Neil
It’s rare that any NHL player says something as intriguing as Bruins forward Brian McGrattan did the other day about Ottawa’s Chris Neil.
Unfortunately, what some of us was hoping would turn into a war of words quickly turned into a verbal TKO for McGrattan, as Neil barely put any effort into his rebuke.
“I’m sure he’s trying to get into the lineup,” Neil said in the Globe and Mail Tuesday. “I have nothing bad to say about the guy.”
Neil was of course responding to McGrattan’s comments to the Boston Globe Monday about actions Neil took Saturday night in Ottawa to start a late-game fight with Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg. McGrattan, a healthy scratch all season for Boston, was on a conditioning assignment with the Providence (AHL) farm club at the time. He played with Neil for several years in Ottawa.
“I heard about it,” McGrattan said of Neil’s actions to the Boston Globe. “That’s typical Chris Neil. I had to protect that guy for three years when I was there. He’d do that and I’d have to fight all his battles for him the next time we’d play a team after he’d do something stupid like that. It doesn’t surprise me.”
The Bruins and Sens don’t meet again until Nov. 13 at TD Garden. If the Bruins are still playing as well as they have through the season’s first eight games, it’s unlikely head coach Claude Julien would want to alter his lineup. However, if ever there was a reason to give Shawn Thornton or Brad Marchand or another forward a night off, it might be when the Sens come to town so that McGrattan could make Neil pay. At least then we’d get some physical fireworks after Neil threw a wet blanket on the verbal battle.
I agree, Andrew. Toughness already resides in Chara, Lucic, Stuart, and Campbell. Heck, throw Ference and Boychuk in there, too. They can get the job done. Zero need for a goon(s) on this team or in this league.
McGrattan had zero points in his AHL stint in Providence this year and was on the minus side — by a lot. He’s 6’4″ and north of 230-pounds; can’t play hockey — but can fight — and has more PIM average per game than TOI. Unbelievable.
Thronton fought for the 70-something time in his NHL career vs. Cooke that game — and he won. Whoopie.
The Pens still blanked the B’s that game.
I see your point, Dan, but I think it would be more effective to send that ‘message’ to Cooke/etc. as a team – first by beating them on the score sheet. But see how Stuart handled Kaleta the other night? Remember how Recchi got in Pronger’s face last playoffs? THAT is how you send a message. Personally, I think the B’s roster is set on toughness/accountability just as it is.
After what happened with Savard and Cooke, the Bruins need to set a precedent this year that this type of crap is gonna result in major retaliation. I think all Bruins fans are still pissed about how that whole thing went down last year (with only Thornton’s semi-fight with Cooke as “retaliation”, and in a 3-0 loss no less) and I fully expect the team to approach those type of issues with some fire-power this year.
Come on Mark go to Europe if thats what you want to watch
This is Chris Neil’s way of saying that he’s a little occupied playing with the grown ups in the NHL to be responding to noisy chumps on conditioning stints. Not that I’m a Neil fan, but McGrattan has no business trashing anybody for their goonish behavior.
If a goon did this to the Bruins every 10 games — to get under their skin and to get McGrattan in the lineup their next meeting — then the Bruins will be in trouble those 10 games.
Once the enforcer and goon role is eliminated, and with their actions and tomfoolery to follow them, the better the NHL will be.