QUOTES NHL Free Agency December 31, 2020

BOSTON BRUINS GENERAL MANAGER DON SWEENEY On Zdeno Chara signing with the … I want to make sure it’s abundantly clear that we had multiple, multiple discussions with Zdeno and Matt Keator. Very appreciate of all the dialogue and both sides being honest in terms of where they were. We had certainly offered a contract to Zdeno months ago and he indicated he wanted time to continue to work through, again, where he felt where he was at. Where the league was at and the return to play protocols and what the role we were describing and hoping to integrate him into with our hockey club as we saw it and what our internal plans and discussions were moving forward. Make no mistake about it, that did include looking to integrate some of the younger players that have had an opportunity to develop in our system and us trying to see whether they were capable of handling minutes and situations that they had not been exposed to. We describe it as an integrated role and just didn’t make a categorical promise that he would have the exact same role that he had had in certainly his 14 – a historic career with the Boston Bruins. I was very sad. It’s un-rewarding in the aspect of the job to see a player like that choose to leave.

On the concern about the leadership departure… It’s a little bit to be determined. I do believe we have as strong leadership core still in place and we have other players that would like to assume a larger responsibility in that, on and off the ice. And they have to grow into that. You have to – that’s a learned, that’s not a born in ability in my opinion. And we’re going to allow for some of that latitude. But we have a lot of strong guys that are looking to continue the success they’ve previously had, pass it on to the next cast of players that we hope to become core, integral parts of this hockey club, and we’ll move forward. A player like Craig Smith, coming from another organization, things that he can bring to the table that hopefully our club can continue to improve upon.

On if they will have a captain… Yes, we expect to have a captain. We will allow this some time to breath for Zdeno and his decision. We’ll make a decision moving forward, I think it’s an obvious decision and one that we’ll make in a respectful manner at an appropriate time. But I think it is important to allow this moment, as raw as it is, to let it play out for the time being as we get on the doorstep to training camp. But we will do that in the right and appropriate manner.

On where Zdeno’s tough minutes will go… We do have to spread those minutes around. Situations as I described earlier, that some other players have not been exposed to. Whether or not their capable of, I certainly believe that they would like to be in those situations and aspire to be in those situations. We’re going to do it by committee and allow some of these guys a little bit of trial and error and potentially fail as a result of it. But also succeed as a result of it and not look over their shoulder in any way, shape or form because they have to gain that experience. You’re not going to move forward in your career if you’re not put in those situations. Sometimes you fall flat and other times you rise up. We have several players, Carlo and McAvoy and Kevan Miller coming back on board. Obviously Griz has been in situations and Jeremy Lauzon and John Moore and Jakub Zboril, who is looking for an opportunity to breakthrough at the level. The players we have on our roster are what they are. The competition will begin and there are no guarantees and we understand that.

On what Zdeno’s playing time would have been… We did not put any parameters on. I think most people that have ever been around me understand how much I hate to lose and how much I covet winning. We’re going to ice the best team we possibly can each and every night. The coach has his decisions that he has to make. We looked at what the potential schedule might look like. We looked at an opportunity to expose some of our younger players minutes and situations. So we didn’t carve out in stone. We just laid out in a forthright manner, in a clear, concise and hopefully communicative manner that we may experiment in some of these situations where it has not been possible with Zdeno occupying all of those minutes in years past. And doing it in a remarkable fashion. And again, there is some exposure associated with that. We looked at it from an integrated aspect to blend those situations together. But we wanted to be clear and concise going into it that, that was our intention and hope was. But also, with a clear intention that we were going to ice the absolute best team we could with the expectation to win.

On if he wouldn’t play some nights… I’m not privy to any other team discussions that Zdeno and Matt have had. We were making no promises in terms of what our roster and lineup would be and what the minutes were every night. We never have. Situations that I’ve had discussions over the years where we were paring back some situational minutes, and hard minutes. And preservation. No different from days I’ve had talks with Patrice on and trying to spread that around and trying to be a complete hockey club and have depth in our lineup, again from a killing situation. I don’t think any player is immune to that as they go through their career. It depends on what trajectory they’re on, the start, the middle, the end. And we just wanted to look at it as pragmatically as we possibly could in an integrated fashion.

