In many cases when a player (or celebrity) feels the heat about controversial comments, they claim that they’ve been misquoted. But what happens when those heated quotes come from your own book, as was the case with Teemu Selanne slamming Bruce Boudreau?
Selanne probably did the right thing, as the Ducks passed along his apologetic reactions:
“In the book, I tried to explain honestly what happened last year,” Selanne said. “In frustration, I made several comments following our Game 7 loss to the Kings that I shouldn’t have said.”
“As I’ve said many times, Bruce is a nice guy, but we simply had a different view on my role with the Ducks. I’m sorry if I hurt Bruce or anyone else, that was not my intent.”
Earlier today, Boudreau admitted that he was a “little disappointed” by Selanne’s comments but he also understands why a player with such an outstanding track record of success would be frustrated by a reduced role that sometimes resulted in being a healthy scratch.
Ducks GM Bob Murray believes that it’s as much a testament to Selanne’s competitiveness as anything else:
For what it’s worth, Jonas Hiller also piled on Boudreau, though it’s hard not to view his comments as “sour grapes.”
Ultimately, it’s probably not wise to weigh the comments of aggrieved players too heavily, especially considering the fact that such events only took place months ago. Both Hiller and Selanne would probably admit that they weren’t at their best last season. (Maybe.)
Ryan Getzlaf spoke diplomatically about trying to back up his teammates while also keeping the peace with his coach:
In the end, everyone must move on, whether that be in their careers or in their lives in general.
One can imagine that complaints about Boudreau won’t be quite as amplified if he can finally manage to convert impressive regular season successes to better postseason outputs.
