Steve Conroy: Bruins regain some of their identity

“You start to realize that ‘OK, that’s a little bit of what we had and what we missed,’” said Sweeney.

On the mammoth Zadorov, his strong payoff run in Vancouver (5-5-10 in 13 games) was an eye-opener, but Sweeney felt he started to turn the corner before that. The GM suggested that he could be a top pairing partner with Charlie McAvoy but also said there are a number of possibilities.

“I think playing for (Darryl) Sutter (in Calgary) was really important for him and got him into an understanding of what he’s capable of doing each and every night,” said Sweeney. “Then going to Vancouver and playing in the playoff environment, you really started to see the player he’s capable of being. His game has continued to evolve and that’s exciting to us in realizing how he can complement a number of different partners, depending on how Monty and the staff wants to align him.”

Hovering over the proceedings on Monday was the fact that goalie Jeremy Swayman has yet to be signed, and his number could come in close to $8 million a season. In a perfect world, Sweeney would have been able to sign a scoring winger who could replace the departing Jake DeBrusk’s goals but any Swayman deal, which Sweeney again termed a priority, did not leave the B’s enough in cap space to make more of a splash at the wing position.

Instead, it opens the door wide for Fabian Lysell or Georgii Merkulov or Riley Duran from Providence to grab a spot, or the newly acquired Jones to play higher in the lineup.

Sweeney’s message to Lysell and the rest of the young forwards?

“Just pin your ears back, train your ass off this summer and come with the intent that there’ll be an opportunity here. If you’re the best player then we’ll find a way to get you in the lineup,” said Sweeney. “Those guys should have clear intentions to find an opportunity to beat someone out. Because it’ll be there.”

Nearly two months since being eliminated, Sweeney is still smarting over the loss to the Panthers. He felt Games 4 and 6 were winnable and that the B’s should have at least pushed the series to a Game 7 with the eventual champs. Playoff games come down to one or two plays, and the B’s just didn’t make enough of them.

“That would be the one single push-back I’d have on Monty in his comment. Yeah, you can win 2-1 in those situations. Because you probably have to more often than not. The margins are small,” he said.

If the players live up to their contracts, Sweeney closed those margins on Monday.

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