On if Zdeno’s departure would create a change in the team’s character… The single most un-rewarding phone call I had yesterday to hear from Matt and speak with Zdeno in what his decision ended up being. I thought a lot about this this morning and you came to mind in thinking of Fran Rosen and him, allowing a young writer to potentially have the space that he’s occupied for a long, long time. Indelible marks made on sports and in society in impacting the people that have the ability to do that. Zdeno as I said before, he walks in his own shadow, literally and figuratively. It was extremely difficult to go through the whole process. As I said, this extended over months and we gave him all the latitude in the world to make what was ultimately his decision, he and his families decision alone. And I wanted to make sure that we did that with the utmost respect that we possibly could as to what we could allow for Zdeno and what he’s meant to the Boston Bruins organization.

On Charlie McAvoy’s adjustment to not having Zdeno… I think Charlie and Bruce have had conversations with regard – we don’t want Charlie to change the way he plays in regards to who he’s playing with. I do belive he plays a lions share of the minutes and has puck possession, he leads our hockey club in those areas and we don’t want that to change. He shouldn’t feel that he needs any undue pressure on him to change. He just has to go out and play the way that Charlie is capable of playing. We have to have the other people step in to minutes and roles and carry the load. That’s a simple as it is. One player is not going to get you to the promised land, it has to be the collection of the group. Our group of six on any particular night needs to transition the puck better, we defend very well as a group. Our forwards need to do a continuing job of hopefully adding to the depth to our hockey club up front. Our goaltending is still where we feel is at an elite level. And the rest of the players have to assume their own roles. Charlie really shouldn’t have any increased or added pressure. He’s been at that level. We’re going to continue to have him at that level, probably introduce a little more of the power play opportunities to him. As Griz will get opportunities and others will. And see how far he can run with it. And that’s part of this exercise. How far will the next young player, and what level he will get.

On similarities to when Ray Bourque left the organization… Obviously, the players are similar in the fact that one is a hall of famer and one is going to be a hall of famer. Both carried themselves on the ice and off the ice at the highest of level and expected of their teammates, but most importantly, expected of themselves. Both had a will and a courage beyond what most professional athletes and hockey players would hope to have. Along those lines, you draw some commonalities In Ray’s situation and time, was exploring whether he should leave on his own account to really explore a team that might be in a better position to try to win in that particular moment than where the Bruins were. Far different from where our hockey club is now and where it has been for the past few years, with Zdeno being a very, very big part of that. Different along those lines but similar in the fact that both players made their decision to leave and what becomes of their legacy as a result. I’ve been on record, Ray’s legacy has really not been tarnished by going to win a Stanley Cup in Colorado and Zdeno is forever a member of the Boston Bruins and will be enshrined in both the Hall of Fame and in my humble opinion, in the rafters amongst the greatest to ever wear a Boston Bruins uniform.

On the expectations for Grzelcyk… It was part of the opportunity with the power play and the situations on the offensive blue line that Matt will obviously get an opportunity to explore and see where his game can ascend to. Defensively, there will be a little more responsibility in matchup situations. Whether he can handle that increased role and beyond whatever it is, that 19-20-minute threshold remains to be seen. We have to be careful there in terms of breaking down, where players begin to breakdown and inefficiencies start to arise. We do monitor that with all of our players. But again, the opportunity is in front of Matt and we’ll see how far he can run with that. Not unlike the other players that we have in the organization this season.

