It’s interesting times for the Boston Bruins as they undergo a fairly extensive front office makeover at a crossroads point in time for the Original Six organization. Both assistant GM Evan Gold and assistant GM Jamie Langenbrunner have moved on from the B’s front office, with Gold’s exit announced in a Tuesday afternoon press release in the middle of July, after both executives were rumored to be working together as candidates to run the Vancouver Canucks.
Gold finished runner-up to Ryan Johnson for the gig running the Canucks, and within months, both Bruins front office members have now moved on after attempting to jump to other organizations. Langenbrunner is now a member of the Nashville Predators front office and Gold will be a free agent come Aug. 1 after 11 years serving as the salary cap guru for the Bruins.
“Ultimately, we've been a group that's been together for a long time and sometimes change is a positive thing for everybody. And in Jamie's [Langenbrunner] case, opportunity elsewhere, it just represented a good opportunity for him,” said Sweeney back in June when asked about Langenbrunner leaving the organization. “In both he and Evan [Gold’s] case, they've been in general manager conversations and such. And this is the only place Jamie's worked and it was just a good opportunity for him for his own personal development to say ‘Hey, I'm going to look at what else I can continue to do and expand my own footprint.’
“And I respect the hell out of that. I mean, I enjoyed working with him in every capacity. I got to know him. As I told him when he was taking that opportunity, the same guy who sat in my kitchen with [Boston University head coach] Jay Pandolfo in the original introduction and having played against him, knew what he was like, but got to know him there…it's just a good opportunity. You’ve been together, like I said, work together and try to accomplish the same thing. You fall short, maybe it's an opportunity to go somewhere else. My time going to Dallas [at the end of his NHL playing career] probably represented the same thing. Sometimes that's what the new opportunity presents, and you should do that.”
Instead, the Bruins have hired former Buffalo Sabres GM Kevyn Adams as special assistant to the GM and promoted Dennis Bonvie (Player Personnel) and Jeremy Rogalski (Analytics and Strategy) to assistant GM positions, and hired Alex Gimenez as Director of Hockey Operations, Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Essentially, Gimenez will be taking over in Gold’s area of specialty with contract negotiations and salary cap management after spending time working in the PWHL and a decade working in the Red Sox front office.
"As we continue to build our staff, these changes recognize the hard work and growth of people within our organization while also adding experienced voices to our group," said Sweeney. "I'm confident Kevyn, Dennis, Jeremy and Alex will each play an important role as we continue to improve our team both this upcoming season and beyond.
“I'd also like to thank Evan for his contributions over the past several seasons. He has been a valued member of our Hockey Operations Department, and we appreciate everything he has done for our organization. We wish Evan and his family all the best as he pursues his next opportunity in the National Hockey League."
The timing of Gold’s departure along with Wednesday morning’s announcement that the Detroit Red Wings will be shopping for a GM – with Steve Yzerman’s move upstairs in an advisory role to the owner – is an interesting bit of timing that could bear out watching as Gold has been close to a few GM searches in the recent past and makes for a very good general manager candidate given his experience and skill set.
Rogalski’s work in the fancy stats end of things has been an asset for the Bruins as he’s worked his way up in the organization over the last 15 plus years, and Bonvie has been one of the big voices involved in the identifying and signing of “diamond in the rough” players like Jonathan Aspirot, Justin Brazeau and Parker Wotherspoon as well as targeting young NHL players like Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov in impactful trades for the Bruins over the years.
But the really interesting (and smart) hire here is bringing in