If you grew up a Boston Bruins in the ’90s, you probably remember Cam Neely in his prime.
You also probably remember a hit from Penguins’ Ulf Samuelsson in Game 3 of the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals that knocked Neely from the game.
The now-Bruins president never was the same after his eventual return to the ice, playing in just 22 games over the next two seasons. He did play in at least 40 in his final three seasons before retiring when he was just 31.
Neely joined the “Spittin’ Chiclets” podcast earlier this week to talk everything from his role in and “Dumb and Dumber,” to his rehab from the Samuelsson hit.
“Obviously a lot has changed from when I was playing as far as treatments and recovery and rest,” he said. “But it just started a snowball effect, because … it was such a hard hit that part of my quad solidified, starting turning into bone, so they had to treat it like a broken bone. So I was in a straight-leg brace for two months. But the problem was I wasn’t on crutches, I was just walking normally but with a limp. So I think walking like that for two months without being able to bend my knee, it created a problem in my knee.”
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Neely realized one night after his return that his knee had “blown up” after a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. But he didn’t feel any pain.
“When I came back in early January — this happened in May in the playoffs and I didn’t come back until early January — we played in Toronto one night and we’re coming back home to play Montreal the next night, I woke up from the game in Toronto, my knee was blown up,” he said. “No pain, I don’t know what I did, there was no pain associated with it, it was just full of fluid.”
The 54-year-old revealed the doctor told him he was worried about Neely’s career after scoping his knee. But just two seasons later during the 1993-94 season, he potted 50 goals — something no other Bruin has done since. (Though David Pastrnak was two goals shy of the mark before the NHL paused its season March 12.)
We’ll never know what more could have come from Neely’s career had it not ended as early as it did. But he’s found some success in the front office of the Bruins, as the team has made three Stanley Cup Final appearances in his tenure.
