Bruins general manager Don Sweeney has made a habit of picking Americans in recent years -- three of his last four first-round picks and all four Bruins picks this summer were American -- but he will be helping to pick Canadians for the 2022 Olympics.
Hockey Canada announced Wednesday that Sweeney has been named an assistant general manager of Team Canada for the Beijing Games, which will feature the return of NHL players after the league sat out the 2018 Olympics.
Sweeney will work with Blues general Doug Armstrong, who was named GM for Canada, along with associate GM Ken Holland (Edmonton Oilers) and fellow assistant GMs Ron Francis (Seattle Kraken) and Roberto Luongo (Florida Panthers).
Sweeney and crew will have a loaded talent pool to pick from as they look to build a team that can win a third straight gold in Olympics that have included NHLers (Canada settled for bronze in 2018 without NHLers). Canada also won the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, the last major international tournament to feature the best of the best.
Sweeney, who was named the NHL’s GM of the Year in 2019, will have plenty of familiarity with two players who could be selected in Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron. Marchand should be a lock barring injury, while Bergeron could be a little bit of a question mark given that he’ll be 36 years old and Canada will have plenty of younger elite players to pick from if they choose to do so.
Marchand, Bergeron and Sidney Crosby formed Canada’s top line at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, and Bergeron and Crosby were also on the same line in the 2014 Olympics and way back in the 2005 World Junior Championship. Bergeron and Marchand have of course been on the same line in Boston for a decade now.
Sweeney grew up in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, and helped Canada win gold at the 1997 World Championship as a player.