BOSTON BRUINS PRESIDENT CAM NEELY…
On an extension for Don Sweeney…
“I started talking with Charlie [Jacobs] and Mr. [Jeremy] Jacobs after the deadline about extending Don, so that’s my plan, is to do that.”
On if that is also Mr. Jacobs’ plan…
“Yes.”
On what’s left to do for the extension…
“I’m going to sit down with Don in the next day or two and hopefully hammer something out.”
On if there’s a reason an extension wasn’t done sooner…
“To be honest, I really wanted to see how the year went. We had a lot of changes in the last offseason, so I just really wanted to see how that played out. Obviously, you get January, February, March – really good months for us. The team really came together. I thought we had a lot of depth and I was happy with what he did at the deadline.”
On where he thinks the team fell short…
“You look at playoff hockey on the road, you’ve got to think 5-on-5, your top guys are going to get shut down. So your power play has got to come through, your depth has got to come through. Game 7, I wasn’t really happy with our game at all. I don’t think it was anywhere near our best game that we could have played as a team. We had one power play, and that was them putting the puck over the glass, so we didn’t draw any penalties. And our secondary scoring kind of dried up on us. You need that in the playoffs, especially on the road.”
On if there’s anything to target after the playoffs…
“You’re always analyzing and dissecting your club, throughout the whole year really. But the playoffs certainly gave me some indication that we’ve got to do a little better job of getting inside the dots. Maybe not try to have such a rush mentality. I thought we were getting a little stubborn at times, turning pucks over the blue line, whether it was an entry on the power play or 5-on-5. I think at times, you’ve got to take what’s given to you and sometimes you’ve got to dump it in and go get it and grind it out.”
On getting a power forward….
“It would be great to have someone like that, there’s no question. I think every team would love that, and the teams that have them, they hang on to them. They don’t let them go. It’s just a matter of the scouting department going to work and trying to find someone for us.”
On if getting to the inside ice is more personnel or coaching decisions…
“I think it’s a combination of both, really. I mean, like I said, I think we try to have clean breakouts, and rightfully so. We try to be a rush team, but at times — especially a team like Carolina — they’re going to stand up. They’re not going to give you too many opportunities to have chances off the rush, so you’ve got to create chances elsewhere.”
On Patrice Bergeron…
“He understands that we have decisions to make coming up here. So, with him in the lineup is different than without him. Obviously, the year that he had, I hope he feels good about his game still, because he had a pretty damn good year. So hopefully he’s mentally prepared to have another one. You’ve got to give him some time to digest all that and talk with his family about it. But we have decisions to make coming up as well.”
On if the team could survive without a first-line center…
“I think it would be challenging to have the year that we had without a Bergeron. It’s tough to find a Bergeron. Hopefully he does come back. But if he doesn’t, we’ve got to go to work.”
On if there is an appetite for a rebuild if Bergeron doesn’t come back…
“I’ve been looking at that for a while now. As your core players and your better players start to age out, you do have to look at that. There’s no question. But we do have some good young players in this lineup that hopefully continue to grow and hopefully we continue to add to that. But it is something you think about. In 2019, we lose in seven in the finals. In 2020, we’re leading the league and then the world falls apart. We’ve got to be better. We needed to be better last playoffs. I thought this year, I honestly felt really good that we were going to get by Carolina in Game 7. I really did. I knew it was going to be tough five-on-five. But like I said, we didn’t draw any penalties to give us a chance for our better players to produce on the power play. Those are things we have to look at to improve upon.”
On where the coaching staff can improve…
“Like I said, I think there’s times when players need to be more reactive out there instead of thinking about, this is how we have to play. Sometimes on the power play, I found it frustrating where we would continue to try to gain the zone the same way with the same results that weren’t as good as they could have been. And again, turning pucks over at the blue line because you’re trying to beat guys one-on-one or one-on-two. It’s tough to do in this league. I think a little different philosophy of when to dump pucks in and chase and go after it and try to grind it out down below the dots and get inside the dots and try to create chances that way.”
On if the playing style could change to create the necessary changes…
“It’s a different thing when you’re playing with a lead. You still have to play smart and protect the puck and not turn it over. But when you’re trying to create chances and they’re not coming off the rush, you have to find ways to create chances elsewhere.”
On if the fans could accept a rebuild…
“I don’t know if – I don’t think anyone really wants to watch losing hockey. That’s not the plan, is to start losing. You look at teams across the league that have lost a lot of hockey games over the number of years, and they are in rebuilds. They get better draft picks and ultimately better players, but I think we’ve done a pretty good job the last 10, 11 years of trying to stay in that window to win. But eventually it does catch up to you. But like I said, we do have some good young players in this lineup that hopefully we can build around in the next couple years, so we don’t have to do a complete rebuild.”
On the challenge of keeping the window open while losing key pieces…
“It is challenging, there’s no question. Especially when you are in that window and every deadline, you’re trading prospects and picks to try and continue to give your team a better chance to win. So, it is a delicate balance of going for it and also understanding that you’re sacrificing a little bit of your future.”
On potential changes to the coaching staff…
“Don and I are going to connect. I know he's got meetings coming up with coaching staff, so we'll see where that goes. I haven't really talked to Don about it yet. So, he hasn't really given me an indication. Only because probably he's not really sure what his situation was.”
On Don Sweeney’s work in the last year of his contract…
“We actually talked about it. He said, I have no problem going into my last year as GM. I'll continue to work the way I work. I'll work as hard as I can, improve the club. He was very professional in that regard. It was whatever we needed to do to give ourselves a chance to win this year.”
On bringing Bruce Cassidy back as head coach…
“I think we have to look at making some changes as far as how we play and the way we do some of the things. I think Bruce is a fantastic coach. I mean, he's brought a lot of success to this organization. I like him as a coach. So, we'll see where it goes. But I do think we need to make some changes. And I think Bruce, a couple of days ago, he alluded to that. So, we'll see where that goes with that.”
On if young players are afraid to make mistakes…
“There's no question players are afraid to make mistakes, especially younger players, because, you know, you hear about it. And I was one of those players that, you know, I had to learn and grow. And I heard about it, too. And I made mistakes as a younger player. But you can't worry about not getting back out there. I think that's one of the things we have to kind of change. I think when younger players make mistakes, they're worried they're not going to play the next game while that game is still going on.”
On playing off the rush vs. playing the cycle game…
“Yeah, it'd be nice if we could play both ways. You know, with the roster that you have, I mean, like I said again to me, you have to take what's given to you. And if you can make plays off the rush, then you should do that. But if you can't, then you got to, you got to dump it in and, and, and try to get opportunities in a different way and a different style. And, you know, I think we have guys that can do that. I just don't think we did it enough to take us.”
On the Jacobs family’s reaction to the season…
“Well, everybody's disappointed. It's one thing to get into the playoffs. Another thing to lose in the first round. It's disappointing, especially when you have a year that we had, we knew the East was going to be tough. We knew whoever we met in the first round was going to be a challenge. But like I said, I think we all felt that we could have got by Carolina. We knew it was going to be a tough, long series. So, they're disappointed and rightfully so.”
