Don Sweeney has to be fired. Even if the NHL has to force the Bruins to do it.
The NHL is a weird thing like all pro-sports leagues are weird. The league is over there, as one thing that functions as a business, and the individual teams are separate corporate entities in their own right. They have independence, and yet we have seen that the NHL under Gary Bettman is willing to put limits on their freedom.
At the time Bettman made those choices to decide for the Florida Panthers if Joel Quenneville should remain in the NHL and for the Winnipeg Jets if Kevin Cheveldayoff could remain their GM, he set a precedent.