Cam Neely: 'We Probably Could Have Done Some Things Differently With Tyler Seguin'
BOSTON (CBS) -- Bruins president Cam Neely joined Felger & Mazz on Thursday, and considering it came just two days after Tyler Seguin torched the B's with a hat trick at the Garden, Seguin was naturally a main talking point.
Tony Massarotti asked Neely why didn't Seguin in Boston work, and does Neely regret the 2013 trade?
"Well, obviously he's a hell of a player, and he's got all kinds of skill. He skates really well and he can really rip the puck," Neely said. "It's one of those things where you knew he had all that skill, and you knew he would do well in the league, but that's kind of history now."
Felger asked if Neely feels like the Bruins "screwed it up."
"Well, I think you look at any trade. Some you look at and say, jeez, maybe you didn't get enough, or the return wasn't quite what it should have been. Some, you're happy with the outcome," Neely said. "Every team probably could look at every trade and pick it apart."
Mazz pushed further, asking Neely if the trade was made based solely on on-ice concerns.
"No," Neely said. "Not at all."
"I think looking back, we probably could have done some things differently with Tyler. You've got a young kid coming in, maybe we could have handled his living arrangements a little different and stuff like that, that we've talked about over the years. It's something we certainly are addressing currently, and in the future we will continue to address."
Considering Seguin joins the list with Phil Kessel and Dougie Hamilton as young players with All-Star level talent that were shipped out of Boston at young ages, Felger asked Neely what the Bruins have to do better to keep that type of player.
"It's more about really, we talk about drafting and developing. And the development piece really is a big part of it. You have to really work with these players and develop them in the professionals, and that's an area where we we've really improved in the last year or so," Neely said.
Felger asked what will happen if the Bruins land another top-10 pick who's loaded with talents but might play a little soft or stay out too late at night. Will the Bruins be more committed to keeping him?
"You certainly bring up a valid point. Again, you have to understand what you get and what you draft. You have to know that the player that you're drafting, and you have to work with these players. There's certain elements of a skill-set that you like to have on your team, and you have to see if you can work with the player," Neely said. "Not everybody's going to be -- we talked about what different skill-sets help build a championship team -- you don't need 20 guys that are going to run people through the boards. You need a proper balance with that. And if you have a guy with a skill-set that is offensive and skates well, then you have to work with him on other parts of the game to compete.
"When I talk about competing, it's not necessarily being a big, tough player. It's competing for loose pucks, it's battling for loose pucks, it's maybe taking a hit to make a play. Those are the types of things that we talk about as far as what a competitor is."
Neely also discussed the positives and negatives of this season, what he expects out of Tuukka Rask going forward, and more. Listen to the full interview below:
