Will Don Sweeney and Cam Neely be held accountable after Marco Sturm's comments?

At a certain point, it isn't the many Boston Bruins head coaches that Don Sweeney and Cam Neely fired during their tenures that are to blame for what the team has become. The front office has had plenty of opportunities to set the team up for success over the past decade, and the mess that they are left with is their fault and their fault alone.

It's hard not to feel bad for Marco Sturm. He received his first head coaching job with the franchise that showed him the culture that he now attempts to recreate with the teams that he coaches. It should've been a triumphant return to Boston and a great step in the right direction for the team's future. Instead, Sweeney and Neely gave him a brutal collection of talent to try and get the most out of.

One positive for Sturm is that there is a solid collection of talent in the AHL for him to utilize. They didn't allow those scorers to make the roster out of camp because of all the depth signings the front office made, but the hope was that those players could come up at some point and help the offense. After Thursday night's loss, Sturm shared a bleak outlook on that dream for Bruins fans, and might've tipped the front office's hand and shown that they really don't know what to do with this team.

"You can tweak a few things, but that's about it. So, I'm confident enough that these are the guys we gotta [use] to get out of it. I don't think too many changes can be made. Let's be honest, right? So, the guys in here, including me, the guys in this room, we have to fix it. We can't control anything else. "

Marco Sturm

Some of the inner messaging from Sturm's comments on Thursday night is telling. He was adamant that he and the players in the room are what will get the Bruins out of this mess. While I don't necessarily believe that will ever happen, it's clear the head coach feels it's him and his players against the world. Whether he is insinuating that part of the "world" is the front office that gave him this roster is up for debate.

The unfortunate thing is that when Sturm signed, he was likely sold a story by Sweeney and Neely that they would give him a better roster this season. Thursday night's comments seem like a bit of a shot across the bow from the head coach to his front office about the roster they actually gave him.

The question is: will the ownership group finally realize who the real problem is, or will Sturm just become another head coach who became a scapegoat for the failing front office? While I know who I would hold accountable if this season continues to delve into disaster, deep down, I know that Sweeney and Neely will likely come out of it unscathed.