BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins are in purgatory.

Ownership -- Jeremy Jacobs and son Charlie Jacobs -- president Cam Neely, general manager Don Sweeney and coach Claude Julien are not on the same page. The owners and Neely want to win right now. Julien is being hung out to dry, and Sweeney is stuck somewhere in the middle.

Decisions moving forward will be based on whether the Bruins want to be competitive enough to reach the playoffs for the first time in three seasons or continue to develop in hopes of contending a season or two down the road. Jeremy Jacobs has said that it's unacceptable -- and the season will be considered a failure -- if the Bruins don't reach the postseason. There's no arguing that Boston has been inconsistent over the past few seasons. So who is responsible for the Bruins' shortcomings?

It starts with Neely.

It was his decision to fire GM Peter Chiarelli after the Bruins missed the playoffs in 2014-15, despite the fact Boston earned 96 points that season. Sweeney was promoted from assistant GM, and his first conversation with Neely was about the importance of communication. Chiarelli had final say when it came to hockey decisions during his tenure with the Bruins. Now it's a joint venture between Neely and Sweeney.

It's unlikely Boston would fire Neely. He's well-liked by ownership and had a Hall of Fame career as a player. Maybe Jacobs will instead put Neely in a different position and allow him to decide whether he wants to stay.

Having great success as a player doesn't automatically qualify someone to be a good manager or coach, of course. Neely is an emotional person. He manages like he played the game -- he's relentless and tough. But making the jump to management or coaching is a tougher transition for former players who haven't learned the scouting and development side of things. You need to understand hockey operations and how the business works. It's similar to gaining experience as a player, but working in management requires a different skill set. Sweeney -- who served as director of player development and then director of hockey operations for the Bruins -- has been through that process.

Giving someone the title of team president puts that person in charge of everything, but responsible for nothing. In other words, if something goes wrong, it's not on Neely. In this type of scenario, it's the GM or coach who gets fired. It should start with the person making the final decision, and that's Neely.

Cam Neely had a Hall of Fame career as a player but has stumbled a bit so far in his front-office stint. Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images

When Sweeney took over as GM, he told the owners the fix wouldn't happen overnight. If they were patient, his plan would work.

The Bruins, who beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 on Thursday to win consecutive games for only the third time in their last 36 games, lead the NHL in several advanced stats, including Corsi and Fenwick, and rank third in faceoff win percentage. But they're barely hanging on to the third Atlantic Division playoff spot and are in danger of missing the playoffs again.

So what's the problem? Well, for one thing, the Bruins are an aging team. Boston has yet to do enough to replenish the talent pool.

When the Bruins were perennial Stanley Cup contenders, there were plenty of games during the regular season when they weren't playing very well. But they always seemed to find a way to win those games because of the personnel they had on the bench.

That's not the case now. Yes, young guys are going to make mistakes. But when the production isn't there from players who have been in the system, or veterans who were brought in to complement the core, it's understandable why people question management's decisions.

After all, a coach is only as good as the roster he's given, and Julien has gotten the most he could out of it the past few seasons. He doesn't deserve to be strung along for a third straight season. The leadership core of players still believes in the coach.

"Claude isn't the issue. You fire the coach, what do you do? It's not going to change anything," Bruins winger Brad Marchand said. "Claude's one of the best coaches in the game. [The speculation about Julien's job security] is driven by the media, and we're not concerned about that in the [dressing] room. We're not thinking about that for a second."

"We're not sitting here saying, 'This is it,'" says Bruins coach Claude Julien. "We're looking for answers. Whether we have them or not, we're looking for them." Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Julien has tweaked his system from season to season, but his structure keeps the Bruins in the hunt. When the players simply aren't doing their jobs, it's not on the coach.

"We're not sitting here saying, 'This is it.' We're looking for answers," Julien said. "Whether we have them or not, we're looking for them. Or solutions, or whatever you want to call it."

Goalie Tuukka Rask has been outstanding for the majority of the season and another big reason the Bruins remain in contention. But not having a consistent and reliable backup the last two years has taken its toll on Rask, and that's an area that needs to be addressed. A No. 2 netminder needs to play 20-25 games and have more wins than losses.

Defenseman Brandon Carlo is only 20 and still learning to deal with the ebbs and flows of being a young player, but he has the potential to remain in Boston's top two pairings in the future. Captain Zdeno Chara is 39 and no longer the player he once was. Defenseman Torey Krug is a unique player but shouldn't be relied on to be a top-four guy.

Offensively, David Krejci's best seasons are behind him, and -- after a pair of hip surgeries in the last few years -- he appears to be stuck in mud most nights. He plays the game hard, and he's carrying a lot of hard minutes on his body.

The dysfunction goes beyond the X's and O's. In November, Neely fired the organization's longtime physical therapist, Scott Waugh. The players respected and trusted Waugh. During the summer, longtime strength and conditioning coach John Whitesides was given a different title in the organization, and he now has nothing to do with the players. And thanks to the World Cup of Hockey last fall and the bye weeks, this season's schedule is condensed. So it's tough to figure out why the organization would make so many changes, especially during the season.

Those tweaks might not seem like much to the fans, but they make a big difference to the players. In every pro sport, when changes are made to the medical, training or equipment staffs, players worry about communication and trust. Players get to know these people almost better than their families because they spend so much time together. When a stranger is tossed into the mix, especially in the middle of the season, it can cause an issue -- and that's what seems to have happened with the Bruins.

With the March 1 trade deadline approaching, the Bruins still need a No. 2 defenseman. Sweeney needs to find the leverage to land such a player, even if it means dealing away one or more of his prospects or recent draft picks. If he's confident that the likes of Carlo and a pair of Boston University sophomores -- 20-year-old forward Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson and 19-year-old defenseman Charlie McAvoy, two of the most promising players in the franchise's prospect pipeline -- will have an impact for the Bruins, then he should pull the trigger on a hockey trade. It's not always easy for college stars to have an immediate impact at the NHL level, however.

"He's the real deal," said an NHL evaluator when asked about McAvoy. "I saw him at the world juniors, and he was unbelievable. Is he going to come in right away and be an impact player? That's hard to do, especially as a defenseman. He's only going to get better and he'll have a steep learning curve, but he's going to get good, fast. It does take time, though."

When McAvoy eventually does play for the Bruins, it's going to be under a different set of circumstances because he likely won't be surrounded by elite defensemen who can help him develop. Case in point: When Hal Gill came into the league, he had Ray Bourque as a defensive partner. When Dougie Hamilton was an 18-year-old rookie, he had Chara. Carlo is playing with Chara now, too. McAvoy might not have that option by the time he's ready to play at this level.

Yes, Boston's offense could use a spark, but that can be attained by getting the right player on defense. When the Bruins were successful, it started with a consistent defense that led to a potent offense. That's missing right now.

"We need to score," Julien said. "Enough of the excuses. You need to make it happen. We created those chances, [but] defensively, [we're] not good enough."

Nothing will be unless the Bruins earn a Stanley Cup playoff berth.