BOSTON — The Boston Bruins have elevated Don Sweeney to general manager.

Sweeney has spent the past six seasons as the assistant general manager and takes over for his former boss, Peter Chiarelli, who was fired last month after the team missed the playoffs for the first time in eight years and four years after a Stanley Cup championship.

Bruins President Cam Neely says in a statement Wednesday that the former NHL defenseman “has excelled in every role he has been in with the Bruins organization.”

Sweeney was the Bruins eighth-round draft pick in 1984 and played four years at Harvard University before a 16-year NHL career, 15 with the Bruins and one with the Dallas Stars. He still ranks third on the team’s games played list.