Hockey notes

Regrets on Joe? Ex-GM says it ain't so

The 2005 trade of Joe Thornton seems to have led to prosperity for both the Bruins and Sharks. (Nick Laham/Getty Images)

By Kevin Paul Dupont

Globe Staff / February 8, 2009

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Joe Thornton will be back on Causeway Street Tuesday night, only his second visit to the Hub of Hockey since the Nov. 30, 2005, trade that Mike O'Connell orchestrated, sending Jumbo Joe, the Boston franchise's centerpiece, to the San Jose Sharks.

Some three-plus years later, O'Connell figures the trade was justified, and it is one that he would make again, given the same circumstances. As for what he got in return, said O'Connell, there will always be those who say he should have received more.

"That's always the case, even if it's your best trade," said the former Bruins general manager, these days overseeing pro development for the Los Angeles Kings. "But it was like any trade: You take in, rely on what everyone in the organization says - scouts, everyone - and let's not forget there was a money issue here, too, moving Joe with his high [$6.6 million] salary. This wasn't the pre-salary-cap NHL. Like all these deals, the money had to work, too."

In the days leading up to the trade, O'Connell spoke with all key members of the front office, asking one key question: "Is this the guy who'll get it done for us?"

"And we based the decision on what we saw over Joe's years here," said O'Connell. "Right or wrong, we didn't think he could lead our team to where we wanted to be.

"Days before we made the deal, I went through the entire organization, and that was unanimous. I asked Charlie [Jacobs, executive vice president], the chairman [owner Jeremy Jacobs], and Harry [Sinden, then president], 'Is this the guy?' None of us thought he could do it, and there was no pushback.

"Once I had that answer, then it became, 'Well, we have to move him.' "

In return, the Bruins acquired Brad Stuart (now in Detroit), Wayne Primeau (now in Calgary), and Marco Sturm (still with Boston, but lost to season-ending knee surgery). Ultimately, O'Connell's successor, Peter Chiarelli, swapped Stuart and Primeau a little over a year later for Chuck Kobasew and Andrew Ference, and with Thornton's large contract off Boston's books, Chiarelli spent freely in the summer 2006 free agent market for Thornton's direct replacement, Marc Savard, as well as franchise blue liner Zdeno Chara (a combined $12.5 million per season for the pair).

Are the Bruins better with a Savard-Chara core than one based on, say, Thornton-Chara? The debate, one without an answer, isn't likely to end.

As of Friday, Savard had averaged 1.13 points per game with the Bruins, compared with the 1.17 Thornton averaged in his last two-plus seasons (his best) in Black and Gold. Surrounded by more talent at San Jose, and working in a more offensive-minded scheme, he has averaged 1.42 points per game with Team Teal. Overall, he plays the same game in San Jose, scores about 20 more points per season, assisting more, shooting less.

The Bruins now lead the Eastern Conference and the Sharks lead the Western Conference. However they got to where they are, Thornton has been central to their respective routes.

Frustration over Thornton's game and production, noted O'Connell, was part of the motivating factor in dealing the 6-foot-4-inch center, whom the Bruins chose first overall in the 1997 draft.

"What frustrated me was, again, there just seemed to be so much more there," said O'Connell. "How he fit in with our team, the city, the overall picture . . . and in the end, like I say, we thought there were leadership issues. So here he is, the captain, making that money . . . all of that went into our decision to move him."

Had he to do it over again, said O'Connell, he would have taken more time, tried to create more of a market. But it was a franchise scrambling to salvage something from its failed approach into and out of the 2004-05 lockout. Guided by the senior Jacobs, O'Connell contends, the club opted to make limited, or in some cases, no offers to key free agents, including Sergei Gonchar, Mike Knuble, Brian Rolston, Michael Nylander, and Sean O'Donnell, the majority of them key components to an impressive 104-point season in 2003-04.

Frustrated by the club's poor start, Thornton's performance, and some poor free agent signings (Brian Leetch and Dave Scatchard), O'Connell hoped to bring in the three San Jose players with enough time left in the season for the Bruins to earn a playoff spot.

In that sense, said O'Connell, it was "a perfect storm" that also fed into making the deal.

"We lose all those free agents, after a pretty good year," said O'Connell, who pulled off the deals with Washington in '03-04 that added the valuable Gonchar and Nylander. "Then we have to go out and sign free agents, without the 24 percent rollback [the discount that all previously-signed players took upon returning to work out of the lockout].

