Don Sweeney makes deceitful comments and threatens players in press conference

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney met with reporters on Wednesday to tell them that change is hard, but needed to happen in Boston. Which is why on Tuesday, the team fired coach Jim Montgomery after stumbling to a losing record in their first 20 games. The Bruins are off to an 8-9-3 start (.475 points percentage) and outside of a playoff seed in the Eastern Conference, though Sweeney believes issues with the club date back to training camp.

This did not stop the GM from saying that Montgomery was also let go because of an apparent contract dispute. Sweeney told reporters that “the Bruins had extension talks with Jim Montgomery, couldn’t agree on a number, then with the poor performance of the team this season he (Sweeney) had to make a decision.”

Montgomery was in the final year of a three-year contract and got fired with a regular season record of 120-41-23 during his tenure in Boston. His firing came a day after Boston was thoroughly outplayed at home during a 5-1 loss to the Blue Jackets. Columbus is tied for the third-fewest points in the NHL.

While most fans find Sweeney’s comments on Montgomery and the contract stalemate completely ridiculous, the general manager did not say more and quickly focused on the players, threatening more changes if things did not get back on track quickly.

“The players are not where they need to be. We’re either going to get back there or there will be continued changes, across the board.”

Goalie Jeremy Swayman has been mentioned more than once as one of the players who must improve. He allowed five goals on 29 shots in the 5-1 loss with many fans wondering if Boston made a terrible mistake with the goalie’s extension. Swayman has a 5-7-2 record with an .884 save percentage and a 3.47 goals-against average. The netminder missed the team’s training camp in September as he was at the time locked in a contract stalemate with the team. He eventually signed a an 8-year contract extension through the 2031-32 season with an annual NHL cap hit of $8.25 million. But at this time, he does not deserve that lucrative deal.

At the same time, everyone needs to step up, and you have to wonder how fair it was for Montgomery to get fired yesterday. Many fans believe Sweeney deserves his share of the blame amidst the Bruins’ terrible start to 2024-25.