Just when we thought things couldn’t get any worse for Don Sweeney following the shocking Brad Marchand news, there emerged… Don Sweeney’s newest clip. Yes, that’s right, there is currently a video doing the rounds that captured the literal ‘game-changing’ moment where Sweeney announced the Marchand trade. And let’s just say, fans voiced their opinions, but surely, by now, all NHL GMs should know the cameras are always rolling, right?

Let’s just take a moment to remember Brad Marchand, oh captain, former captain, who after 16 seasons with the team and a Stanley Cup win in 2011, was traded to the Panthers! Obviously, this decision sent shockwaves across the Bruin community, with fans rushing to critique Sweeney’s foresight, or lack thereof. However, as the dust settled, some saw the strategy in Sweeney’s plan. He was thinking ahead, some said, trying to keep the team strong while planning for the future. Maybe Sweeney indeed had a lot of foresight that fans didn’t because of how beloved Marchand is to the city of Boston, and vice versa.

However, just when everybody seemed to be catching their breath and accepting the truth of the trade, when, heck, maybe Marchand was even warming up to the idea of driving out to Daytona Beach for the weekends… Don Sweeney’s newest clip emerged. And, let’s just say, if a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video amounts to a novel, if not, at least, an entire Rotten Tomatoes review, causing, all in all, the settled dust to rise back up into a full-on whirlwind this time.

Let’s set the stage. We are in the Bruins headquarters; Don Sweeney is on the phone in another room just as the trade deadline approaches. He walks into the room, wasting no time when he casually says, “Florida just traded for March.” There is pin-drop silence, but a keen listener can pick up on someone saying, “Jesus,” under their breath. Whether it was Sweeney’s casual demeanor through this devastating announcement—he even at one point, before the “second round pick in ’27” part of the announcement—picks up and shakes his iced coffee (the gall!) or the resounding feeling of doom that was palpable in the room as everyone fell to silence, the video of Don Sweeney announcing the Brad Marchand trade definitely got fans talking again.

Another Don Sweeney disasterclass? The results are in, and fans have voted YES!

Now, as you can probably expect, the clip generated a maelstrom of fan discussion. First off, some fans took offense with the act of filming itself: “They filmed when the got rid of a young Tyler Seguin also. How did that work out? Think they will film Sweeney getting fired, oh that will never happen. The team will just continue to suck and fans will pay outrageous $$ to go see a suck AHL team. The B is dead.” 

It’s not surprising that tensions are still high following the trade, especially considering the team’s recent performances. After all, shipping 12 goals in 2 games will do wonders to tank morale. And the 2013 Tyler Seguin trade is an apt comparison too—it was an equally divisive trade that was panned at the time, with hindsight only making their decision look worse as Seguin continued to excel for the Dallas Stars.

Some could not handle Sweeney’s utterly stoic, maybe even verging on ice-cold, demeanor: “Zero emotion trading away one of the staple guys of your organization. Wow.” Knowing how emotional the trade was for Marchand and the fans, contrasted by this clinical approach to it, certainly hasn’t done anything good for Sweeney’s already low reputation.

The rollercoaster of emotions was definitely running, with some even commenting on how hilarious Don Sweeney’s newest clip was…albeit sarcastically. “Just a hilarious video. Sweeney felt more and more pain with every word he said and he knew how bad it sounded,” said one fan, also zeroing in on his cold demeanor.

Ah, yes, to add to the above, there was also the very frank and to-the-point, LMAO, why release this??”  Which is indeed a good question. Why would the organization release this video that would curry them any favors or do them any benefits? And then of course here is the tweet that best summed up the true crux of this entire debacle: “This makes it so much worse.”

We can’t argue with the last one; the shaking of the iced coffee didn’t bode too well in parallel with Marchand’s emotionally charged press conference. And so continues Don Sweeney’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad month.