According to ESPN, Boston has emerged as a leading destination in the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes. No deal is on the table (that we know of), but the mere possibility might raise a few concerns.
Boston, MA
Despite progress, Neely and Sweeney say Bruins have a long way to go
The Bruins made the requisite progress in Year One of the Great Retool. But they are still a giant step or two away from being an actual Stanley Cup contender.
That was the general gist of 45-minute rehash and look ahead from CEO Charlie Jacobs, team president Cam Neely and GM Don Sweeney on Wednesday at the Garden.
Simply put, they are not good enough now to compete with the top teams in the league who are still playing hockey. Their performance against the Buffalo Sabres in the first round made that obvious.
“We need more talent. We need more speed,” said Neely. “That’s something we have to try to acquire in one way, shape of form. But you look at the elite teams in the league and we’re not there.”
That part of the job will fall upon Sweeney.
The team accomplished much of what management it reasonably could, give the turnover from last season’s trade deadline. The B’s were a tougher out and, in the regular season at least, they made the Garden an unpleasant place to play for most teams. And they had a 100-point season, which exceeded most, if not all predictions, on their way to a playoff berth.
But all season, they allowed more high danger chances and leaned too heavily on excellent goaltending. And in the playoffs, the thinness of the talent showed up. Sweeney talked about needing to make more in-game adjustments now that the foundation of coach Marco Sturm’s hybrid man/zone system has been implemented. More talent would help him to do that.
“(Cutting down chances against) is definitely an area that we have to continue to get better at. It has been a staple of our organization and we had a big change and hopefully our players continue to adapt to it,” said Sweeney, who said the team played to its desired standards at times but not consistently enough.
The talent level is tied to the X’s and O’s.
“That’s part of the process for us to continue to deepen our roster, to add some speed to our roster so that when Marco wants to flip a switch and change the system, he feels more comfortable to do that,” said Sweeney.
One thing they need to find, and Neely laid out on the table, is a number one center. They thought it was going to be Elias Lindholm when they signed him to a seven-year, $54.25 million contract two summers ago. But he has not been able to be that guy.
“We all in this room recognize we don’t have a true number one C. That’s something we want to try to rectify, whether it’s this offseason or those guys (Fraser Minten or James Hagens) growing into it. But it’s something we know is needed,” said Neely.
Sweeney certainly sounded like he was leaning toward developing one in-house, whether it’s Minten or perhaps down the road Hagens. True number one centers, guys who excel at both ends of the ice like a Patrice Bergeron or Anze Kopitar or Sasha Barkov, don’t often change teams.
“When you do make a call about a player of that nature, the guy on the other side says, ‘There’s not even 32 of them in the league,’ ” said Sweeney. “We feel pretty good about this year that, by committee, our guys did a pretty good job. And Fraser spent some time up in that spot, which is not an easy spot to play in. You’re seeing a hell of lot harder matchups, you’re playing with a star player and you’re trying to navigate (your own game).”
It sounded again like the approach with Hagens is to allow him to get his feet under him at wing and then try him at center. How long that takes will be up to him.
“I think it’s fool’s gold to try and accelerate somebody in their natural progression,” said Sweeney.
As for Lindholm, he’s been hindered by a back injury for his two seasons with the Bruins. What is the concern level there?
“Elias talked about what his summer is going to look like and how he’s going to attack that, so right away he’s aware that he would like to train a little differently and adapt to what he needs to do to be healthy enough to make the impact he wants to make,” said Sweeney. “He even referenced that the Olympics, albeit it’s a dream, he might have been able to use that time a little more effectively in terms of recovery and rest … injuries are not a player’s fault. It’s a matter of what you can do in training to counteract that. And he’s willing to put that work in.”
Some other topics of note:
*Sweeney lauded Mason Lohrei’s improvement this season but believes he can increase the urgency in his defensive game.