On missing the toughness of Chara on the ice… Well, it’s 6’9 and 250, it’s fairly unique to our sport. I’m not going to downplay it in any regard. He’s been a physical force on and off the ice for our hockey club and we’ll have to have some players assume that mantle. It won’t be overnight and it’ll have to be by committee. We certainly have players that aspire to play more of a physical role and the nature to get an opportunity to provide that to our hockey club. I think it’s part of the identity of our hockey club that needs to be continued and I’m sure our players will address it in the manner that we need to. And we have to have that. We have to maintain that identity as a hockey club and being very, very diffiuclt to play against.

On when Marchand and Pastrnak will be available… Marchy is doing really well. He’s been on the ice pretty much every day. He will start to integrate into the main group of players from day one of training camp. It’s more of a volume and comfort level for him. He’s done a lot of work on and off the ice and finding his hands and his timing and such now and his overall conditioning. We’ll be careful with it but he’s made a nice progression. Remains to be seen where we are as we move through camp and how he feels as a result of that as he introduces contact and such. David is certainly a longer timeline to return to play and be back on ice in a regular fashion. He won’t initially integrate into the main practice group as he increases the volume in his own return to play. It’s unlikely he starts the opening couple games but we’re going to monitor week-by-week and we’ll continue to give you updates as they progress.

On making the playoffs… Well there is a lot of ground to cover between here and the question you’ve asked. That’s a wide ranging – I don’t know if you want to pare that down a little bit for me? We’re a team that’s well positioned to be competitive in our division and get into the playoffs. That’s our expectation and see where we go from there. It’s an uncharted kind of year that we’re going to face as was the return to play, going into a bubble environment. If anyone that has a clear-cut answer in terms of what to expect in and what players may or may not remain healthy, good on them to have the foresight to be able to do that. We have to have the depth within the organization. I think you have to be strong, obviously in all areas. I’ve made no bones that we’ll have some exposure in introducing some younger players that we plan to integrate and blend in, but our goaltending is in a great spot and our forward group is. Now we have to be healthy and hopefully we move forward. But, I don’t think our expectations have changed at all.

On evaluating the young defenders… I think it’s really about the coaching and the encouragement aspect of these players getting their bearings and understanding the situations they’re going to be put in. They have to rise up and take that challenge. Some of them have been sitting, percolating, as we say, in the development process and playing all those key integrated minutes in Providence and getting opportunities up here but being sheltered at times. And they’re hopefully ready to take that ball and run with it. Again, it’s no different than when came on the scene. He did not come in with the expectations that he was going to play with Zdeno in a top pair. He just emerged to be able to do that. We saw a great sign when he first came in that he was able to skate and cover ice. Charlie McAvoy went down and played four to six games in Providence and we ran into injury problems and threw him into our lineup. I think at some point in time, unless you’re just an heir apparent depending on your profile leading up to it, that most players have to get integrated at some point in time in the National Hockey League. And you can move forward. I think we’re in a position, at least with the right side as constituted to have the experience they have and the minutes that they have previously played, to be able to hopefully counterbalance that. And Kevan Miller is a part of that. Connor Clifton is a part of that. And these guys have all played yeomen minutes and situations, and they’re excited for the opportunity moving forward.

On Kevan Miller playing the left side… Yeah, in certain penalty killing situations, maybe he and Brandon. Those are up to Bruce and Kevan and Joe as they see the penalty killers roll out there. Again, Jeremy Lauzon has been a penalty killer at all levels of hockey. He’s going to step into that type of role. Griz has picked up the second half of PK minutes. Again, these are unique situations because we have had a player for the better part of 14 years that has been in those situations. But you’re right, we have to put some of those players into those situations and Kevan sliding over periodically – I don’t think he’ll start there. He’s getting his comfort level back on the right side. But for penalty killing situations, and Connor Clifton has done that as well. Jeremy was actually playing on his off-side for the most part because we didn’t have any spots on the left side to integrate him. He’ll be more comfortable on his strong side. And we move forward. And John Moore is a part of that. Zboril is a part of that, or Vaakanainen is. Again, we understand. I don’t think we’ve ever not acknowledged that we have some players that we’d like to try to integrate and see whether or not they can handle things. If not, then we may have to pivot and move in another direction.