In the heart of Boston, where hockey fandom runs deep and the legacy of the “Big Bad Bruins” still echoes through TD Garden, the heat has turned up—not on the ice, but in the front office.
This past week, a prominent Bruins beat reporter stirred the pot with a scathing critique of general manager Don Sweeney, raising pointed questions about the franchise’s direction, decision-making, and long-term vision. While criticism in sports media is nothing new, this callout may have opened a crack in the armor of the Bruins’ front office—one that could eventually lead to Sweeney’s ousting.
The Boston Bruins’ 2024–25 season has been anything but predictable. After a stunningly dominant 2022–23 campaign that ended in a shocking first-round playoff exit and a middling 2023–24 season that left fans frustrated, expectations were sky-high for Sweeney to recalibrate and push the Bruins back into true contention. Instead, the team has hovered in an uncomfortable limbo—not rebuilding, not contending, and certainly not pleasing the fanbase.
With the departures of franchise cornerstones like Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, and the seeming lack of a coherent strategy to replace their leadership and production, doubts have grown about the GM’s ability to build a sustainable future. These doubts turned into direct criticism when Boston Globe reporter Kevin Paul Dupont, a long-standing voice in the Bruins’ beat, published a blistering column titled “Time’s Up: Don Sweeney Has Lost the Plot.”
In the column, Dupont spared no punches. He accused Sweeney of “mismanaging the franchise’s golden years,” pointing to failed trades, underwhelming drafts, and a seemingly myopic win-now approach that hasn’t yielded any recent playoff success. Most notably, he highlighted the 2015 NHL Draft—where Sweeney famously had three consecutive first-round picks and selected Jakub Zboril, Jake DeBrusk, and Zach Senyshyn over players like Mathew Barzal, Kyle Connor, and Thomas Chabot—as a “generational blunder.”
“That draft wasn’t just a swing and a miss—it was three consecutive strikeouts in Game 7,” Dupont wrote. “It set the franchise back nearly a decade.”
While it’s not unusual for journalists to question a GM’s decisions, the article’s tone was different. It read like a referendum on Sweeney’s entire tenure. Dupont even went as far as to suggest that the only reason Sweeney remains in power is because of his relationship with Bruins president Cam Neely, who has been a vocal supporter throughout.
“At what point does loyalty become negligence?” Dupont asked. “If the goal is to win Cups, then what are we still doing here?”
Fans quickly rallied behind the piece, with online forums, Reddit threads, and Bruins Twitter echoing Dupont’s frustrations. Hashtags like #FireSweeney and #NeelyNeedsToAct began trending regionally. It was a rare moment of unity among a fanbase that often argues about coaching, line combinations, and power play strategies. This time, the ire was squarely directed at the man in the GM chair.
The timing of the article couldn’t have been worse for Sweeney. The Bruins had just dropped four of their last six games, their power play ranked among the league’s worst, and rumors swirled that locker room morale was lower than ever. Worse yet, trade deadline acquisitions had failed to move the needle, and prospects expected to make the leap—like Fabian Lysell and John Beecher—had struggled to stick in the NHL.
If winning cures all, losing exposes everything.
Sources close to the organization suggest that the article didn’t just ruffle feathers—it caused real tension. An anonymous team staffer reportedly told a local radio host that the column had “people in the building whispering about changes coming sooner rather than later.”
Sweeney, who has held the GM position since 2015, has had high points—most notably the 2019 run to the Stanley Cup Final and a Presidents’ Trophy season in 2023—but consistency has eluded him. His defenders point to cap constraints, aging rosters, and bad injury luck. His detractors argue that great GMs find ways to navigate those very same challenges.
What’s more, his player acquisition record is spotty. For every savvy move (like the signing of Hampus Lindholm or the trade for Taylor Hall), there’s been a corresponding misfire (like the Matt Beleskey contract or the handling of the David Pastrňák extension saga). And let’s not forget the widely criticized Mitchell Miller signing in 2022, which the team reversed amid backlash—a PR disaster that Sweeney admitted he mishandled.
In high-level sports, perception often equals reality. And right now, the perception of Sweeney is that of a GM who’s run out of excuses—and time.
Could a Change Actually Happen?
Firing a general manager mid-season is rare in the NHL, but it’s not unprecedented—especially when a team is perceived to be underperforming and disconnected from its core fanbase. The Bruins are one of the NHL’s “Original Six” franchises, and ownership is acutely aware of the importance of maintaining credibility and momentum both on and off the ice.
According to insiders, Bruins ownership group Delaware North is not deaf to the growing unrest. If attendance starts to dip or season ticket renewals lag, Sweeney may become the scapegoat, regardless of Neely’s loyalty.
The biggest question: Who would replace him?
Several names are already floating in the Boston media circuit—former Ranger GM Jeff Gorton (now in Montreal), Bruins assistant GM Evan Gold, and even popular former Bruins like Marc Savard (currently an assistant coach in Calgary). Whether any of those names would represent a true philosophical shift is unclear, but the conversation itself shows just how unstable Sweeney’s position has become.
Boston hockey fans are passionate, loyal, and deeply knowledgeable. They’ve endured rebuilds, near-misses, and heartbreaking Game 7s. But what they won’t endure is a sense of mediocrity without a plan.
Sweeney’s perceived failure isn’t just about wins and losses. It’s about vision. It’s about whether the Bruins are building toward something meaningful, or simply treading water in hopes of one more shot with an aging core.
Dupont’s article may have been the spark, but the fire has been smoldering for years. Unless the Bruins turn things around dramatically—and soon—Don Sweeney may find himself out of a job not because of one journalist’s words, but because those words gave voice to a growing, undeniable truth.
In the ever-volatile world of professional sports, change can come swiftly. For Don Sweeney, the clock is ticking. What was once quiet grumbling has now become a loud, public outcry. And in Boston, where legends are both made and dethroned, even a single article can shift the tide.
The question now isn’t whether Don Sweeney is under fire—it’s whether ownership will finally pull the trigger.
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