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.
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 don't lose.
The only best-on-best event without gold or a championship in that period from 2002 through 2016 was in Torino. Otherwise, it's been all Team Canada.
Armstrong is the Olympic GM for Italy in '26 but felt it smart to spread the load in having Sweeney run 4 Nations. In turn, Sweeney will be part of Armstrong's management staff for the Olympics.
"That's really been interesting, in terms of the level of communication that guys want to have," Sweeney said. "And sharing insights. Right from your own players, all the way down through. That part has been really good. Very, very selfless to a large degree, where guys are just trying to be brutally honest and put forth the naked truth in a lot of ways."
The GMs in the group have let their guard down in this process. They're normally competing with each other -- a natural edge existing even when the relationship is friendly -- but are now committed to sharing their trade secrets in the name of Team Canada.
"It's been educational," Sweeney said. "You certainly know guys and how they run their own team, but when you're working together on things and sharing ideas in a collaborative way, that part has been good."
Team Canada's management group is meeting in person Tuesday and Wednesday in Toronto, taking advantage of everyone being in town for an NHL GMs meeting. Those back-to-back days of Team Canada meetings will be a crucial next step in the roster selection process. They will likely leave those meetings with their list pared down to 30 ahead of getting down to 23 by the Dec. 2 roster deadline.
"This is the first time (this season) that we'll meet as an entire group, but we've had periodical calls," Sweeney said. "We've been doing our own individual mocks and going through the dynamic of the roster and how it looks. So we're pretty tight in how those decisions are being made and how they're starting to streamline.
"We'll have some really good inter-exchange next week, in terms of getting down to the nitty-gritty."
After those meetings, the focus will turn to the few remaining bubble players over the final two weeks.
The hardest part, Sweeney said, is also formulating that standby list of players who hopefully will be willing to stay available if there are injuries between Dec. 2 and Feb. 10.
"Replacements is the wrong word because they all could make the team," Sweeney said. "It's a luxury of riches, to tell you the truth. But you have to have that (replacement list) in order because you may have to go to that next group. Some of them may be available or unavailable based on their own personal situations."
To be blunt, it's about finding out from the players who just missed the cut whether they're booking that trip to the Bahamas for mid-February or willing to keep their schedules open just in case.
Anyone who plays in the 4 Nations figures to have an inside track on making the team for Italy in '26, so given those implications, I would imagine most Plan B players will keep their schedules open.
"It's going to be a hard conversation, but we have no choice to at least reach out to players (who may get the call because of injury)," Sweeney said. "Some guys will want to know if they want to make themselves available and some might not. And that's perfectly fine as far as what their own personal choices are. We have to respect that.
"But we have no choice but to indicate that to people. In one way, it's a disappointing call to get, but in another way it's: 'We're really trying to make hard decisions and you could equally be in this situation as a person we chose.'"
As an example, what do you do with a key Team Canada leader like Drew Doughty, who suffered a broken ankle in the preseason that required surgery? The two-time Olympian is expected back in early January, which would give him four to five weeks of NHL games before the 4 Nations.
"Obviously, Drew would have been a strong consideration," Sweeney said. "He might just not have enough time. That being said, if you have an injury (to another player named) and Drew comes back and plays really, really well, it could happen.
"And having that conversation with (Kings GM) Rob Blake and making sure Drew knew that he was in the mix originally and this might derail it, but then again he might be one of those guys that says to us, 'Hey, I'm in, if something happens.'"
Depending on how Doughty looks when he returns, perhaps he's the top D replacement candidate should Canada suffer an injury post-Dec. 2.
"He's not hoping somebody gets hurt obviously, but by the same regard, he's not taking himself out of the mix if he's back playing at the level he's capable of," Sweeney said.
The fact that the 23-man roster will be announced two and a half months before puck drop is a rather daunting reality, between those potential injuries but also performance fluctuations. But Sweeney feels Canada's lineup will have built-in flexibility to navigate it.
"We have a lot of centers," he said. "Which is a blessing."
There will be a meeting with head coach Jon Cooper to get his input on how he sees all the pieces potentially working together. That will be important input before the final, final roster decisions are made.
And finally on Team Canada, goaltending remains the position where nothing is guaranteed. The idea will be to name three goalies but then wait until February to name the No. 1.
"The hardest thing about the goalie decision is that you have to name three on Dec. 2. If somebody plays really well after that, there's a lot of games (before the 4 Nations event)," Sweeney said. "There's a lot of games. At that position, you want to ride the hot hand. That's probably one of the things where you probably wished you had a longer window."
And what about the other top priority in Sweeney's life?
It hasn't been an ideal season so far for the Bruins, Sweeney acknowledged.
"Not the start that we would have liked to have," Sweeney said. "You've got a lot of players that are off to a slow start. ... It's not one player or two players. There's a lot of players."
This is a bit jarring all at once, but there's also hope that the team hit its rock bottom against the Hurricanes.
"We got embarrassed down in Carolina and that was hopefully a turning point for us to realize, 'Guys, enough is enough,'" said Sweeney, whose team had won two straight before losing 4-0 to the Maple Leafs on Tuesday night.
Even in a Sunday win over the Kraken, there was superstar David Pastrnak getting benched.
If you're looking at the glass half full, that certainly shows that the meritocracy that has made the Bruins' culture so strong over the years remains.
"Charlie Coyle and Charlie McAvoy both said it best: It shows you that we are about trying to play the right way," Sweeney said. "Results are what matter in this business. We all know that. And David's numbers are not down significantly, in terms of a production standpoint -- they're a little off. It's just about forcing the issue at times in his decision-making that bleeds into wherever else is at."
As Sweeney sees it, the benching was head coach Jim Montgomery giving an opportunity to other players to step up to close out a win.
"It sort of lends confidence to other plays," Sweeney said. "We've made a conscious decision where other guys are going to be able to get a job done in a 2-0 hockey game and need to go out and execute."
"Now, did Monty make a conscious decision that (Pastrnak) was never going to play the entire third period? No. He didn't. He just said, 'I'm going to start this way because it's the right decision for our hockey club, and David's a big enough leader that he will be able to handle it the right way.'"
Speaking of Montgomery, one topic that won't go away is that the Bruins head coach is on an expiring deal. That fact gets especially highlighted when the team opens up the season like it has. But Sweeney downplayed the significance of that.
"I don't think it's any different than me having to continue conversations with several players that were identified when I was asked earlier in camp whether or not we've looked at extensions," Sweeney said. "We have. We've been proactive in that regard. It's not always the team's fault if you don't come to an agreement at a particular time. That's really how I left it. Everybody's in the same boat."
Including the coach. So let's see where it goes with Montgomery and the team's pending UFAs.
"Doesn't mean talks have stopped," the Bruins GM said.
Which brings us to Brad Marchand, one of those pending UFAs. Sweeney continues to talk extension on his captain with agent Wade Arnott.
"I'm going to sit down and continue to talk to Wade and Bard and work to try and find common ground," Sweeney said. "That's where we're at."
Lots to do, lots to do. Both for the Bruins and Team Canada.