Cam Neely Weighs In On 3-On-3 Overtime, Connor McDavid's Fight, Tyler Seguin's And Phil Kessel's Success
On the heels of a bad 6-1 loss in Toronto, Bruins president Cam Neely joined Felger & Mazz for his weekly chat.
"The one good thing is we play tonight, so hopefully we can put that game behind us and hopefully learn from it," Neely said of the ugly loss to the Maple Leafs.
How much did Zdeno Chara's absence play a role in the Maple Leafs' ability to pour in goals?
"Generally, Chara does a pretty good job of eliminating the time and space for Phil Kessel," Neely said, but he added that the Leafs were motivated to perform after the Bruins won their previous visit to the Air Canada Centre. "They talked about being embarrassed by us last time in there, and they were certainly ready to pounce on us and they did a good job of doing that. We didn't give them much pushback after the first period."
As for the early-season struggles from Tuukka Rask, Neely said he's not concerned.
"He usually regroups pretty good," Neely said.
Felger asked Neely what he thinks when he looks at the NHL's scoring and goals leaders and sees Phil Kessel and Tyler Seguin near the top of the lists.
"Well, listen, we knew what we were drafting as far as skill level, and we knew what we were giving up as far as skill level," Neely said. "And they're both very talented players, and I'm not taking anything away from their skill-set, but it is a team game, and hopefully at the end of the day we have a team that goes deeper than the teams that they're on. That's what we're trying to accomplish here, is to win championships. Their skill-set is what it is -- natural goal scorers, great skaters. But I want to see where we stand as a team at the end of the year, not just individuals and where they stand in terms of points."
With Connor McDavid's injury igniting the fighting debate in the hockey world, what did Neely think of the situation?
"Well, what do you think?" Neely asked rhetorically when asked if a top prospect fighting would make him want the player more or less. "I like guys to compete. I want our players to compete. Sometimes, the heat of the battle if you drop your gloves ... I mean, would I want a player such as that to do it on a regular basis? Probably not. But if you look at all the 'superstar' players over the course of their career, they've probably had one or two fights.
"If he didn't break his hand, they'd be saying, 'This guy sticks up for himself, and he's a competitor, and he's not getting pushed around,'" Neely added.
With the league considering 3-on-3 overtime to promote games being settled more often from the course of play over a shootout, Neely said he'd vote for the new format.
"100 percent," Neely said. "I hear that the fans like the shootout and I know it's exciting when it happens, but quite frankly I don't like that we decide our games with a shootout. It's an individual competition between a goalie and a player, and I would prefer to go 3-on-3. I think you'll end a lot more games that way ... I think it'll be exciting hockey. I'm personally not a fan of the shootout to end hockey games and give teams an extra point."
On the entertainment side of things, Neely confirmed that he will indeed be reprising his role as Sea Bass in "Dumb And Dumber To," which hits theaters this week.
"I was wearing a trucker hat and I was driving a big rig," Neely said.
And how does he feel about his performance?
"I nailed it," he said. "I nailed it. I mean, there wasn't a lot of takes, Mike, so I don't know what that says."
Listen below for the full interview!
