Jones & Keefe: The optics around the Don Sweeney extension don't make sense

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00:00How was Cam Neely, what, a month or so ago?

00:03Yeah.

00:04Defending the drafting track record of Don Sweeney, which is amazing.

00:09It is amazing.

00:10I've actually tried to take that stance before.

00:13I tried.

00:13I mean, you're more, I think, forgiving about his drafting in general than maybe a lot of people,

00:19but I don't think you can forgive him at all for 2015.

00:21I mean, trying to do that is insane.

00:23It is insane.

00:24And also, he was asked about the draft overall, and Cam Neely specifically went back to 2015.

00:31So he knows how bad that was, and he knows how much crap Sweeney has gotten for it, and rightfully so.

00:39Sweeney's been good with trades.

00:40Sweeney's been more 50-50, I would say, in free agency.

00:44Yeah, I mean, last year really looms large in dragging that down.

00:48Good point.

00:48But he had been pretty good with the NHL-level moves, yeah.

00:51But the drafts have been overall atrocious, and it's amazing.

00:56He makes it sound like in 2015, Don Sweeney was out of hockey, and he just showed up that day of the draft.

01:04No, he was the assistant GM, or whatever his title was, right?

01:06Like, he was with the Bruins.

01:08He's like, he never even thought about being the GM.

01:10He's like, he didn't?

01:11Wasn't that, like, his path?

01:13Was that his trajectory?

01:14That should have been its own red flag, if that were the case.

01:16And then he's like, guys, that's kind of on us.

01:18We should have regrouped or the picks.

01:20It's like, you didn't talk in between the picks?

01:22It's crazy.

01:22What is that?

01:23And they drafted three guys.

01:25Only DeBrusque is, like, an NHL player.

01:27And then the next three picks were all all-stars in the league.

01:30Yeah, and I think their whole...

01:31Right, well, so there's still...

01:32There's that.

01:33To be the millionth person to say it, they are still paying for that draft.

01:37You can't just be like, oh, that was just one bad draft.

01:39That was a draft where you borderline couldn't miss, and they missed.

01:42Over and over and over and over again.

01:44I brought up how it's like, you know, Nikhil Harry, but you correctly pointed out.

01:47It's like drafting three Nikhil Harrys and then having A.J. Brown and D.K.

01:51And, like, the best guy there is DeBrusque, who's fine.

01:54He's an NHL player.

01:55I mean, the other two guys weren't even NHL players.

01:57But that was another one of Sweeney's defense.

01:59He was like, oh, a lot of guys we drafted are, like, played in the NHL.

02:03Yeah.

02:03Like, what?

02:04Wow, congrats.

02:04That's the baseline now?

02:05Awesome work.

02:06They all kind of stink with the...

02:07I mean, a couple of exceptions.

02:09Obviously, Charlie McAvoy is a really good pick.

02:11That was in 2016, number 14 overall.

02:14They got Swayman, and I know right now stocked down on Swayman.

02:18No, but that's a good pick.

02:19That's a good pick.

02:19Good pick.

02:20Fourth-round pick.

02:21I mean, just about everybody else.

02:24Like, I'll give you Trent Frederick, and then you traded him away.

02:27And, I don't know, maybe minus Lowry will turn into something.

02:30We'll see.

02:31We've been hearing getting sold a bill of goods on Fabian Lysel.

02:34I don't know.

02:35It's a bad...

02:36Now, when I would defend him, and Sweeney didn't even do...

02:39Or Neely didn't even do this.

02:41They've traded a lot of first-round picks at the deadline.

02:45Well, he kind of did.

02:46Remember with DuPont, he went back and forth, and he's like,

02:48well, where are we drafting?

02:50You know, he's like, we're not many top 10 picks in there.

02:52That's what he's like.

02:52You've got to hit on the top 10.

02:53So, the other ones, I guess, are all dart throws.

02:55So, I guess he's not really worried about any of their picks until this year.

02:58This year, they're in the top 10.

02:59So, you know, I just find the whole thing to be, you know, such a turnoff.

03:02And it's incredible.

03:04Well, 10 years ago, that draft was 10 years ago.

03:07Yeah.

03:08And, like, he's still getting flack forward.

03:10It's still thrown in his face, and he's still the GM.

03:12You could bungle that draft so badly.

