Last month Teemu Selanne released a tell-all book in his native Finland.
In it, he criticized current Ducks’ coach Bruce Boudreau over the handling of his ice time last season among other things. Selanne also felt slighted that Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf didn’t push for more ice time on his behalf.
On Thursday, while speaking with The Jim Rome Show, Getzlaf responded to Selanne’s comments.
“I was pissed off, to tell you the truth,” Getzlaf said “It wasn’t great. I thought it was kind of unnecessary for him to come out and say something like that.”
The 44-year-old Selanne appeared in 64 games with the Ducks last season scoring nine goals and 27 points.
Getzlaf told Rome the notion that he didn’t go to bat for Selanne, is just not true.
“Teemu doesn’t know everything that goes on. He doesn’t know how many times I had conversations about him in the last two years, to help him, to try and get him to where he wanted to be,” said Getzlaf.
Getzlaf admitted watching Selanne go through his final two seasons with the Ducks wasn’t easy.
“These last two years, dealing with some of that stuff was really hard,” said Getzlaf. “A Hall of Famer who has been around for a long time, someone who I looked up to when I was here, and to watch him kind of go through that, it was a little bit tough.”
The Ducks are scheduled to retire Selanne’s jersey Jan. 11 when the Winnipeg Jets visit Anaheim - could make for an awkward situation when Selanne and Boudreau meet face-to-face.