward with that trade, and it was Sweeney that barely a month ago came out and essentially said that the club can’t afford to make mistakes like that again. So, if Hamilton’s not a fit for your club moving forward, I would honestly disagree, you’d have to acquire more than the 15th overall pick (even in a deep draft) and two second-round picks to sell me on this. It’s just an awful return for a player that’s on track to be elite.
It’s a straight-up indefensible trade from the Black and Gold, really.
There’s talk that Hamilton simply didn’t want to be with the Bruins anymore. OK. If that’s true, let an offer sheet come in. Because, for one, you know it would, and two, it’d be for quite a bit of money, thus giving you a greater return. Let somebody come in with big money and take the picks. Find a better return. Do something. Literally anything else. This whole thing just felt as if the Bruins took the first offer thrown their way when they simply didn’t have to. They were in control of Hamilton’s rights until an offer sheet came their way. Even Calgary brass seemed surprised they didn’t have to throw in a player from their NHL roster! (You know it’s a bad deal when Calgary brass are surprised at what they didn’t have to give up.) What?! How does a general manager get duped this badly for a cornerstone-type piece? (A piece he called a ‘foundational-type player’ just a week before, mind you.)
It just doesn’t add up. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth. And it actually embarrasses you.
When Kessel was moved, the B’s did their best to maximize the return (and they did). And when the Seguin trade happened, I could understand it. There were many issues the Bruins had legitimate concerns about when it came to his off-ice life. With Hamilton, there’s literally no way I can buy in with the club’s decision or the propaganda you’re going to see put down over the coming weeks.
This was the guy. This was the heir-apparent to Zdeno Chara. And they sold low on him. Mindblowing.
Even more mindblowing? The four-year extension for McQuaid. Why was this a priority? Like at all?
By now, the Bruins know what McQuaid is; he’s a third-pairing defenseman, or a fringe No. 4 defender. He’s also insanely injury prone (including postseason play, he’s missed 99 games since the start of the lockout-delayed 2012-13 season) and flunked a top-four role on multiple occasions in 2014-15. And he got a raise! No, seriously, the Bruins gave McQuaid a 75% raise from his $1.567 million cap-hit on up to $2.75 million per year. Again, why was this a priority re-signing by the Black and Gold? I’ll never know.
The truth of McQuaid’s situation is that he was a perfect candidate for the Bruins’ continued departure from the glory of the 2011 Stanley Cup run (like they’ve already done up front with Gregory Campbell and Danny Paille). McQuaid was great for the Bruins during their ‘11 run, yes, but the reality is that you can’t rely on him to suit up for 82 games a year. But the B’s have an in-house, cheaper McQuaid on their books in Kevan Miller ($800,000). And with the youth movement expected to continue with Joe Morrow and Zach Trotman, hanging onto McQuaid at that price seems unnecessary.
No, actually, it doesn’t seem unnecessary. It
is unnecessary.
The counterargument to that is that McQuaid is a character guy that’s good for the room. Sure, maybe. But this room also put in one of the most disheartening late-season efforts I’ve ever seen by a team in the playoff hunt, so I mean how valuable is that presence? And if it’s not his character, it’s the grit and toughness he brings to the lineup on a nightly basis. Again, sure. You don’t need to pay almost $3 million for that though, and that’s part of what put the Bruins in this cap mess from the start.
They’re different players, of course, but it’s absolutely unbelievable to think that McQuaid was given a significant raise this summer and outlasted both
Johnny Boychuk and Hamilton in a B’s sweater. That’s actually incredible, and not in a good way for this front office. I .. just.. my head hurts.
