In another episode of “what in the bloody hell are the Boston Bruins doing?”, it was announced Monday afternoon that the Bruins have traded a 3rd-round pick to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for forward Zac Rinaldo.
Bruins trade a third-round pick in 2017 for Zac Rinaldo. What is going on?
— Scott Cullen (@tsnscottcullen) June 29, 2015
The Bruins were considered the laughing stock of the draft after making not one, not two, but three controversial trades that have left fans in an enraged frenzy. First and foremost was the trade that sent elite young-defenseman Dougie Hamilton to the Calgary Flames in exchange for a first round pick, as well as two second round picks. Shortly after, the Bruins traded Milan Lucic to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for an unneeded goaltender in Martin Jones, Colin Miller and a first round pick. And in a relatively small trade, yet completely incomprehensible, the Bruins swapped their third round pick for the Minnesota Wild’s third round pick in next years draft.
After the Bruins first two trades, many fans in the NHL were giving general manager Don Sweeney the benefit of the doubt, and were willing to wait and see where he would go from there before chastising the moves. This was due to the fact that it was believed that the Bruins were going to package their newly-acquired first round picks and send them to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for the third overall draft pick. This wasn’t their plan, however, as the Bruins decided to make all three draft picks – and in doing so drafted two players in the first round who weren’t projected to be drafted until the late-30’s and 40’s in the draft. Therefore not only did the Bruins jump the gun in regards to trades, but also the drafting aspect of the weekend as well.
And now, although it may have felt as if things couldn’t get much more worse for the Bruins, they acquired Zac Rinaldo, a forward who had 1 goal and 5 assists in 58 games with the Philadelphia Flyers last season. This is a trade that is yet again incomprehensible. Rinaldo doesn’t necessarily bring anything to the table, unless of course the Bruins are trying to fill the void of making threats towards opponents left by Lucic. Even then, it’s not like Rinaldo see’s a whole lot of ice-time anyway. He came close to doubling Lucic’s penalty-in-minutes stat, despite Lucic playing in 13 more games in 2013-2014.
It’s fair to say that, once again, the Bruins have managed to screw up. And not by a little bit. The Bruins have made mistakes all weekend which has me wondering, what did higher-management see in Don Sweeney? And how much longer will this go on before changes are made once again? I love being optimistic, and I would love to believe that Sweeney has a master plan to make up for this mess. However, given everything that has happened, it almost looks as if it’s going to be a downward spiral from here.
This is bound to be a bumpy ride, so buckle up, Bruins fans.