"Heck, we would have been better to sign everyone - and in some cases we tried - and then take the discount. Well, we signed none of those guys, and then out of the lockout, the whole game changed. Some guys couldn't play the new style, guys we brought in weren't working out . . . we had to do something."

Come March 25 of that season, less than four months after the deal, O'Connell was sacked. Ironically, it was O'Connell's extending a three-year deal to Tim Thomas, now the club's franchise netminder, that played a key role in ownership's decision to fire him. The Thornton deal, and all the fallout that followed, made even a great deal draw unwarranted scrutiny ( risible in hindsight, with Thomas chasing a Vezina Trophy).

Now 53 and still living in Cohasset, O'Connell is a regular visitor to the press level on Causeway Street. He sounds sincerely happy about the franchise's success.

"I really like the team and the Bruins [franchise]," he said. "I couldn't say that a year ago, because of the sting of being fired. But the feeling created around the Garden, and the fact the reason I played hockey was because of watching the Bruins, I am glad to be a fan again."

Etc

Time to punch out?

Loved the comments from the Wild's Derek Boogaard, one of the league's toughest customers, whose livelihood could be in jeopardy if the Lords of the Boards move to cull the fighting herd. Boogaard: "It's the goal scorers and the fighters who really drive revenue, I think." No question. But league GMs, during their annual March meetings, will discuss a few rule changes, and big guys like Boogaard ultimately could be phased out, or so hampered by rule changes as to be rendered ineffective.

Change in the air

Word grows around Causeway Street that WBZ radio (1030 on your dial) likely will not extend its Bruins contract after this season. The Black and Gold will find a landing spot on radio, even if they have to buy the time, although the idea of 'BZ without the Bruins is even harder to accept than Channel 38 without the Bruins.

Unfinished business

The Bruins have two more arbitration hearings scheduled this week with Glen Murray, who contends he should be paid his full $4.15 million for this season, and one more session in March. The process is going almost as slowly as Murray skated the last two seasons.

In vintage form

Ex-Bruins coach Don Cherry, who turned his name and broadcast style into a multimillion-dollar enterprise in his life after Causeway Street, turned 75 last week. Grapes to Globe and Mail reporter Tim Wharnsby: "I feel not unlike my 1983 Lincoln: big, ostentatious, still motoring, and looking good." Maybe, but I'm not sure any self-respecting '83 Lincoln could keep its motor running with Grapes behind the wheel, decked out in one of his hideous sports jackets.

Loose pucks

Contrary to reports, Bruins prospect Carl Soderberg was not released or traded from his Swedish club (Malmo), and he continues to play for the Redhawks, who instead offloaded a handful of their most expensive contracts. If it's possible, Boston GM Peter Chiarelli would like the 6-foot-3-inch center to finish out the season in Providence (AHL), but such a transaction would have to happen before the NHL's March 4 trade deadline. "Not sure it can be done," said Chiarelli. "But I'd like him to be exposed to the North American pro game." . . . Huge praise Zdeno Chara's way from Ottawa GM Bryan Murray in an Ottawa Citizen piece authored by Doug Fischer. "A player like Z gives you a presence that is irreplaceable," said Murray, who was coach when the franchise, led by then-GM John Muckler, couldn't close the deal to keep Chara with the Senators. "He has toughness, size, and great mobility. He is a fitness fanatic. He can play 20 or 25 minutes a game. He's one of a kind. His leaving was pivotal." . . . Hard-working forward Jay Pandolfo, ex- of Burlington and with two Cup rings for his fingers, can't convince coach Brent Sutter to put him in the Devils lineup. The former BU standout is due $5 million over the next two years. Not a huge number. Could fit in nicely with Friar Jacque Lemaire's Trappist Wonks in St. Paul . . . Don't discount Toronto's chances in cobbling together a surprise deal for Florida defenseman Jay Bouwmeester. Just the kind of thunder new Leafs GM Brian Burke likes to make. Leafs exile Bryan McCabe likely would welcome a couple of ex-Buds to Sunrise . . . If the Habs, Devils, or Capitals pick up Chris Pronger from the Ducks, that sure could throw a 6-6, 215-pound wrench into the Bruins' prom plans this spring. If the Ducks are serious about wheeling Pronger (one more year at $6.25 million), then he has to be every serious contender's No. 1 priority.

Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at dupont@globe.com; material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.