Bruins GM Don Sweeney has acted boldly when necessary. Can he do it again?

Don Sweeney is a measured and calculated thinker. The Boston Bruins general manager loiters at Warrior Ice Arena beyond traditional working hours to consider every angle.

Sweeney uses all of this contemplation to execute aggressively when the time is right. Consider the following:

• He was unsparing before the 2025 trade deadline when he booted Brad Marchand, Brandon Carlo, Charlie Coyle, Trent Frederic, Justin Brazeau and Max Jones.

• In 2023, Sweeney said goodbye to a 2023 first-round pick, first- and third-rounders in 2024 and second- and fourth-round selections in 2025 to acquire Dmitry Orlov, Garnet Hathaway and Tyler Bertuzzi and go all-in with his 65-win club.

• Sweeney fired Jim Montgomery (Nov. 19, 2024) and Bruce Cassidy (June 6, 2022), both previous Jack Adams Award winners.

• On June 26, 2015, Sweeney traded Milan Lucic (27 years old at the time) and Dougie Hamilton (22).

These were bold-faced transactions. Whether Sweeney can continue with this approach this offseason is unknown.

The Bruins are in their most perilous situation since Sweeney assumed the position on May 20, 2015. The last time they recorded fewer than 76 points, their sum this season, was in 2005-06. That season, even before they finished at 29-37-16, it cost then-GM Mike O’Connell his job.

Sweeney has earned more job security than O’Connell. He and team president Cam Neely have CEO Charlie Jacobs’ endorsement in seeing the turnaround through.

The issue is that Sweeney is short on capital to execute a rapid rebuild around David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman.

The Philadelphia Flyers, for example, will pick three times in the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft. They will go to the podium another four times in Round 2. The San Jose Sharks have the best odds of selecting No. 1 for the second straight season and also own the Dallas Stars’ 2025 first-round pick. The cluster of selections will allow both clubs to consider trades for assets that are closer to NHL-ready.

In comparison, the Bruins’ first-rounder and two second-rounders do not expand their options to their peers’ degree. There is no way the Bruins will move their first-rounder. Dealing one or both of their second-rounders is not the foundation of a big-time trade. When it comes to those picks, Sweeney’s most prudent move would be to keep them and draft the best players available. 

The first-rounder, in all likelihood, will not be ready to help the Bruins in 2025-26. The second-rounders will take even longer to develop into NHL players, if they ever do.

As for the franchise’s other futures, Sweeney added to the prospect pool at the deadline. But not to the point where it’s even close to full. 

Fraser Minten, part of the Carlo return, projects to be a reliable two-way NHL center. Whether he will be ready to fill that role full-time in 2025-26 remains to be seen. Will Zellers, whose rights arrived by the Coyle trade, turned 19 on April 4. The shoot-first forward will be a freshman at North Dakota this fall.

As for Fabian Lysell and Matt Poitras, the team’s top two draft-and-develop assets, it would be premature to write them into the 2025-26 lineup. Nobody else with AHL Providence currently projects to be a top-six/top-four player in the near term.

In terms of proven NHLers who could help other clubs, Elias Lindholm, Hampus Lindholm, Pavel Zacha, Nikita Zadorov and Morgan Geekie fit the profile, especially if salary retention is involved. On July 1, the Bruins will be left with Carlo’s $615,000 annual retention through 2027, leaving them with two open slots.

But trading the veterans will not necessarily improve the roster. Sweeney is entering the window for hockey trades, not transactions for futures.

It leaves the GM with his checkbook as his most effective tool. The Bruins have always spent to the cap under Sweeney’s stewardship. This will remain so.

A good chunk of Sweeney’s available cash is budgeted for Geekie. Re-signing Mason Lohrei is also on his agenda.

This will still leave the GM with $20 million or so to reinforce the roster. There is no reason to save. Free agency is the organization’s most favorable route.

“What, they’re going to be wasting Pasta’s years?” Zadorov asked. “I don’t have many years left. Both Lindys. C-Mac. Obviously, it’s win or nothing here.”