My post was a little tongue in cheek, but I genuinely do give Neely some credit here, and this is coming from someone who's made some criticisms of him in the past. His comments were risky and emotive, but what they did do was shake things up, force Sway's side to respond, and give the whole process a jolt forwards. It made it very publicly clear that the Bruins were willing to offer what any rational person would consider fair value, even if they hadn't before that point. It could have backfired, but it didn't.
You may be right that Sway was always going to sign before opening night. But I'm not fully convinced. As for money, I don't think he was going to sign for anything less than 8, unless he was absolutely backed into a corner. If Neely jumping to 8x8 prematurely cost the Bruins .25 p.a., I can wear that as the cost of just getting this done and putting the whole mess to bed.
On balance then, I think Cam at the very least got away with this one. Whether or not it was truly beneficial, I think is a matter of opinion.