Ducks Coach Boudreau reacts to blasting in book by Teemu Selanne

As the Ducks prepared for their future on the first day of training camp, Coach Bruce Boudreau had to address the past.

Retired right wing Teemu Selanne torched Boudreau in a 320-page book released in Selanne’s native Finland on Thursday, but the coach maintained a calm, respectful tone in responding to the criticism.

“Nobody likes hearing anything negative about themselves,” Boudreau said. “ … He was one of my favorite guys.”

In “Teemu,” a book penned with Finnish writer Ari Mennander, Selanne criticized Boudreau for decreasing his ice time, scratching him before Game 4 of their first-round playoff series against Dallas, and hurting the Ducks’ title aspirations, which ended in a loss to the Kings in the conference semifinals.

The Times received a PDF version of the book, and used Google to translate portions, while Finnish journalist Juha Hiitela translated other sections.

Selanne wrote he had texted his wife and friends in the Ducks’ dressing room “... joke,” after the Kings took a 3-0 first-period lead in Game 7.

Boudreau alluded to information Selanne had shared with Ducks officials earlier Thursday, that he had given his most toxic comments to Mennander during a long dinner that immediately followed the Game 7 defeat that ended his career.

“I understand the frustration,” Boudreau said. “When you’re a great player your whole life, you want more and to be the best guy. I understand, and am sure it was in frustration.”

When asked for further explanation Thursday, Selanne said through the Ducks: “In the book, I tried to explain honestly what happened last year. In frustration, I made several comments following our Game 7 loss to the Kings that I shouldn’t have said. As I’ve said many times, Bruce is a nice guy, but we simply had a different view on my role with the Ducks. I’m sorry if I hurt Bruce or anyone else, that was not my intent.”

Yet, no doubt there was serious conflict. Selanne wrote of a verbal confrontation after the coach informed the Hall-of-Fame-bound star that he would be scratched in Game 4 of the playoff series against Dallas.

“I yelled … right to his face what I was thinking … that since he became our coach he has not respected me one bit,” Selanne wrote in the book. “You never put me on [the] ice when we play 5-on-3, 4-on-4 or when we are one goal behind in the end of the game.

“Be honest for one time and answer!”

Boudreau “just stammered that [the] decision [was] not his alone … . I yelled [at] him, ‘Wow, what kind of coach [are you] if you don’t even decide [the] lineup?”

Ducks General Manager Bob Murray defended Boudreau, who this month received a contract extension through 2017.

“Bruce decides who plays,” Murray said.

Selanne also wrote he hesitated to return to the Ducks in 2013-14 because of Boudreau, adding that Kings Coach Darryl Sutter, who coached Selanne previously in San Jose, said he felt fortunate Selanne wasn’t used more in the playoff series or it might have altered the outcome. The veteran had two goals and six points in 12 postseason games. In the regular season, he had nine goals and 27 points in 64 games.

Selanne’s harsh criticism included this: “It would have been wrong if we had won the Stanley Cup with [a] coach like that.”

And … “You are as good as your coach wants you to be. If we had any other coach, I’d still be playing.”

Boudreau, who previously coached superstar Alexander Ovechkin in Washington, has never guided a team to a Stanley Cup Final.

“Was there anything I would do differently?” Boudreau said. “I don’t think so. It was to benefit the team at the moment.

“He raised his voice a bit [in Dallas] and all I did was say, ‘OK, not so loud, let’s talk like men.’ If it was a guy who was a regular player, you just make your decision. With somebody who’s very iconic, I wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing.”

Under Boudreau, Selanne’s average ice time dropped from 17 minutes 52 seconds in 2011-12 to 14:07 last season, when he finished with nine goals and 18 assists in 64 games. His power-play use dropped from 3:34 in 2011-12 to 2:24.

Selanne, who was 43 last season, retired ranked third in NHL history with 255 power-play goals.

There were times last season Selanne played with the same energy he displayed in becoming MVP at the Sochi Olympics, and others — as in the 3-0, Game-3 loss to Dallas — when he was a shell of his former self.

Selanne said in the book he was disappointed that Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf didn’t do more to demand Selanne play a bigger role on the power play.

“Teemu had numerous discussions with me last season,” Getzlaf said. “As the captain, it’s my job to weed through the things I can go to the coach and talk to, and the things I can’t. He doesn’t know all the conversations I’ve had. There’s times I have gone to bat for him.”

Former Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller responded to Selanne’s comments by telling the Calgary Sun he lost Boudreau’s full support during the season in which he slumped as the regular season closed and was ultimately passed over for rookie John Gibson in the Kings’ series.

“If the coach isn’t rooting for you or doesn’t have your back, it’s tough to play at your best,” Hiller said.

The Ducks will honor Selanne by retiring his No. 8 jersey on Jan. 11, and team officials were clearly interested in putting the comments in the past and returning to Selanne’s legacy. He ended his career with 684 goals and 773 assists.

“It’s just one chapter,” Getzlaf said.

Murray said Selanne “was frustrated, he’s a competitor. Teemu being Teemu. He gets hot-headed. That’s why he was a great hockey player. I get it, a little bit.”

Twitter: @latimespugmire

Times staff writer Helene Elliott contributed to this report.