Ryan Kesler sounded like he was indirectly taking swipes at former Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau during a recent interview with The Province, but he insists that wasn’t the case.
"(Kesler) texted me the next day and he said he was really upset because the reporters took everything out of context and said ‘they didn’t put anything in on the praise I laid on you,’” Boudreau said, per Yahoo Sports.
For the record, this is the Kesler quote in question:
“We just need a good bench coach, a coach that does things on the fly and makes changes during the game and not just between periods. We need a coach that holds everybody accountable — not just certain guys. We need a coach to come in and just be a good motivator and do what a coach does.
“The biggest thing is we need a good bench coach for strategies. But it’s not my job to pick a coach because there are a lot of good ones out there.”
What Kesler said about holding everyone accountable stands out in particular as Ducks GM Bob Murray spoke about the core players needing to be held accountable after he dismissed Boudreau. That was a problem that Murray seemed to have with the core throughout the campaign as he criticized returning players back in December for deciding that “training for this season was optional.”
Either way, everyone is moving on with Boudreau taking over as the Minnesota Wild’s head coach.