TORONTO — There is no such thing as a day off in the world of Don Sweeney right now. The Bruins general manager is balancing what has been a drama-filled season so far in Boston — from the heated contract negotiation with goaltender Jeremy Swayman to a tepid start on the ice — with his duties as Team Canada’s GM for the 4 Nations team, which includes daily communication with the management group scouting non-Bruins games. Advertisement Rest is for when you’re dead.
Sweeney sat down with The Athletic this week, chatting about the Bruins and Team Canada — and how his worlds overlap every day with Canada’s management team constantly sharing player observations. Time-consuming? Sure. But well worth it as an experience.
“It’s a real honor, first and foremost, to be amongst the peer group and be working with Doug (Armstrong) and those guys and having confidence in each other to put together a team for the first time in a while, best on best. It’s been humbling to a degree. “Just a collection of people that have amassed so much individual accomplishments, your ears are perked open in terms of listening to people and how we’re going to build a team.
It’s exciting. It’s a privilege.” As Wayne Gretzky (2002 Salt Lake, 2004 World Cup of Hockey, 2006 Torino), Steve Yzerman (2010 Vancouver , 2014 Sochi) and Armstrong (2016 World Cup of Hockey) all lived, being the GM of Team Canada is an incredible experience with the small, little caveat of making sure you d.