03:14It's not like they've won a cup in the meantime.

03:16They've not won a cup, but they have...

03:18They went to a cup final.

03:19They went to a cup final, and they've won a lot of games.

03:20Most regular season games in NHL history, and gags spectacularly.

03:24I mean, they've had some massive, massive chokes.

03:26They've been through various coaches, as you pointed out.

03:29And the guy burned it to the ground in his first draft,

03:31and he's still the GM a decade later,

03:33and they're rewarding him for missing the playoffs.

03:36Yeah.

03:36I mean, that's the optics of it.

03:38You missed the playoffs.

03:39Congrats.

03:39Here's a two-year extension, which is just wild.

03:42617-779-7937.

03:44We'll get into Bill and his reported engagement.

03:47Yeah, congrats.

03:48Which, as the text line is pointing out,

03:49may or may not be news to him based on the way that story was written

03:52in the New York Times.

03:52That's true.

03:53There's more items in there.

03:54We'll get into that coming up in just a moment.

03:56But Bob in London, Derry, wants to discuss Don Sweeney's extension.

03:58Go ahead, Bob.

04:00Hey, I agree with everything you're saying.

04:03It's very obvious.

04:05Sweeney was supposed to go a long time ago.

04:07Instead, he gets rewarded.

04:09But that's just how the world of sports and the regular world works.

04:13Politics, it doesn't matter.

04:14You fail, you get rewarded.

04:16Imagine Brad Marchand.

04:18He must be sitting back laughing, going,

04:22Thank God I'm out of that place.

04:24Because I can tell you, come this season, like I've been telling you,

04:28do not hold your breath on the Bruins.

04:30One, they need a coach.

04:32They have no goaltender and nobody that can score.

04:35And the guys coming back on the team that are arguably okay

04:38are going to be a year older, a year slower, and a year stupider.

04:43So I don't know what results you're expecting,

04:45but I sure feel bad for the diehard Boston Bruins fans.

04:48It's sad to watch this whole thing fall apart.

04:51Yeah, I'll tell you what.

04:52I love the passion, Bob, but I don't agree with all of it.

04:55No?

04:55Well, what do you disagree with specifically?

04:56They don't have a guy who can score.

04:57Pasternak had 60 goals a couple years ago.

05:00He's a pretty good scorer.

05:00They have a good goal scorer.

05:02I wouldn't say they don't have a goalie.

05:04They definitely have a goalie who needs to turn it around.

05:08Two years ago, he was good.

05:10He only played half the games.

05:11They asked him to play more games this year.

05:13He wasn't ready for camp.

05:14So will Swayman be better?

05:16We'll see.

05:17I don't know.

05:18I'm not as worried about the coach thing.

05:19Should I really be really worried about the coach thing?

05:21They don't have a coach yet?

05:23Well, you do just wonder if guys want to take the job.

05:26So I guess I'd be worried on it on that level,

05:28where it's like a Sweeney,

05:30and really it goes higher than Sweeney.

05:32Neely, the Jacobses, the way they've handled some of these coaches,

05:35Montgomery and Cassidy.

05:36But if it goes south, they're just going to fire him anyway.

05:39Right.

05:39But is there a hesitation to take the job,

05:42especially when you look at all the talent they traded away?

05:44I mean, that would be my level of concern.

05:46I'll tell you what Sweeney should do.

05:48If you want to win back the fan base a little bit, quit.

05:50Well, that.

05:51If he traded Sweeney, it would be a popular move.

05:55Might not be the right move.

05:57Might not be a good move.

05:58I think the smart thing to do, wait it out,

06:01deal with the flack in the meantime,

06:02and hope that he has a better year next year,

06:05because he's outside of this past season,

06:07which was a miserable season, a lost season,

06:10arguably one of the worst seasons by a Bruins goaltender

06:12in the last 25 years.

06:14You ride it out, and you bank on him bouncing back next year.

06:18But if you want a popular PR move that would win you back

06:21with the fan base a little bit,

06:22if they traded Sweeney, I think fans would be very much on board.

06:25I think you could still sell a coach on the Bruins.

06:28I mean, you could be just down the line.

06:30You have Pasternak, McAvoy, Sweeney.

06:32One of the reasons why the team was so bad last year,

06:34you can explain, is that Sweeney missed camp

06:37and was the whole contract thing.

