Sweeney, Neely address Ullmark's "butting heads" comment during Vezina acceptance speech

BOSTON -- Acceptance speeches are generally celebratory, so it was at least a little curious when Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark used his time on stage after winning the Vezina Trophy to make a comment that raised an eyebrow or two.

"I also want to [say] thank you to the coaching staff -- [Jim Montgomery], Goalie Bob [Essensa] for butting heads every now and then, not always agreeing upon what we want to achieve. But we always make up as friends at the end," Ullmark said during the NHL Awards.

The camera then cut to Bruins president Cam Neely, whose face did not necessarily reflect the look of a man enjoying the particular moment.

A day later, Neely and Bruins GM Don Sweeney met with the media, and both were asked for their interpretation of Ullmark's comments. Neither executive considered the statement to be indicative of anything negative.

"Yeah, well I mean, that's just Linus' way, I think, to be a little ... maybe that's the glib side of him," Sweeney said. "You know, I think Bob, in all honesty, and some of the work that you guys have done doesn't cover the little technical things. I believe the communication that they've established between them and seeing how much Linus has improved as a goaltender overall, talking about this depth and talking about his recoil and things that Linus probably was resistant to because he's been a consistent goalie and now he's coming here with a guy changing him. And I think that's his way of saying, 'We kind of share in this, to some degree.' Linus deserves a lion's share of the credit, clearly, but I think it's a tribute to Bob recognizing some of the areas where he can continue to improve. And good on Linus to do that."

Neely's interpretation was similar.

"Well, that happens. I mean, everybody butts heads," Neely said. "I mean, if you're always agreeing with each other, then you're not probably growing. Behind the doors, there's all kinds of heads butted, for sure, there's no question. You know, when you're an athlete, you get to a certain level, like at the NHL level, you think, 'OK, I've got here, I don't really need to do anything because what I've done has gotten me to this point.' But you can always improve as a player, but sometimes you may not like what you hear. So, I think that Goalie Bob and Linus have a great working relationship, but sometimes you don't agree with each other all the time."

Neely laughed when asked if he could recall a time from his Hall of Fame playing career that he didn't quite agree with what he was being coached to do.

"When I was working out with Mike Boyle after my knee injury and I was coming back, and he was having me do all these goofy exercises," Neely recalled with a chuckle. "And I'm just like, 'Mike, what are we doing here?' He was like, 'Well, I want you to be a better player.' And I'm like, 'Well, I've already -- I'm scoring 50 goals.' He goes, 'Well, don't you want to score 60?' I'm like, 'Yeah, I do!'"