Bruins Name Don Sweeney As The New General Manager

(Source) — As many expected, the Bruins hired Don Sweeney as their new general manager today. A native of St. Stephen, New Brunswick, the 48-year-old Sweeney is the fourth former Bruins player to ascend to the role of GM, joining Hap Emms, Milt Schmidt and Mike O’Connell in that group. “Don Sweeney stood out amongst an incredibly talented group of candidates that we considered for this hire,” Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs said in a release. “He carries a unique and impressive mix of playing experience, front office experience and business acumen. Don has complete understanding of what it means to be a Bruin and we have full confidence in him to steward the organization back to being Stanley Cup contenders year in and year out.”

As with all Bruins blogs, this is a place holder until RA can get to his full breakdown. But, not sure this comes as much of a surprise to anybody. The feeling has been that it was Sweeney’s job to lose since day one and it appears he didn’t lose it. One thing that did come as a bit of a surprise was Sweeney’s response to being asked about Claude. Felt like if Sweeney was promoted then Julien would stay, but the answer Sweeney gave was, “Claude Julien is the coach today, for sure.” Through my eyes the that writing on the wall says, “Pack your shit.”

If I had to guess for the rest, don’t expect much change. Sweeney’s been a Bruin for 100 years (save for the last of his career with the Stars). He preached identity and character and that obviously means the “Big Bad Bruins.” So if you were looking for a change of philosophy Sweeney isn’t your guy. But, the last time a Boston team promoted a GM from within they won the championship in two years. That’s obviously applicable to this situation, so something to look forward to.