“There’s a stubbornness there because he’s able to execute some of the skill plays that I wasn’t and you applaud that,” said Sweeney. “Now can he play with the same conviction that you’d want every one of our players, the way (Jonathan Aspirot) would play, and close? That’s the balancing act. Mason’s got a lot of upside.”
*Though not definitive, it sounds like the B’s will be naming a captain. They had pretty much a two-headed captain this season with David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy with Hampus Lindholm wearing the third A.
“Obviously we’d love to name a captain. But we’ve had some great captains here so one of the things we want to do is make sure we’re picking the right guy. Marco’s going to be a big part of that,” said Neely, adding the group has already had discussions about it.
*With two extra first-round picks over the next three years, Sweeney said he’d willing to make an offer sheet to an RFA but was doubtful that the time was right for it this year with the cap going up to $104 million from $95.5 million, giving teams more flexibility to match.
“(St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong) described it very well. If his mom was running another team, he’d still do it. And I think we all have to look at it that way. We’re friendly but we’re not brotherly in terms of how we operate as general managers,” said Sweeney. “You have to execute when it presents. I just think it will be a little more difficult with the cap going up and the space most teams have.”
*Sweeney was non-committal when the subject of UFAs-to-be Viktor Arvidsson and Andrew Peeke came up.
“We’ll explore whether we can bring either or both back,” he said.
*The B’s will be well represented at the World Championships. Hagens, Lohrei and Sean Kuraly will be going for Team USA, Joonas Korpisalo and Henri Jokiharju for Finland and Minten for Canada.
*Sweeney said no Bruin will require offseason surgery.
Concern numero uno is obvious. Giannis is one of the handful of players capable of altering the championship picture by himself. Pairing him with Jayson Tatum would create an impressive combination of size, athleticism, versatility, and star power. The question is whether Brad Stevens and the Celtics can actually pull it off without creating a new set of problems for themselves.
Boston’s path to Giannis is narrower than it first appears. The Celtics would almost certainly need to move Jaylen Brown, either directly to Milwaukee or through a third team. Reports indicate Brown has little interest in joining the Bucks (in paraphrase: “Milwaukee?! Yuck!”), which complicates matters further. We start moving from a blockbuster trade to a three-team puzzle involving contracts, draft compensation, and competing agendas.
Even if Boston finds a way through that maze, there’s no guarantee the resulting team will succeed.
Giannis may be a better asset than Brown, but championships are not won by comparing players one-for-one. They’re won by building complete teams (case in point: YOUR WORLD CHAMPION NEW YORK KNICKERBOCKERS ).
Brown averaged more than 28 points per game last season while defending multiple positions. He can create his own offense, punish smaller defenders, and absorb primary scoring responsibilities when Tatum is unavailable (as Tatum was for most of last season, recovering from a torn Achilles). Replacing him with Giannis raises Boston’s ceiling, perhaps, but also changes the structure of the roster.
The Celtics have spent years building an ecosystem around two star wings. Remove one and the supporting cast suddenly becomes more important, which means Stevens would have many more decisions to make before the start of training camp.
What catches me up is, if the Bucks believed that Giannis has more great years ahead of him, would they so quickly offload him to a conference rival? Might he actually be a distressed asset?
Giannis will turn 32 this season. He has generally been durable over his career but has dealt with increasing lower-body issues (especially calves and knees) in recent years, leading to more missed time. To wit:
• 2022–23: 63 GP / 19 missed
• 2023–24: 73 GP / 9 missed
• 2024–25: 67 GP / 15 missed
• 2025–26: 36 GP / 46 missed
Wouldn’t that just be the worst if the Celts parted with Brown to get him, and then Giannis missed extended time due to injury? Like, the absolute worst? (Insert diabolical laughter.)
A healthy Tatum-Giannis pairing would present unique challenges for New York. The Knicks would need to defend relentless downhill pressure while also containing one of the league’s best bucket creators. But, given their depth, New York may be better equipped than most teams to handle it.
So if the Celtics’ pursuit of Giannis causes an initial flutter of worry, you can let that just drift on by. The scenario only noses toward Red Alert if Boston nabs him while somehow also acquiring a guard who makes up for what they’d lose with Brown’s departure.
