The Washington Capitals have pretty much put a collective gag order on discussing Matt Bradley's summer comments on Alexander Semin, with both sides apologizing and everyone agreeing to move on. However, that didn't stop George McPhee from making a cleverly-worded point suggesting that the criticism may not have been incredibly off base.
McPhee appeared on Hockey Central on 590 The Fan in Toronto and was asked whether Bradley's comments could be used as a positive going forward. This gave him the perfect opportunity to pounce.
"I hope so. If your peers are saying that about you, then you’ve got to take a look at yourself and see what you can do better. Actually, it’s really had a good effect on the locker room and some of our guys, and they’re trying to be better team guys," McPhee said.
"I know Matt wishes he could take that back, but it was a little too late, and it was unfortunate," he continued. "But it’s one thing to have a coach tell you; when your teammates are telling you…you drill down a little bit more and realize, maybe I do need to change a few things."
McPhee was then asked if he had some of the same concerns Bradley had, and he jumped back a bit, saying "not necessarily in the way it was expressed because it was all about people not caring, and that part is not true." Nevertheless, he still made his point. From his perspective, it might have been a good thing for someone around the league to give his talented, but enigmatic player a wake-up call.