Boston Bruins' Brass: Team VP Cam Neely Speaks

Michael Felger and Tony Massarotti from 98.5 the Sports Hub spoke with Bruins Team Vice President, Cam Neely about the state of the Bruins.

I have to applaud Felgy and Mazz for asking all the tough questions during a tough time for the Black and Gold. Below is a summary of the conversation with Cam Neely.

(**These answers are paraphrased because I can’t take notes that fast.)

The interview began with the traditional opening, “How you doing, Cam?”

He responded, “Been better.”

Felger then asked the first tough question, “What are you going to do with this team?”

Neely replied, “We need to do something different. We need to take a step back to take two steps forward.”

“The team is playing with a lack of confidence offensively and it seems the air is let out of their sails when they are scored upon.”

Felger and Mazz kept the punches coming by asking, “Do you feel management has let the players down?”

Cam responded, “The players are not playing for us. They are playing for the people who pay their salaries.”

He added, “Management evaluates the players play. They are not playing as well as last year and playing worse than expected this year.”

Some fans in Boston want to see Claude Julien fired, so Felger and Mazz addressed this topic as well.

“Do you feel Claude Julien is responsible for motivating his players?”

Neely didn’t shy away and said, “These players are professionals and shouldn’t need motivation.”

The Sports Hub team asked Neely, “Should there be a coaching change?”

He responded, “I can understand why the fans are frustrated and may be calling for a coaching change. We still need time to evaluate the team.”

“Players need to come back (from injury). We are asking some players to do more than they can.”

Regarding the Dennis Wideman, “Do you feel Julien was too critical to publicly call out Dennis Wideman?”

Neely said, “I am surprised if the players aren’t pissed off. Players get paid to do a job and need to rally around each other.”

“The team lacks confidence right now and is fragile. The confidence is not there which makes them press and produces negative results.”

Felger and Mazz also asked the number one question on every Bruins fan’s mind, “Are you going to stand pat or try to make a move?”

The Bruins VP answered, “We are constantly looking at ways to get better. It isn’t as easy as calling a GM and working out a deal.”

Regarding young players coming into the draft, Neely said, “This is a very deep draft. Hall, Seguin, and Fowler may not make an impact right away but could be franchise players.”

“The fan base would be very pleased to get one of these players.”

Well Cam, the fans will be very pleased to have a good team on the ice in 2010 and not 2012. They need impact players today.

The future is now.

I do take more stock in what Neely says about players, because he played the game and played it damn well. He knows the team doesn’t have confidence and they need to get pissed off about their play and rally.

With that said, he still is an executive and continues to answer questions by the executive code. Say enough, but don’t give anything away.

Kudos to the Sports Hub crew for asking all the tough questions, as those are the ones that the fans want to hear answered by Bruins front office.