But wait! This just in: Chris Haynes has pushed back on the idea that a Giannis Antetokounmpo-to-Boston deal is close. He writes that Boston does not appear to be a promising destination and suggested the situation could extend into July. Additionally, Marc Stein reported that the Celtics are frustrated by speculation involving Jaylen Brown, while Brian Windhorst said Brown has not been formally offered in a trade. So, to quote the great William Goldman (also a Knicks fan), “Nobody knows anything.”
It’s worth noting that the Miami Heat are also reportedly in the mix. We’ve heard that the lack of income tax is alluring to the Greek Freak. Plus Florida offers sunny, warm weather, which is not a defining feature of Wisconsin. In the end, though, joining Boston would allow Giannis to keep all his favorite green-themed items in his wardrobe, and shouldn’t looking good be a priority, too?
BOSTON — The Boston Bruins said Thursday they are retiring Patrice Bergeron’s No. 37 as part of a ceremony next season.
The date will be shared later, following the NHL schedule release that is expected next month.
Bergeron is set to join fellow 2011 Stanley Cup champion Zdeno Chara with his number in the rafters. Bergeron, when it happens, will be the 14th player to have his number retired by the storied franchise.
He spent his entire 19-year career in the league with the Bruins, playing 1,464 games counting the regular season and playoffs. That included the title run in 2011 and more trips to the final in ’13 and ’19.
“Patrice was the kind of rare, generational talent that every team wanted,” owner Jeremy Jacobs said in a statement. “He was a deftly skilled playmaker and the undeniable greatest defensive forward in the NHL’s history. But it was the leadership he provided on the ice and in the locker room that made him truly stand apart and an all-time legend of the Boston Bruins.”
Bergeron succeeded Chara as captain in 2020 and served three seasons in that role before retiring. He called this an honor that is difficult to put into words.
“When I arrived in Boston as an 18-year-old, I could never have imagined receiving this recognition one day,” Bergeron said. “I have always believed that any success I had was only possible because of the people around me. I was fortunate to play alongside incredible teammates, learn from outstanding coaches and staff and be supported by an organization that believed in me from the very beginning.”
Craig Ferguson set out on foot from Los Angeles with a remarkable goal: to walk 3,500 miles across America. It took him 109 days.
Last week, I had the privilege of joining him for his final steps into Boston. In those first moments after completing his journey, I asked him what the experience had been like. Without hesitation, he called it the hardest thing he had ever done.
What began as a mission to raise money for SAMH, a Scottish charity that provides mental health and social care support, became something far greater. Along the way, Craig inspired thousands of people and helped raise more than $1 million. His arrival in Boston also came amid the excitement surrounding Scotland’s appearance in the World Cup, giving his home country even more reason to celebrate.
Craig’s commitment to mental health advocacy is perhaps best expressed in his own words: “Mental health doesn’t care who you are or where you’re from. It can meet you along the road, sometimes when you least expect it.”
Those words resonate deeply with me. I was raised by a mother who faced significant mental health challenges, and I know firsthand how important support systems can be for individuals and families. Organizations like SAMH provide hope when people need it most. Equally important is continuing to normalize conversations about mental health and recognizing that it is a health issue that touches every community and every walk of life.
There are countless routes Craig could have taken and many cities where he could have chosen to conclude this extraordinary journey. The fact that he finished in Boston is something we should be proud of.
Boston has always been a city defined by resilience, compassion, and perseverance. Those qualities are why “Boston Strong” means so much to so many people. Craig Ferguson may be Scottish by birth, but through his determination, his generosity, and his commitment to helping others, he has embodied that spirit.
As we welcome him to our beautiful and sports-loving city, we thank him for reminding us that even the longest journeys begin with a single step, and that no one should have to walk through life’s struggles alone.
Craig Ferguson is Boston Strong.
Anne Brensley is the Republican-endorsed candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts.
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