BOSTON BRUINS QUOTES DON SWEENEY CONFERENCE CALL Sunday, March 18, 2018
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BOSTON BRUINS QUOTES DON SWEENEY CONFERENCE CALL Sunday, March 18, 2018 BOSTON BRUINS GENERAL MANAGER DON SWEENEY Opening comments… Thanks Matt [Chmura], and thanks to everyone for joining tonight for joining tonight probably on short notice. But with my being away, I thought it was important to sort of acknowledge the recent signings of Cam Hughes, Trent Frederic and today with Ryan Donato. I think it’s a continuation of the commitment of adding talent, character, depth, to our organization. We’re excited about the opportunity of each and every one of these players. Cam and Trent had a chance to jump in and play this weekend in Providence and Ryan likely will play as early as tomorrow. We’re excited about the direction of our club and continue to add as I’ve mentioned to adding talent, character too the depth of the organization. On where Donato fits into the lineup… Well I think it came together in pretty short order. Disappointing loss for Harvard and Ryan the other night where they had a lead and weren’t able to close it out. I know that Ryan and the family had been thinking about what may or may not lie ahead but they had been focused right up until the loss on Friday night to staying on the task at hand. Once that was over with I had an opportunity to speak with his family advisor and with the family and with Ryan himself. We just worked through what looked like the opportunity he was looking for and we were happy to provide that. We have some injuries, we’re at the point in the season where every game has a lot on the line and I think his being able to go over and have success at the Olympics this year really started to jumpstart his thought process that he was ready for the next challenge. On if the signing was motivated more by the recent injuries: No, I don’t think it tipped the scales either way. I think Ryan might have looked at it as an even bigger opportunity for him to go in and possibly play as early as tomorrow. From our standpoint, we had always been committed to providing the opportunity to Ryan if and when he decided to leave school. I think the two things just kind of lined up accordingly. We definitely are cognizant that the injuries are there, and they’ve mounted a little bit here coming down the stretch. It’s a testament to the group of players that we have, yesterday’s win. Losing [David] Backes early in the game and guys really playing well. Really, we’re getting contributions from everywhere and we feel comfortable that we have players playing well in Providence that we can continue to fill gaps and hopefully we can be healthy as we go down the stretch. I think it was a bit of an opportunity on both sides to explore this point in time for Ryan and see where he’s at and get a chance to jump into our lineup. On how Donato compares to Frederic: It’s hard to compare the two players. Ryan is further along, just development. He’s an older player, spent three years in school. He just played in the Olympics. Trent is a natural center. Ryan can play two positions. It’s hard to compare them. But none of those players are that far apart. As you referenced, they each had opportunities to show their skills and where they are. Trent wasn’t necessarily playing a primary role in the scoring situation at the World Juniors yet he ended up in four goals in the one game, so they all have upside. It’s a matter of when they get in there to be able to prove it. I suspect that Trent will move along in rapid fashion. Ryan is just a little but further along in his own development, just a little older in that regard. On how much Donato’s Olympics experience will help him make the jump to the NHL… Well, from our standpoint, I do believe the next level of challenge – Anders Bjork went through a similar situation going to the World Championships, playing against the better players, playing with very, very talented players each and every day and practicing, wanting to take your own game to another level. I think that sort of gave Ryan a glimpse of what he was capable of doing, albeit he knows that the challenge will be that much greater at the National Hockey League level and certainly coming down the stretch and the environment that he is going to jump in to. But, he’s a kid that’s got a confidence about himself, a talent level, and he’s got some details that he’s going to have to work on. All young players do, more importantly the inexperience part of it, but he’s a kid that has hard skill, and so we’re looking forward to having him join our team, get immersed, and get a taste, and then it’s up to him. He’ll take it with however far he can run with it, but he is welcomed to the opportunity. On his expectations for Donato and if he has a definitive spot on the roster… Well, he’s on the roster because those are the rules. My expectations are that he’ll get his feet wet and show us what he can do at this level. We’re not going to put any pressure on him to say, you have to produce. It’s like every player; he’s going to be another player that the coach will have an opportunity to play in situations, and the player themselves dictate how much time and circumstances they play in. We feel that, if we get healthy, we’re going to have a deep group, and he’s going to add to that group. Then, it’s up to him. We hope that we do get healthy, but we have a lot of games here still upcoming. We haven’t clinched anything, so we’ve got work ahead of us, and he’s going to add to that depth of our group. On injury updates for David Backes, Patrice Bergeron and Jake DeBrusk… David Backes returned today or late last night with the team. He did meet with our doctors, and they reevaluated the cut. They did some work on it to just insure. Obviously, you’ve got great medical care down in Tampa; we’re thankful for that, but our guys wanted their own hands and eyes on it. A timetable hasn’t been set for him, Kevin. You can imagine it was a pretty significant cut, and now that it’s been, sort of, re-cleaned and addressed accordingly, we’ll just let nature take its course, let it heal. But, I don’t have a definitive timetable on that one, certainly not day to day. I would suspect he’ll be out for a couple games, and then we’ll reevaluate. Same with Patrice – I think he’ll get back on the ice and reintegrate. We don’t have a definitive timetable. The x-ray and the scan and our doctors will set sort of a hopeful timeframe, but, again, that’s the healing process. He may join us on the trip here, but we’re going to wait and see tomorrow and see where he’s at. Jake is continuing to move along and recover, but we don’t have a timetable on him, either. On how Charlie McAvoy’s experience last spring impacted the decision on Donato… Again, it’s hard to compare players. Charlie, when he jumped into the American Hockey League, he looked pretty comfortable there. Obviously, the injuries presented a real opportunity, we felt, that he could step in and handle, and he probably exceeded what everybody had expected at that point in time – again, not to put any expectations along those lines on Ryan. I just think that the opportunity itself is similar in the fact that the injuries have presented time on the ice and in game situations that, hopefully, he can take advantage of, and when we get healthy, we’ll feel good about where our group is at. Hopefully he continues to – he will add to that, but it’s a steep learning curve this time of the year, so, again, we’re not putting any expectations on him, but he’s a confident kid. He has a skill set that we all acknowledge he can score goals and shoot the puck. We’re going to put him in situations where we can insulate him a little bit, and that’s a testament to our group itself that they’d be able to do that, and we’ll see where it goes. On if Donato will not be eligible for the AHL playoffs if he plays games in the NHL… That’s correct. He will not be eligible to go to the AHL at this point in time in the season. So, he’s on our roster and whatever games he has an opportunity to play and take advantage of and add to our group, he is on our roster. On Donato’s playing style and comparisons to his father, Ted… Well, obviously, that’s a lot to be throwing at me in terms of comparing him to Teddy. He is three inches taller than Teddy. He does shoot the puck an awful lot like him, as Teddy had a real heavy wrister, and Ryan does, as well.