Don Sweeney on trade rentals: ‘I’d like to invest in somebody that’s going to be with us’

Never one to show his full hand, Don Sweeney hinted on Tuesday at Warrior Ice Arena that perhaps Boston’s scoring woes could still be alleviated by in-house candidates, especially if Danton Heinen and Jake DeBrusk can get on a bit of a roll.

“We’ve been consistently a top-10 team all year long,” Sweeney said. “Areas of the game where we’ve been consistent, on the power play, goals against, things that we take pride in. And areas where we’ve been deficient in, we’ve tried to find internal solutions and they haven’t necessarily materialized.

“Whether or not they will between now and then? I don’t know. Maybe that’s beating my head against the wall, but I’d like to think some of our players will continue to grow and get better.”

Still, given Boston’s already established issues with secondary scoring and production during 5v5 play, it seems as though the writing is on the wall when it comes to Sweeney and the Bruins pulling the trigger on a deal ahead of the Feb. 25 trade deadline.

Even if he covets his pipeline of prospects and draft capital, it seems as though Sweeney doesn’t have many options at this point other than to bring in some reinforcements, especially with David Pastrnak set to miss at least two weeks due to a thumb injury.

While Sweeney said Pastrnak’s absence doesn’t change his overall approach to the trade deadline, it looks as though Boston’s GM was already engaged on multiple fronts before Pastrnak even went on the shelf. At this point, Boston’s weaknesses are well-documented, as are the club’s needs — a third-line center and/or a top-six wing.

Thankfully for Sweeney and his staff, it looks as though there will be plenty of options available out on the market — including Artemi Panarin, Wayne Simmonds, Ilya Kovalchuk and many, many more.

But given how potential targets such as Panarin, Simmonds, Micheal Ferland and others are set to cash in this summer as unrestricted free agents, are the Bruins and Sweeney better served staying out of the rental market?



Boston felt the sting of dealing away assets for a one-and-done player last season — parting ways with a first-round pick, 2019 seventh-round pick, prospect Ryan Lindgren and both Ryan Spooner and Matt Beleskey in order to pry Rick Nash from the Rangers.

While trading away Spooner and Beleskey was inconsequential, giving up a first-rounder was a steep price to pay for Sweeney — who was looking to put a surging B’s club over the top with an established, top-six winger to pair with David Krejci.

While Nash tallied six points over 11 regular-season games with Boston, the veteran didn’t put Boston into the next tier of title contention, with a concussion limiting his effectiveness during a playoff run that ended with a five-game series loss to the Lighting in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

It was a tough pill for the Bruins to swallow given what they traded off to acquire Nash, but Sweeney noted that Boston had future plans for Nash beyond the 2017-18 season — a potential offseason move that never came to fruition after Nash retired due to his battle with concussions.

“I’d like to invest in somebody that’s going to be with us,” Sweeney said. “But I’d like the best player to impact our lineup as well. That might sound like it’s a bit ambiguous, but I think, in all honesty, I thought we had a chance to re-sign Rick Nash. That was one of the caveats to that.

“We moved out people that were occupying financial space and we felt like we were in a position to do that. We could have re-signed Rick Nash and he was a really good fit for our hockey club. That went into part of the decision-making, in terms of what we’re giving up to acquire the player. We felt he was a good fit, and I still would have liked to add him. It’s unfortunate and obviously wish him well, but we could use him right now.”

So, if Boston was again forced to trade for a rental, it seems as though Sweeney’s main priority is to bring someone aboard that the club has a chance to ink to a longer deal once the offseason rolls around.

If that’s the case, you have to wonder if Boston will want to make a move for a player like Simmonds — an established forward who will turn 31 before the start of the 2019-20 season. He’d be a solid addition for right now, but we’ve seen what happens when you sign aging power forwards to longer deals. It rarely pans out.

Perhaps Panarin? The Russian sniper’s offensive prowess has been already noted, with his addition giving Boston one of the most potent top-six groups in the league, especially when Pastrnak is given the green light to return.

But with Panarin seemingly set to lock up a long-term deal this summer with at least $10 million in annual value, is that the type of avenue that Boston wants to take — committing that much to one player?

Sweeney did note that Boston’s personnel, especially the established veterans in the locker room, have played a part in previous years when it comes to convincing newcomers or potential free agents to consider Boston as an option.

It helped in Boston’s favor when the B's were finalists in the John Tavares sweepstakes last July — so could a two-month stint in Boston be enough to consider a player like Panarin to re-up, rather than head down to a spot with abundant cap space such as Florida? At the end of the day, money talks, but Sweeney didn’t want to discount other factors in terms of keeping trade acquisitions on board.

“I’ve been on record, I think our leadership group does a tremendous job with that,” Sweeney said. “Not only for new players coming in. Players around the league do their due diligence, I think they know what our room is like. And we take a lot of pride in that and I want to continue to see that happen.

“We’ll hopefully learn from a simple accident and allow our younger players to grow from this as well. Because I think that’s part of the exercise, to guys that have more responsibility on their plates, and I think our leadership does a really good job of reaching to people that want to be a Bruin.”

Whether it be on the wing or at the pivot, rental or long-term, one thing is becoming abundantly clear — Boston needs to make a move.

“Where we split the atom there, I’ve got to acquire or try to acquire a player that’s going to impact our lineup and let Bruce figure out where he plays him,” Sweeney added.