06:39That's settled.

06:40That's out of the way.

06:40This is how you have to sell it.

06:41McAvoy missed a ton of games down the stretch.

06:44One of the reasons why they kind of tanked

06:46and went in the toilet.

06:48But you have those three guys that are all young.

06:49They're all under contract.

06:51So you sort of center it around them.

06:53Like, I don't know.

06:54I think that is a solid selling point.

06:56And I can't imagine there's super job security

07:01with any of the gigs that are open.

07:03They're all open for a reason.

07:05They all just fired their coach a second ago.

07:06NHL coaching doesn't last very long.

07:09No, but the Rangers and Flyers

07:11weren't exactly good teams last year, right?

07:13Right.

07:14I mean, the Flyers were worse than you, I think.

07:16The Flyers had 76 points.

07:18So same as the Bruins.

07:18I'm sorry.

07:19There wasn't a lot of teams worse than the Bruins.

07:20They were neck and neck.

07:21The Rangers were not a very good team last year.

07:24I mean, they were better than the Bruins,

07:24but they missed the playoffs.

07:25Yeah, yeah, yeah.

07:26Those guys both, they snapped up coaches like that.

07:28Mike Sullivan, who the Bruins we think were in on,

07:30took the Rangers gig.

07:31Rick Tockett, who we think the Bruins were in on,

07:33took the Flyers gig.

07:34So those, to me, look like two guys who either turned you down

07:39or preferred another job to the Bruins.

07:42So I would say, yeah, I have some concerns about that.

07:44Yeah.

07:45But they're not talentless.

07:46I mean, I still think if you believe in Swayman,

07:49looking at it with Pasternak, McAvoy, and Swayman,

07:52you could talk yourself into a decent core there.

07:53I mean, the Rangers haven't had long coaching tenures.

07:58You know, you go back the last several years,

08:00it's kind of similar to the Bruins.

08:01You know, they had Quinn for three years, Gallant for two,

08:04LaViolette for two.

08:06So, I mean, it's not like, oh, we give you a three-year deal,

08:09you're going to see all three of these.

08:11Nope, not happening.

08:12Okay, so there's that news today.

08:13617-779-7937.

08:16We also have the news that Bill Belichick,

08:19and this is, again, according to the New York Times,

08:23Bill Belichick and Jordan Hudson are reportedly engaged.

08:28She is my muse, my flame.

08:30Pretty good.

08:30Not your wife.

08:31Wait a minute.

08:31Update that acknowledgments in the book.

08:33Maybe your wife, yeah.

08:34My fiance.

08:35Do you think he says fiance?

08:36Do you think he's a big fiance?

08:37Well, my fiance.

08:38I bet in that phase you kind of have to be.

08:40Oh, here's my fiance.

08:41Well, because if she's ever in earshot,

08:43and you don't call her the fiance,

08:45you can't be like, that's my girlfriend.

08:46Oh, that's bad news.

08:46That's like, get ready for an all-out war.

08:49I think I did that once.

08:50I did it as well.

08:51Yeah, that's not great.

08:52You're like, oh, that's my girlfriend,

08:53and then it's like, you can't be doing that.

08:54Meet my girlfriend.

08:55She's like, who now?

08:55I was like, huh?

08:57I swallowed a bug.

08:58I gotta go.

09:00Yeah, so I think if she's within earshot,

09:01you're contractually obligated to call her the fiance.

09:03Or she's almost like Daenerys Targaryen,

09:05where he has like 20 titles.

09:06She's like COO of Belichick Industries.

09:09My creative views.

09:10My IDA, right?

09:12Yeah.

09:12My fiance.

09:13You gotta do the whole thing with her.

09:15The laundry.

09:15Breaker of chains.

09:16The unburnt.

09:17Daenerys Stormburn of the House Targaryen.

09:20That's her.

09:21Making her way to all these appearances.

09:23Nice.

09:23I'm excited.

09:24There's definitely no distractions

09:25for the North Carolina football team.

09:26They're gonna be ready to go.

09:27You saw they sold out their whole allotment

09:29of season tickets, though, right?

09:30They should.

09:30So there you go.

09:32I'm interested.

09:32You can make the argument it's going very well

09:34for Bill at North Carolina in some ways.

09:35I personally wouldn't make that argument,

09:37but I guess there's some material for you to do it.

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