Teemu Selanne Disses Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau in Post-Retirement Biography

Future Hall of Famer Teemu Selanne retired from the NHL at the end of the 2013-14 season, but according to his biography, Teemu, which was written by journalist Ari Mennander and recently released in his native Finland, he may still be playing if Bruce Boudrea weren't his coach.

"If we had any other coach, I'd still play," Selanne said in a translated excerpt from the book, according to Sportsnet.ca.

Prior to his final season, Selanne considered signing with either the Winnipeg Jets or Los Angels Kings. But in the end, he decided to remain with the Ducks after sitting down with Boudreau and getting a promise from his coach that his dwindling playing time would be increased from the season before.

"Everything started well, but then my ice time got smaller, just like the previous year," Selanne explained in the book. "Anything Boudreau had said wasn't true."

That bit of misunderstanding was nothing, though, compared to Selanne learning of Boudreau's plans to scratch him from Game 4 of the Ducks' Western Conference First Round series against the Dallas Stars last season.

"I waited after everyone else had left the ice and skated to Boudreau," he said. "I yelled at him right to his face with what I was thinking. I asked what he has against me. I told him that since he became our coach, he has not respected me one bit. You never put me on ice when we play 5-on-3 or 4-on-4 or when we are one goal behind in the end of the game. Be honest for one time and answer.

"He just stammered that decisions were not his alone and it was a group decision. I asked which group and he said GM and scouts. I yelled at him 'Whoa, what kind of a coach are you if you don't even decide the lineup?' He tried to skate away but I just yelled that I wasn't finished.

"I told Boudreau if you ever want to win something in a playoffs, you're going to need me. Nobody else wants to win as much as me."

Still, Selanne maintains that he has no ill will toward Boudreau as a person.

"He is actually a nice man," Selanne said.