A safe landing for Hackett

He played just 18 games for the Bruins last season after arriving in a trade in January from Montreal via San Jose. A broken finger limited his availability, and at the end of the disappointing campaign, despite telling those around him he was planning to stay in Boston, he decided to pursue other opportunities through unrestricted free agency and landed with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Tonight, the Bruins face the Flyers at the Wachovia Center, a battle between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference. The goaltending situation seems to have worked out well for both clubs, with Andrew Raycroft and Felix Potvin minding the pipes in Boston and Hackett performing well in Philly.

General manager Mike O'Connell said he had hoped to keep Hackett here but the option never presented itself.

"We really never had an opportunity," said O'Connell. "I wasn't sure if he wanted to return or not."

It was difficult for the Bruins to gauge Hackett's performance here.

"It was incomplete," said O'Connell. "He came and hadn't played for a while [because he was a backup to Jose Theodore in Montreal] and it looked like he was getting his game in order. He played some terrific games for us and then he got injured. It not only hurt him, but not having a healthy goalie going into the playoffs really hurt us. It was through no fault of his and no fault of ours. It was a difficult situation.

"We made the trade for him and we wanted to hopefully have a great look at him and hopefully he'd get acclimated to the city and get to know his teammates and feel very comfortable here and we'd have a better chance of signing him."

Once the team broke for the offseason, though, the chances seemed infinitesimal.

"I did talk to his agent, and after a while, for whatever reason, they wanted to explore their options," said O'Connell. "Then I knew that he was looking other places. I don't know that he had the opportunity to see what we thought we had as a team and how we were developing and to be a part of that. If he didn't have his injury, I think he could've still been here."

The Bruins also acquired defenseman Jeff Jillson in the deal, which sent Kyle McLaren to the Sharks along with a 2004 fourth-round pick, and Jillson has worked out well. But in retrospect, said O'Connell, what sealed the deal was Hackett's interest in signing beyond the 2002-03 season.

Asked about his current goaltending, O'Connell said, "So far it's been fine, but I'd be lying to you if I said I would've made the trade last year without the possibility of signing him, because that was part of the deal."

Through Thursday night's games, Hackett ranked fifth among NHL goalies with a 1.85 goals-against average, to go with a 5-2-3 record and .924 save percentage. But the numbers for Raycroft, a rookie, are even better: 1.80, 7-2-1, and .936.

Raycroft said he got to know Hackett fairly well because both spent so much time in the trainer's room nursing injuries last season.

"We were both hurt so we got to hang out more than we probably both wanted to," said Raycroft. "He was a good guy, he was real supportive. We watched some of the games and he would help me out and give me some ideas. He was nothing but good."

Raycroft said he never got the impression that Hackett wasn't happy in Boston.

"Not at all," he said. "He was talking about this season and he was expecting to come back at the time. Obviously, he could've been just saying that to me, you don't know. But from everything he said to me, he was excited to come back and be part of the Bruins.

"I was surprised to hear initially that it probably wasn't going to happen. Once he explores [free agency], there is a pretty good chance he's gone. There was a lot of talk that he was going elsewhere so I guess it wasn't a surprise when it finally happened."

Raycroft isn't surprised that Hackett has performed well with his new team.

"He's been in the league a long time," said Raycroft. "He's a good, solid veteran, and being on that team, they play a pretty solid system and that helps any goalie out. The way Hack plays, he just gets in the way and stands there and lets things hit him. That's the type of team you want to play on if you're that type of goalie."

Bruins coach Mike Sullivan, who joined O'Connell behind the bench in March when Robbie Ftorek was fired, had a favorable opinion of Hackett.

"Hack's a good goalie," said Sullivan. "He has enough experience and has been around the league enough and is mature enough to handle the pressure."

As for the game tonight, Sullivan said the Bruins are up against one of the strongest clubs in the NHL.

"They have good size, skill, they play well as a group and they're well-coached," said Sullivan. "Every game you play, you learn something about your team and about yourself, so without a doubt, to have played against Vancouver -- another elite team -- and to play as well as we did is encouraging from our standpoint. But every single game you face is a challenge.

"Philly is obviously one of the top teams in the league and we want to fare well against those teams. We can't win the Stanley Cup [tonight]. We can make one step toward getting better as a group that will hopefully give us a chance in April." . . .

As part of the Celebrities for Charity Foundation, longtime Bruin Ray Bourque has donated his 12-seat luxury box for Wednesday's Aerosmith/KISS concert at the FleetCenter to an online raffle to raise money for local food banks. Tickets are $2 each (a minimum of five tickets must be bought) and can only be purchased online at www.cfctickets.org. The deadline is 6 p.m. Tuesday. The winner will be notified that evening.