The real reason the Bruins extended Don Sweeney?

The Boston Bruins surprised many last week when they announced that they had signed general manager Don Sweeney to a new contract extension in what was an unexpected move. The new deal gave Sweeney a two-year contract extension at a time where a not insignificant portion of the Bruins fan base was calling for major changes in management moving forward.

The reality of the situation is that we still don't know why the Bruins chose to go down this path, but recently we've been provided some clues that may help paint a clearer picture of why this all went down.

On the most recent episode of his podcast, National Hockey League analyst Jeff Marek revealed his own belief that the move was made due to the fact that the Bruins believed they would struggle to attract free agents without an extension for Sweeney.

"I wonder how much this was 'Look we are gonna have a hard time attracting free agents if everyone thinks this is a lame duck general manager'," revealed Marek on his podcast.

That is of course just the opinion of one man but there is some additional evidence to support Marek's theory on this, and that evidence comes courtesy of newly minted Philadelphia Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet.

The Bruins were reportedly one of the teams interested in Tocchet's services but the former Jack Adams winner declined to pursue that avenue before eventually agreeing to terms with the Flyers. A recent report from RG Media cites an NHL source that has claimed Tocchet refused to consider the Bruins for those very same reasons.

"His concern with Boston was that the GM maybe has 1-2 years left," said the source as per RG Media.

If the Bruins were rejected by Tocchet for that very reason, it would make sense that they felt it important to extend Sweeney before this became an issue when trying to attract potential free agents this summer.

Whether or not that will prove to be a wise decision however remains to be seen.