Cam Neely On Felger & Mazz: I've Always Hated Embellishment In NHL
Boston Bruins President Cam Neely joined Felger and Massarotti to discuss the busy week for the Bruins, including Zdeno Chara defending Tyler Seguin and the Montreal Canadiens style of hockey.
Neely backed up Claude Julien's comments about diving and embellishing, though he made sure to say he was not specifically accusing the Canadiens.
"I don't care what team or what player you are, I've always disliked it. Always. Always have," Neely said of embellishing injuries to draw calls. "It's like the boy who cried wolf. Especially when someone gets up in and around someone's face and they go down, I'm expecting a pool of blood. And when you don't see it, you don't see a scratch and then you find out later the person wasn't even hit, it is embarrassing.
"And I'm not even specifically saying Montreal. I'm just saying in general, overall, I've never liked it."
To help clarify the Bruins' feelings, Felger and Mazz asked Neely if the Bruins are jealous of the Canadiens, like Max Pacioretty suggested.
"No," Neely succinctly said.
Regarding criticism of his own team's instances of faking injuries or diving, Neely pulled no punches.
"If you see that someone is embellishing something or diving, then they need to be held accountable for that, because quite frankly I don't think anybody likes to see it," Neely said. "I think if you listen to our coach's comments and what I just said about how I feel about it, and it doesn't matter to me what team or what player, I think it's something that we don't need in our game. I certainly can understand someone gets hit or is in pain that they go down, but when there is none of that, I don't think it looks good for the sport."
Felger asked Neely specifically if he's ever had to speak to Brad Marchand about such tactics.
"I didn't, but I know it was addressed," Neely said.
Neely also discussed what his mind-set is when he's watching the game and what the Bruins' needs are with the approaching NHL trade deadline?
Cam Neely
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