But if there was one move you could get behind in an otherwise disastrous night, it was the trade that sent
Milan Lucic to the Kings in exchange for the 13th overall pick, goaltender
Martin Jones, and AHL prospect
Colin Miller. This was not a bad deal… for a bit. Listen, Lucic was not going to re-sign with the Bruins. The overwhelming feeling from his camp is that he’ll seek a contract with an annual payday of close to $7.5 million per year, and the Bruins simply won’t do that. So moving him makes sense. Acquiring the 13th pick was a great get, too. Acquiring Jones, who has 16 wins and a .925 save percentage in 34 games at the NHL level, addresses the B’s need for a backup, too. And the 22-year-old Miller, who scored 21 goals and 62 points in 89 games for the Manchester Monarchs between the regular season and Calder Cup Playoffs, comes to the Hub with a powerful shot and speedier skating game. (He might be an underrated get for the B’s in that deal, to be honest.)
Here’s something to wonder though-- If the Lucic trade was made for cap purposes (which we’re led to believe was the case), and if Lucic had the value we’re led to believe he had throughout the lead, why did the Bruins have to eat $2.75 million of his $6 million cap-hit for next season? I mean, between that and the McQuaid extension, the Bruins really only saved half a million dollars. Is that going to make a world of difference in a mediocre-at-best free agent market? Obviously not. And you could very well make the case that a motivated, in a contract year Lucic at $6 million could have been actually worth it.
The night ended with the Bruins ultimately failing to make a trade to move into the Top-10, and sticking with picks No. 13, 14, and 15. They grabbed Jakub Zboril at 13, Jake DeBrusk at 14, and then Zachary Senyshyn at 15. Zboril, a Czech defenseman, was an easy pick at 13. DeBrusk was a slight reach at 14 (but the Bruins absolutely loved him), and Senyshyn was an off the board pick at 15. Most projected Senyshyn to go in the middle of the second round -- a round in which the Bruins had three picks -- but later reports seem to indicate that Senyshyn was a sleeper pick for a lot of teams late in the first round.
You could also spin this into the Bruins passing on both
Kyle Connor and
Matt Barzal three times in a row. Or two times in a row at the very least. Barzal and Connor went at 16 and 17. The New York Islanders actually traded up at No. 16 to draft Barzal, too. (The frustration continued.)
It seemed like you were waiting for ‘the other shoe’ to drop in regards to the B’s all Saturday, too. But it never came. They didn’t make any other trades. They’re not even in on other trades as of this moment, it sounds. And you can’t help but wonder just what is going on in that front office on Causeway Street?
You can’t call this the start of a ‘rebuild’ because the Bruins traded what many would deem the brightest piece of their future. You also can’t call it a rebuild ‘cause the Bruins’ older vets -- Zdeno Chara, Chris Kelly, and Dennis Seidenberg just to name a few -- are still donning the Spoked-B. Is this a retooling? It could be, but where are the impact pieces that get you back on track? Jones is not that piece. It’s entirely too early to call Colin Miller that player, as well. The trio of picks the Bruins made are actual years away from contributing at the big league level for the Bruins, too. They’re stuck in neutral.
Three years ago, the Bruins had both a core (Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Lucic, Chara, and goaltender Tuukka Rask) and a future (Seguin, Hamilton, and I’d keep Rask on that list). In a matter of a couple of years, though, the Bruins gave their future away for quick fixes that have yet to pan out, and have become a faceless entity in an improving Eastern Conference in the process. Losing Kessel hurt the Bruins for a bit. And trading Seguin is proving to be tougher to swallow than most anticipated. But it’s the loss of Hamilton that will prove to be a true nightmare for the Bruins. His departure has effectively set this franchise -- which was already a bit farther away from a Cup than they expected to be at this time last year -- back actual years from their former status as an East powerhouse. Now, it’s on the remnants of an aforementioned (and aging) core that’ll be asked to do even more for a less skilled squad, while the future is made up entirely of complementary pieces, hopefuls, and maybes.
Somewhere along the way, this organization veered so far off track of the course they were on for serious long term success in a league known for its parity, and truly lost their map.
And I’m not sure how long it’ll take for them to get back on track.
At least Sweeney should feel right at home.
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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