Ex-Sharks sink their teeth into fresh start

They got the call with less than 10 minutes to go before the game. Skates were on. Warmups were done. All that remained was for members of the San Jose Sharks to take the ice in Dallas Wednesday night.

Except three of them never made it.

Called in to speak with general manager Doug Wilson, defenseman Brad Stuart, left wing Marco Sturm, and center Wayne Primeau received the news: They were headed to Boston, for the Bruins' franchise player, Joe Thornton.

''That was definitely strange," said Stuart, who met with the Boston media before last night's game against the Senators. ''I don't think I've ever seen that before. I was basically just getting ready to go back out for the game, and they called us in with about seven or eight minutes left on the clock. Obviously, it was a bit of a surprise, especially at that moment. But it's the way it is. Just got to deal with it."

All three new Bruins -- all of whom were picked in the first round of the draft, once upon a time -- shipped out of Dallas, bound for the Hub and the Bruins' 3-0 victory over Ottawa, all on no more than three hours of sleep. Two of them -- Stuart and Sturm -- had never been traded, never had to pick up in the middle of the night and fly away. Going together, the three agreed at a late lunch yesterday afternoon, helped quite a bit. No one, Primeau said, had to sit alone.

And, technically, the trio traded up. Just seven teams in the NHL have fewer points than the struggling Bruins. One of them, though, happens to be the Sharks, owners of 20 points, three fewer than Boston.

''I think everybody on that team knows that we kind of let each other down and, when you do that, you kind of force the team's hand to do something," Stuart said. ''A team isn't going to sit around and wait for guys to come around all season. I guess the right deal came along for both teams, and the deal was made. I don't think any of us feel that we were scapegoated."

Whether the deal proves positive for both remains to be seen. But for one night, at least, the three players sent to Boston lived up to the name that was heading west. Just 1:17 into his Boston tenure, Sturm buried a pass from former San Jose teammate Brad Boyes behind Dominik Hasek to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead. Sturm came back, at 8:47 of the first, to assist with Stuart on Patrice Bergeron's power-play score.

''It's a good release, to score a goal right away on my first shift," Sturm said. ''I was a little nervous. After that I kind of feel open, I kind of feel free. I didn't have that feeling for a while."

Not that anyone should get too excited. Though Sturm looked silky -- he had two more exceptional chances in the second period -- he's not going to play every night like he did last night. But with the Bruins' top scorer shipped off to San Jose, some of the burden falls to Sturm, the only scorer obtained in the deal. Though his numbers don't come close to approaching Thornton's production, Sturm has scored 20-plus goals the last three NHL seasons and has enough speed to take advantage of the new NHL.

''Each one of them brings a little something different," coach Mike Sullivan said. ''I think the one thing they all bring is they skate well, and I think they all increase our team speed. I think that was evident tonight. To come in to a new environment like this, it's not an easy experience. I'm sure that goal really helped [Sturm]."

Primeau, whose newly damaged nose and bruises underneath his eyes give evidence of his style of play, had the highest point total of his career (29) in the 2003-04 season. Likely, though, Primeau -- who, Sullivan said, ''does a lot of the thankless jobs that are hard to quantify" -- will attempt to fill the role vacated by Dave Scatchard, who was traded Nov. 19.

But Stuart is the prize acquisition, something the understated 26-year-old understands. And something he seems to have put in perspective, even with just 24 hours separating him from the first hint of the news.

''None of us are Joe Thornton," said Stuart, who played more minutes (23:45) than anyone not named Brian Leetch (26:55). ''We're not going to pretend to be. He was, obviously, a big part of this team and a big part of this city. There's going to be a little bit of bitterness from certain people. I don't think that's anything for us to worry about. We're just going to go out and do what we do."

Or, in the simplicity of a laughing Sturm's assessment: ''That's why they got three of us."