Bruins CEO explains why team kept Cam Neely, Don Sweeney over Cassidy originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
In the Boston Bruins‘ organization, the buck stops with owner Jeremy Jacobs and his son, CEO Charlie Jacobs. But it appears the Jacobs family has put its full faith in Boston’s president and general manager.
That much seemed obvious when the Bruins fired head coach Bruce Cassidy on June 6 instead of deciding to part ways with GM Don Sweeney, whose NHL Draft track record isn’t exactly stellar.
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During a press conference Monday to introduce Cassidy’s replacement, head coach Jim Montgomery, Charlie Jacobs explained in straightforward terms why Sweeney and president Cam Neely are still with the team and Cassidy isn’t.
“The Bruins have been to the Stanley Cup Finals three times in 11 years under Cam Neely. We have a .600 winning percentage with the GM,” Jacobs said. “If they say it’s time to make a coaching change, we will follow their lead. We followed management’s direction.
“This is Don’s decision and it’s Cam’s responsibility to support Don.”
Jacobs does have his facts right: Boston won a Stanley Cup one year after Neely became president in 2010 and reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2013 and 2019. The Bruins have a 313-162-61 record (58.3 percent win rate) since Sweeney took over as GM in 2015, and the Bruins are one of just four teams to make the playoffs in each of the past six seasons.
But you could also make the case that Cassidy played a key role in that success, as the Bruins won 61.4 percent of their games with him behind the bench from 2017 to 2022.
Yet Neely and Sweeney felt it was time for a shakeup following Boston’s first-round playoff loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, and Jacobs’ answer Monday suggests the president and GM had the full blessing of ownership to do what they saw fit.