What a mess. Those were my initial thoughts during Friday's Bruins' roster overhaul, and 72 hours later those thoughts still hold true.
I've tried to give myself a little time to step back and see the moves from another perspective, but to this point I still have no idea what new GM Don Sweeney was thinking as he made a flurry of moves just prior to the first round of the NHL draft.
In all fairness, I did not hate the trade of Milan Lucic to the Kings for defenseman prospect Colin Miller, goalie Martin Jones, and the 13th overall pick. Lucic is expensive ($6 million/season) and inconsistent, and getting a very good prospect in Miller to go with a mid-first round pick was pretty good value.
If the Bruins are in fact rebuilding, this wasn't a bad move by Sweeney. Unfortunately this move came just about an hour after Sweeney pulled off one of the most confusing moves I've ever seen the B's make.
Of course, I'm referencing the deal that sent the Bruins best asset, 22-year-old Dougie Hamilton, to the Calgary Flames in exchange for the 14th pick in the first round, and two second round selections.
This was not a deal a rebuilding team makes. It's a deal that a foolish (or cheap, or maybe both) team makes.
Hamilton is not perfect, but he's still years from his prime and the Bruins had the inside track to re-sign him as he was only a restricted free agent. If he did leave, the B's were set to be compensated fairly as the NHL's CBA forces team's that sign restricted free agents to send draft picks to the team that loses the player.
With Hamilton signing for $5.5 million, the Bruins would have received Calgary's first, second, and third round picks in next year's draft, a haul just slightly worse than the first rounder and two second rounders they received in the draft-night deal. The Bruins passed on paying Hamilton fair market value for an elite young defenseman, and instead dealt his rights for an additional second rounder as opposed to a third.
Yikes.
Compounding this extremely confusing decision were two other moves: the Bruins failure to move up in the first round despite controlling three valuable mid-first round picks, and the signing of Adam McQuaid to a 4-year extension.
I'm not about to call any of the three players the Bruins drafted in the first round a bust, as we have no idea what they might become. One could become a superstar, or all three could become valuable contributors down the line.
