Like Cam would admit that he did?
Neely denies ever wanting to fire Claude Julien
Cam also told Hags
http://www.csnne.com/boston-bruins/neely-sweeney-have-bruins-moving-new-direction
Neely denies ever wanting to fire Claude Julien
There were reports last season that Neely wanted Julien fired in the middle of last season, and, in an interview with CSNNE.com, the club president wanted to set the record straight.
It’s obvious Julien wouldn’t still be with the team now if Neely wanted him gone, and he says there wasn’t a single time last season when he thought of firing Julien.
“I have no idea where that [report] came from, but I never uttered those words," Neely said. "[Firing Julien] is not something that I thought about at all. Just because I made a quote in 2010 or 2011" -- telling WAAF radio You can't win games 0-0" in 2010-11, a year the B's eventually won the Cup -- " I never uttered that to the Jacobs family. I never uttered that to [Peter] Chiarelli. That’s something I really didn’t like when I heard about it and read it, because it wasn’t true.
“If that was the case, then we would have let [Claude] go. He’s a very good coach, he’s had success in this league and he’s done a great job here. I think he’s one of the best coaches in the league. This is an opportunity where we all feel like we can improve upon things and tweak them a little bit, and that’s something [Julien] has talked to Donnie about quite a bit. I think you always have to evolve as a team, and he and his staff are willing to do that.â€
Cam also told Hags
“Don had a plan that we talked about, that we presented and we really thought we could accomplish,†said Neely. “We knew that it might be a little rocky and bumpy, and we also knew that it would entail [free agency]. There would be plenty of opportunities to second guess (prior to all the moves being made), but we also know that people don’t really know what’s going on inside the four walls [at the Bruins offices], and the conversations that are happening.
“We felt like we had to clean up our cap problems, and get out from under that. We needed a chance to add without subtracting all the time. I think what Don was able to accomplish on July 1, whether it was signing Matt Beleskey or trading for Jimmy Hayes, really assured people that there was some kind of a plan. We weren’t tuned into [the criticism], but we could certainly feel it and were prepared for it.â€
http://www.csnne.com/boston-bruins/neely-sweeney-have-bruins-moving-new-direction