How the Boston Bruins General Management Ruined Their 21st Century Dynasty

For a long time, Boston Bruins general management has been making major errors and that even includes making blunders in a season in which the Bruins made it to the Stanley Cup Finals. After winning the Stanley Cup in 2011, the Boston hockey team struggled in the 2012 playoffs and were eliminated by the Washington Capitals.

Following the early exit, they made it to the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals to face off against the Chicago Blackhawks. In the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals, Patrick Kane skated circles around Zdeno Chara and made the giant look like a rookie throughout the series. Chara spent more time looking at the #88 on the back of Kane's jersey then he spent touching the puck. If a move for a defenseman at the trade deadline had been made, Claude Julien's team could have had a better chance of stopping the crafty right wing. Also, Patrice Bergeron was hurt in this monumental series and his team felt the effects. With #37 not being to stay on the ice for long periods of time, faceoffs were dominated by Joel Quenneville's Chicago Blackhawks. As great as the Blackhawks may have been, there is no excuse for not having a single center or wing player who can win a faceoff besides one player (Bergeron). Outside of Jonathan Toews, there was not a player that really screamed out "domination" when faceoffs came for Chicago. I constantly rewatch the final two minutes of game 6 of the 2013 Stanley Cup and relive the nightmare.

To start a downward spiral, Boston made a drastic decision on July 4, 2013 to trade Tyler Seguin, which barely made positive effects and only in the short term. You do not trade away a future superstar and especially not one that drew comparisons to Sidney Crosby at the time of his draft selection. The apparent reason for Boston trading away the Canadian superstar was due to his attitude and ego. Now, let me tell you all the reason why none of this makes sense. First of all, if you have a quality head coach, the attitude of a single player should not affect an entire hockey team. You know what the passionate Bruins care about? Scoring goals. You know what Boston's hockey team had an extremely hard time doing after Seguin was traded, especially in the ensuing playoffs? Scoring goals. You know what no fan of any sports team cares about when they are cheering their team on? A player's attitude and ego. Tyler Seguin has been an undoubted star in his time with the Dallas Stars. His past four seasons with Dallas have amounted to point totals of 84, 77, 73, and 72 in each of the respective seasons.

Next, the Boston Bruins traded budding star defenseman, Dougie Hamilton over to the Calgary Flames for three draft picks on June 27, 2015. To emphasize the magnitude of this transaction, let me just repeat the happening. The Boston Bruins traded Dougie Hamilton to the Calgary Flames for three draft picks. I had no words and only disbelief when I first heard about this trade. The ninth overall pick of the 2011 NHL Draft was set up to control the blue line for Boston's professional hockey team for the foreseeable future. The central reason that the trade was made because the Bruins did not commit to a long-term contract extension with the Canadian native. In a comparable situation to Tyler Seguin, Hamilton wanted out because he was upset with his role on the team. With star players like Seguin and Hamilton, you find a way to accommodate their wishes. All that Bruins general manager Don Sweeney had to say about the trade was, "The offer that I offered was certainly in line with comparables ... So, the spread for me was an indication that maybe we'd be better served if we went in a different direction at this time." If the conflict was about money, offer more money. There is your simple solution to keeping a star defenseman like Hamilton. Also, there is no coincidence that the Flames have had a competitive resurgence and made it into the 2017 NHL playoffs.

Shortly thereafter, on June 27, 2015, bruising left wing, Milan Lucic, was traded to the Los Angeles Kings for the 13th overall pick in the 2015 NHL draft, goaltender Martin Jones, and Colin Miller. At 27 years old, the Canadian native had one year left on his contract that was worth $6.5 million and he was bound to be an unrestricted free agent after the 2015-16 season. According to many reports, he actually wanted to sign a contract extension with Boston. In accordance with the trade, Don Sweeney said, "I can't tell you how difficult the call was to make, and I expressed that to Milan ... It was a very difficult conversation to have. I just felt the situation we were in, it was going to be very difficult to extend the offer to the level that it would take to retain Milan going forward." I did not believe a single word of Sweeney's statement but after the Hamilton trade, I was not surprised by the trade of a player who was part of the 2011 championship-winning team.

In the never-ending list of blatantly bad or questionable moves by Bruins general management in recent years, the Bruins bought out Dennis Seidenberg on June 30, 2016. He was a key part of the team's defense for several seasons, holding down the blue line from 2009 until this buyout in 2016. Seidenberg was the long time defensive pairing for Zdeno Chara, including when they won the Stanley Cup in 2011. Fittingly, the German defenseman was completely caught off guard by the buyout. When asked about the buyout, he said, "It's a shock, Donnie [Sweeney] called me and he said it was a tough call to make but he had to buy me out, that they were going with the kids. Told me I was a great guy and that was it." By saying "that was it", I am going to assume that Mr. Sweeney did not even thank him for his contributions to the franchise. I do not think that can be classified as a classy move by the Boston Bruins general manager. Of course, the blueliner showed his love for Boston and the city's fan base, "I loved playing there, I loved living in the city. I'm going to miss it...." he said. Financially, Seidenberg had two remaining years on his contract with a $4 million salary cap hit. According to the numbers, the franchise owed Seidenberg $1,166,666 each of the next four years. If they were going to let go of Seidenberg in some manner, they should have at least traded him and got some value back.

Lastly, Tuukka Rask went from dominating games to now making fundamental errors in between the goal posts. It may be time to move on and make a big trade and I do not think that the team has ever thought about it. His overall save percentage has decreased for the past three seasons. Rask does not look capable of pulling off the heroics that former Bruins goalie, Tim Thomas once did. In other words, the Boston Bruins like to make earth-shattering trades only when it will likely lead to negative results.

I can understand the decision to trade away Milan Lucic and maybe buying out Dennis Seidenberg but trading away Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton, two franchise cornerstones, is inexcusable and a mistake that this franchise will regret for the rest of their existence. The mistakes of Boston's front office have formed a laundry list and I cannot excuse them for it.

Clearly, the Boston Bruins might as well hire a GM from off the street sometimes.

At this point, I am legitimately more capable of managing this franchise's players than Peter Chiarelli was at the end of his tenure. I actually asked him myself and this was his response: