{"id":786948,"date":"2026-07-27T08:18:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T08:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/786948\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T08:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T08:18:15","slug":"former-bruins-prospect-sent-packing-seeks-fresh-start-in-the-metropolitan-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/786948\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Bruins prospect sent packing seeks fresh start in the Metropolitan Division"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5l\">Let&#8217;s face it, there have been some issues for Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney during his tenure in charge of a franchise that he played for. Enough Bruins fans could find multiple flaws and issues with the former NHL defenseman.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5o\">At the top of that list is the inability the Black and Gold have had over the last decade in picking and developing prospects. It&#8217;s just been a nightmare, to put it bluntly. There is no other way around it. It has been a weak point for the organization from the top to the bottom.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5r\">That continued with defenseman Ryan Mast, who was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/blackhawks\/news\/release-blackhawks-acquire-ryan-mast-and-draft-pick-from-bruins\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">traded by Sweeney in June of 2025<\/a> to the Chicago Blackhawks for defenseman Victor Soderstrom. Mast was selected in the sixth round of the <a href=\"https:\/\/causewaycrowd.com\/boston-bruins-2021-draft-class-where-are-they-now\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2021 NHL Entry Draft by Boston<\/a> and was seen as a potential physical defenseman who could blossom into a bottom-pairing NHL blueliner. That didn&#8217;t end up being the case, and after two seasons in the Bruins&#8217; minor leagues, he was traded to the Blackhawks.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5u\">It made sense that Chicago would take a flyer on him, but after one season in the organization in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Rockford Icehogs. He played in 46 games with 14 assists, but he hit free agency and signed with a Metropolitan Division club.<\/p>\n<p>Former Bruins prospect signs with the Pittsburgh Penguins AHL affilite<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"60\">Mast is making the move from the Blackhawks organization to the Pittsburgh Penguins after inking a deal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wbspenguins.com\/penguins-bring-back-harvey-pinard-sign-mcging-and-mast\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">with their AHL affiliate<\/a>, Wilkes-Barre. <a href=\"https:\/\/causewaycrowd.com\/2021\/12\/22\/bruins-prospects-draft-picks-playing-juniors\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The 23-year-old<\/a> is looking for a fresh start with his third organization since being drafted five years ago.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"63\">He has yet to play in an NHL game, but the 6-foot-5 Michigan native is hoping the third time is the charm with the Penguins organization. He played in 44 games for the P-Bruins over two seasons, with five assists and a plus\/minus of plus-2. In 2023-24, he played in 47 games for the Maine Mariners in the ECHL with five goals and 16 points.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow causewaycrowd.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=causewaycrowd.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let&#8217;s face it, there have been some issues for Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney during his tenure&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786949,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-786948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}