By: Andrew Patten | Follow me on Twitter/X @a_patten11
What if I told you that at the beginning of the 2025-2026 National Hockey League season, the Boston Bruins would be comfortably holding the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference in early April? A majority of the fanbase likely wouldn’t have believed me. But as the calendar flips to April 2026, that’s exactly where the Boston Bruins are.
According to MoneyPuck, the Bruins have a 98.2 percent chance of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and in the last week have defeated the Buffalo Sabres, Minnesota Wild, and Dallas Stars—some of the best teams in the National Hockey League. This season has defied outside expectations. While head coach Marco Sturm and star players like David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, and Jeremy Swayman have received their due credit, there’s another man who also deserves recognition: Bruins’ General Manager Don Sweeney.
Don Sweeney’s tenure as the Bruins’ GM has been marked by controversy and strong opinions among fans. His story with Boston began in the summer of 2015, when he traded fan favorite Milan Lucic to the Los Angeles Kings and young defenseman Dougie Hamilton to the Calgary Flames, acquiring each team’s first-round picks in the upcoming draft. With picks 13, 14, and 15 in their possession, the Bruins had a chance to boost their prospect pool. Unfortunately, only one of those picks was a hit with Jake DeBrusk.
He later made a pre-trade deadline move in 2020, acquiring often-injured forward Ondrej Kase from Anaheim for a package that included Boston’s upcoming first-round pick. Kase would appear in just 20 games with the team. While these moves didn’t work in Boston’s favor, Sweeney has also found success in other acquisitions.
For example, during the offseason leading up to the 2018-19 season, Sweeney brought in forward Chris Wagner, who became a staple on Boston’s fourth line. Sweeney also signed veteran goalie Jaroslav Halak to back up Tuukka Rask, forming a formidable duo. At the trade deadline, Sweeney further strengthened the team by acquiring forwards Charlie Coyle and Marcus Johansson. As a result of his impactful decisions, the Bruins reached Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals that year.
Sweeney continued to impact the roster in the summer of 2022, acquiring Pavel Zacha from the New Jersey Devils and bringing back David Krejci after a year abroad in Czechia. By combining these moves with the talents of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, and Boston’s reliable goalie tandem, the Bruins produced the best regular-season performance in NHL history.
Despite these achievements, Sweeney has only been formally recognized once as the league’s top GM, taking home “General Manager of the Year”—now named after Jim Gregory—following the 2018-19 campaign. His contributions made him deserving of that honor, and based on this season’s performance, you could argue he should be a leading candidate again.
The 2025-26 Boston Bruins’ resurgence is rooted in Sweeney’s bold vision. His pivotal decision in March 2025 to trade veteran cornerstones Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, and Brandon Carlo set the stage for a dramatic turnaround. The returns—highlighted by Casey Mittlestadt from the Coyle trade, who now skates on one of the NHL’s best lines, and Fraser Minten from the Carlo deal, emerging as a strong two-way center at 21—demonstrate Sweeney’s strategy in action. Acquiring multiple first-round picks underscored the start of a purposeful retool, positioning Boston for lasting success as they entered the 2025-26 season.
At the outset of NHL Free Agency on July 1st, Sweeney brought in Tanner Jeannot and longtime acquaintance Sean Kuraly to help establish the culture he and newly appointed head coach Marco Sturm envisioned for this season. His targeted acquisitions extended to depth players such as Alex Steeves and Jonathan Aspirot, whose unexpected contributions elevated the Bruins. He wasn’t done there.
Sweeney also brought in forward Viktor Arvidsson in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers, only sacrificing a fifth-round pick in the 2027 draft to bring the veteran forward to Boston. Against expectations, Sweeney and his staff constructed a playoff contender; Boston is now positioned to clinch with seven games left in the regular season. While Dallas General Manager Jim Nill has claimed the award the last three seasons, Don Sweeney is the strongest candidate to end that streak this year.
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