Neely: Bruins 'may be re-tooling' ahead of trade deadline
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The Boston Bruins are heading to unfamiliar territory.
The Bruins currently occupy the first Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference with 49 points at 22-19-5, one point ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who sit in the second Wild Card spot. However, Columbus has two games in hand on the Bruins while the Ottawa Senators (47 points) and Montreal Canadiens (46 points) each have three games in hand.
Boston has made the playoffs in each of the past eight seasons and were expected to do so once again in 2024-25. However, with March 7 trade deadline approaching, president Cam Neely says the team is exploring all options for the club.
“We’ll see where we’re at,” he said Wednesday of the team’s approach to the trade deadline. “I think right now, we’ve got to look at two paths: one that we’re buying and one that we may be re-tooling a little bit.
“We still feel like we’ve got a playoff team here and we certainly don’t want to jeopardize getting out of the playoffs because we made some moves that may be good for the future, but not good for the present.”
The Bruins finished second in the Atlantic Division in 2023-24 with 109 points and reached the second round of the playoff before being eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers. Following the signing of unrestricted free agents Elias Lindholm (seven-year, $54.25 million) and Nikita Zadorov (six-year, $30 million) the Bruins were expected to be in the mix at the top of the division once again.
“We’re not happy with where we’re at and how we’ve been playing right from, really, training camp,” Neely said.
The Bruins got off to a slow start this season, opening with an 8-9-3 record before firing head coach Jim Montgomery. The team has improved under interim coach Joe Sacco, going 14-10-2 since the change was made on Nov. 19.
“We’re aware of the situation we’re in,” captain Brad Marchand said. “We understand the roads that are in front of us and where they lead. We understand that we haven’t performed the way we’ve needed to and there’s consequences that come with that.
“There’s very high expectations with this organization and we’re expected to perform and do our job and compete every year for a Cup. If we’re not going to do that, then changes are going to be made so that the team does compete for a Cup.”
The Bruins have not won a Stanley Cup since 2010-11 and have not advanced past the second round of the playoffs since 2018-19.
CEO Charlie Jacobs said Wednesday that Neely and general manager Don Sweeney will have the chance to get the club back on track.
“We’ve been working together for, in Cam’s case, almost a couple decades now,” Jacobs said. “I have very good faith in it. This team, we’re all accountable for it. I am too, just as much as they are.
"If you look at Don Sweeney’s stewardship and Cam Neely’s stewardship since 2015, since Don took over, we’ve made the playoffs eight of the 10 years,” Jacobs said. “And listen, I’m not going to measure the success in making the Stanley Cup Playoffs, OK? Let’s be very clear about that. Our goal is to win the Stanley Cup. But you can’t win the Stanley Cup if you don’t make it to the playoffs, and our team has done that for the past eight years and I hope we do it again this year for our ninth. But it’s been some trying moments, for sure.”
The Bruins have made strides in the right direction of late, having won two games in a row against the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning but Neely knows the team still has a long way to go before it can live it up pre-season expectations.
“We’re aware of the expectations here,” Neely said. “We try to meet and exceed those every year. Right now, it’s a year that we’re not really accustomed to.”