Neely's performance yesterday was one of the dumbest things I think I've ever seen an NHL executive do in public. At least over the past 15 or so years. He put himself squarely in this position by dealing Ullmark and not filing for arbitration with Swayman. So now he has no leverage, but wants to take it out on the player and rile up the fanbase against him. This kind of thing blows teams and organizations up.
I'm not sure I wouldn't have fired him immediately backstage if I were Jacobs. A breathtaking example of unprofessionalism and frankly incompetence.
Boston fans are sure siding with Neely on this too.
Doesn't help that arbitration wasn't nice to Swayman either. Sounds like Neely and company really pissed Swayman off with some of the comments that happened, which generally happens in arbitration.
But after a rough arbitration then deciding to deal Ullmark before figuring out Swayman is really on the GM.
Boston better hope they can figure this out soon if not they better hope Korpisalo can play real well. Which if Korpisalo does play well could really help Neely out with this whole situation, although the bad blood may still linger.
We've had first hand experience as Oilers fans where a former player's passion and competitiveness doesn't translate well into management roles. Unfortunately for the fans of the franchise, many of these alums have the owner's ear.
I just don't get why Neely has to speak in the first place about this. Very easy to just pass the question to the General Manager.
