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Felger & Mazz: Cam Neely 'Confident' Bruins Will Re-Sign Tuukka Rask

Felger and Massarotti were joined by Boston Bruins President Cam Neely to talk about the Bruins' strategy at the trade deadline yesterday. The Bruins made no major deadline moves, as the team was unwilling to part with some of the key players on the roster.

One such player is Tuukka Rask. With Tim Thomas still playing at a high level, the 24-year-old Rask could be seen by some as a spare part that could be used as a trading chip.

Neely, however, explained to Felger and Mazz on Tuesday that the team values Rask highly, and that the Bruins never considered trading him.

"I don't think you can have enough goaltending as you head into the playoffs – enough great goaltending," Neely told Felger and Mazz. "Tuukka's a young kid we think he's gonna be a star in the league. … We really believe in Tuukka. We love our goaltending right now. We're looking to do all we can to win this year and we feel we need two solid goaltenders to do that going down the last 20 games here."

With Thomas under contract for another season, and with Rask due to become a restricted free agent, Rask's future remains in question. But not for Neely.

"I'm confident we'll re-sign him. I have no doubts about being able to re-sign Tuukka," Neely said.

Neely also discussed the deadline, when the B's acquired Brian Rolston, Mike Mottau and Greg Zanon. Neely, like Peter Chiarelli a day before, said the moves added much-needed depth as the team enters the end of the season and the playoffs. Neely said there were no players the Bruins wanted that they didn't end up getting, partially because they knew they didn't want to pay any hefty prices to bring in a big name.

"Prices were higher than we wanted to part with so we're happy with the guys that we got," Neely said. "We think they're going to help."

The discussion then turned to the status of injured Bruins players. On Nathan Horton returning in time for the playoffs, Neely said: "I'm expecting [him] to come back, but again we all know the uncertainty with someone with a concussion."

Neely also provided an update on Johnny Boychuk, saying the defenseman has only been suffering from concussion-like symptoms and has not been diagnosed with a concussion.

"There's so much uncertainty [with head injuries]," Neely said. "You want to make sure you are doing the right thing by the player, making sure that when he does come back in the lineup he is going to stay in the lineup and not take a step back. ... We just want to make sure we're covering all the bases."

The segment with Neely closes with a couple of deadline hypotheticals from Felger and Mazz and Neely's thoughts on David Krejci's move to the wing.

Listen to Neely's appearance on Felger and Mazz below:

98.5 The Sports Hub is the only place to hear every game of the Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins 2011-12 NHL season with Dave Goucher and Bob Beers. Pregame coverage begins 30 minutes before the puck drops, with Postgame coverage following each game

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