Cam Neely On Felger & Mazz: Signing Tuukka Rask To Long-Term, Big-Money Deal Was 'Pretty Simple'
Boston Bruins president Cam Neely joined Felger & Mazz for a chat that ranged from serious hockey talk to the lighter topics.
On the hockey front, Felger asked Neely what goes into making the big-money, long-term commitment to a player, like the team did with Tuukka Rask and his eight-year, $56 million contract.
"Just getting to know your players over the course of their tenure, you get an idea of what kind of character your players have," Neely said. "And Tuukka is somebody that has just fit in really well to the community, into the organization. He's a pretty even-keeled guy, from a goalie's perspective. He doesn't let a lot bother him, and he's competitive -- he's really competitive.
"It's important for us to say, 'OK, we're committing long term and big dollars, is this the guy we're going to hang our hat on?' And it was pretty simple for us to say, 'Yeah, it is.'"
Regarding Brad Marchand's extended stretch of bad play, Neely said, "I personally think he's thinking way too much out there. ... I think he's thinking too much about what he shouldn't do as opposed to just letting his natural ability and the way that he can play take over. That's just from my perspective. I feel like when you start thinking, you slow down. Your skating slows down, your passing is maybe a second late, or your shot is a second late instead of just letting your instincts take over and good things happen from that."
The guys then asked Neely about the differences between American Thanksgiving and Canadian Thanksgiving, and Neely revealed that he'll be riding on a float with Mike Richter in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York.
They even touched on movie news, too, as Felger asked Neely officially if he will be in the sequel to "Dumb & Dumber." For fans of Seabass, the news was not good.
"It's been radio silence, so I assume that there's no Seabass," Neely said. "I don't think so, I don't know."
Cam Neely 11/21/13
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