After players met with media for their breakup day on Sunday, it was the higher-ups’ turn on Wednesday.
The Bruins held a press conference at TD Garden Wednesday afternoon with CEO Charlie Jacobs, president Cam Neely, general manager Don Sweeney and head coach Jim Montgomery.
Here are six takeaways:
No organizational shakeup
Before even taking questions, Jacobs used part of his opening statement to address the job statuses of Neely, Sweeney and Montgomery.
“The three gentlemen to my left have my complete confidence,” Jacobs said. “We have no expectation of personnel changes coming during this upcoming offseason.”
Montgomery later said he did not anticipate making any changes to his coaching staff either.
Things can always change, but as of now, it certainly appears the Bruins will be running it back in terms of their front office and coaching staffs.
Jacobs was later pressed on what does need to change to get the Bruins past the second round for the first time since 2019 if it’s not the management or coach.
“Well, I would leave that up to the gentlemen, the three to my left,” Jacobs said. “As I mentioned in my opening remarks, they have my utmost confidence. I feel like we haven't necessarily found our ceiling yet, in terms of the opportunity of this team. I believe in them to find that ceiling. And hence, they have my confidence and therefore, no change. I don't foresee a change in these personnel for this upcoming season.”
Swayman ‘clearly a priority’
The No. 1 item on Sweeney’s offseason to-do list is locking up the player who wears the No. 1 jersey. He didn’t hide from that Wednesday, making it clear that he wants to sign goalie Jeremy Swayman to a long-term extension.
“It’s clearly a priority,” Sweeney said. “…We clearly engaged in conversation during the regular season to find a longer-term extension. We haven't gotten there yet. It’s a priority now and it will continue to be a priority until we get that across the finish line. He’s a big part of our current team, the run he went on in the playoffs, and our future.”
When last summer’s contentious arbitration hearing was brought up, Sweeney made sure to point out that it was Swayman who took the team to arbitration, not the other way around. Fair enough.
Sweeney also confirmed that, technically, it’s possible for the two sides to end up in arbitration again this summer.
“Yes. I don’t plan on it,” he said. “Again, he might file. That’s how the system works.”
Swayman said on Sunday that he wants to sign a long-term extension to stay in Boston and that he was “confident” a deal would eventually get done this summer.
Exploring Ullmark’s market
Swayman is going to get a big raise. Conservatively, he’s probably at least doubling the $3.475 million he made this year. Linus Ullmark is under contract for one more year at $5 million.
It is hard to imagine a world where the Bruins have $12 or $13 million tied up in the goalie position, no matter how much they love this tandem, and no matter how much Ullmark wants to stay.
Sweeney was asked if he could envision keeping both goalies at that kind of money.
“Those things will take care of themselves,” Sweeney said. “No conversation I'm going to have with a player in terms of what we're trying to do, until we have to have a conversation, is really going to get public. I hope you all respect that, because ultimately that’s, as a former player, what I would hope would happen. We're gonna find a landing spot with Jeremy Swayman, and if we can make the math work, we're going to have the best tandem.
“If we can't, we're going to explore and/or Linus may come to us and change his mind. That may occur as well. Right now, he’s really happy. We were very happy to sign Linus, and in a perfect world, we would keep the tandem, because I think it's damn good. But we're going to explore opportunities. My phone's going to ring. I'm going to make calls. That's just what the job requires.”
The comment about Ullmark possibly changing his mind is interesting. It sounds like the closest Sweeney has come to admitting that he’s explored Ullmark’s trade market in the past. There were multiple reports around this year’s trade deadline that Ullmark was on the market and that Sweeney actually had a deal in place, only to have Ullmark utilize his 16-team no-trade clause to block it.
Changing his mind could be in reference to Ullmark just being more open to a trade in general, or maybe being more open to waiving his no-trade clause for a specific team. Either way, there hasn’t yet been any public indication from Ullmark he’s changing his mind. He was pretty clear on Sunday that he wants to remain a Bruin.
Expect DeBrusk to hit free agency
Pending free agent Jake DeBrusk said on Sunday that he was surprised he didn’t have a new contract yet. The suggestion there was that he wants to extend, but maybe the Bruins weren’t showing as much interest in keeping him as he had hoped.
On Wednesday, Sweeney turned the tables, indicating that it’s DeBrusk’s side that has dragged things out.
“Negotiations are a two-way street,” Sweeney said. “We took an aggressive position with Jake. No different than other players that have chosen not to re-sign and explore, that's within his right, certainly at this time of the year. Do I see a path? Yeah, there’s a path. I told him that at our exit meeting.
“He’s been a big part of our group, he elevated in the playoffs, and I would prefer to have Jake DeBrusk on our team. But he has some opportunity in front of him that he may pursue otherwise. So, I don't have a clear answer for you today. But I know the position we've taken, we feel very comfortable. But it didn't get to the finish line.”
Neither side is ruling out a new contract before July 1, but the conflicting tone from the two sides sounds like Sweeney and DeBrusk are both playing the PR game at this point and trying to position themselves as the good guy ahead of a potential split, one that’s feeling increasingly likely.
Sweeney vows to be ‘aggressive’ with cap space
Sweeney had virtually no cap space last summer and had to shop in the bargain bin. He has approximately $21 million to work with this offseason, and another $5 million if he trades Ullmark.
He plans to use it.
“We are in a situation where we can look to add to our core group of guys, and that includes also some of the younger guys,” Sweeney said. “…We’re going to be aggressive to be able to complement what we currently have in some areas. Our team played hard. To [the point] of whether or not we can play faster or whether or not we can find players that will create more anxiety on the forecheck in some of the situations that… certainly, you look at the teams that are still playing and they do a really good job of that. In pockets of time, we did. … I've got to find the players that complement our current group and push us forward.”
It’s clear where the Bruins’ biggest needs are: At forward. They scored two goals or fewer in eight of their final nine playoff games.
“We didn't get inside quite enough in rebound situations that we might have been able to take advantage of,” Sweeney said. “So, there are some things we need to address, and I need to address from the standpoint of free agency and/or internal growth. … We have to complement. I have to be able to find some players that can come in and provide secondary scoring for us at key, opportune times.”
Need for speed
Sweeney mentioned forechecking and getting inside as a key to generating more offense. Those are usually talking points for Neely, the prototypical power forward in his playing days, as well, but he also highlighted something else the Bruins need more of: Speed.
“Don and I have had a lot of conversations since the season ended. We talk every day during the season and talk about how we want our team to play,” Neely said. “Obviously, this game is fast. We're not as fast as we'd like to be. Some of that had to do with last offseason, when we were really kind of hamstrung with what we were trying to accomplish. I think Don and our pro staff did a really good job last offseason and built a team that competed the way they did.
“But there's areas where we still need to improve, and we're going to address that this offseason for sure. But yeah, we need to get a little faster, and I'd like to see a little bit more 50/50 puck battle wins. That's an area where it’s just, you have to want the puck more than the other team.”
Ironically, DeBrusk is one of the Bruins’ faster forwards and wins 50/50 battles (backed up by the Bruins' own internal analytics, as revealed by Montgomery this past season), but he still may be on his way out. Regardless, Neely usually gets what he wants, or Sweeney at least makes an effort to add what Neely wants. So, you don’t have to read between the lines here: Sweeney is going to be targeting speed this summer.