Cam Neely isn’t mad at the Boston Bruins.
He’s just...disappointed.
Which, in parent speak -- and as team president, Neely’s kind of like a parent -- we all know is way worse.
“You go through this whole range of feelings when things aren’t going well,” Neely told the Boston Globe from Edmonton, where the B’s will try to end a four-game winless slide tonight versus the Oilers.
“I’ve been frustrated. I’ve had some anger tossed in there. And now, for the first time, I’ve landed on disappointed.”
Disappointed, because the Bruins kicked off an important five-game road trip by making a couple of “mind-boggling” mistakes in a loss to Vancouver.
Disappointed, because three days later, they blew a 3-0 lead and lost 4-3 in overtime to the Calgary Flames.
Disappointed, because after seemingly righting the ship in January, the B’s are once again in danger of missing the playoffs, just two points up on Florida for the final wild-card spot in the East.
We’ll see if Neely’s words can give the Bruins any motivation. You’ll recall early last month when CEO Charlie Jacobs ripped into them, saying, “It’s unacceptable the way that this team has performed given the amount of time, money and effort that’s been spent on this team. To see it delivered the way it has is unacceptable.”
A month and a half later, Neely is saying much the same thing: “Given the expectation of the team, the expectation of what we have of individual players .... we aren’t where we should be.”
Related: Is the jury still out on the Bruins?
