There are few days in the Bruins’ modern history that are any sadder than today. Certainly the Ray Bourque trade was a sad day for fans, but everyone knew why Ray went to Colorado and everyone accepted it and were happy for Ray when he hoisted the Cup. However, to trade Joe Thorton is lunacy.
Thorton is one of the premier players in the NHL — he is the guy you build your team around, not trade for three ho-hum players just to shake things up. The Bruins management will live to regret this day.
The Bruins got Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau and defenseman Brad Stuart from San Jose for Thorton. The Bruins should have held out for the rest of the Sharks team before trading Thorton!
Even the Sharks knew what an opportunity this was. “Players like Joe Thornton don’t come available very often,” said Sharks GM Doug Wilson. Of course they don’t — most teams aren’t stupid enough to trade people like Thorton.
There are a lot of reasons why the Bruins have lost nine out of their last 10 games, and sure, Thorton had a role to play in that. But, if you want to trade someone, take a look at Gill, who has really sucked of late; Samsanov can’t keep the puck on his stick; Bergeron has been in a slump; and put Andrew Alberts back to the minors or trade him for a water bottle or something.
I’ve never had a lot of faith in the decisions of the Bruins management. When they let people like Bill Guerin and Mike Knuble slip through their fingers, you know you are in trouble. Their trade record is so bad, they even go back and get players like Murray that they happily traded away a few years before.
I’m a diehard Bruins fan, but this has really shaken me today. I say we trade Mike O’Connell.
December 1st, 2005 at 7:44 pm
Barry Melrose thinks it is a good trade for both teams. He doesn’t think Thornton has lived up to his potential and the guys coming to Boston should help the team. I only get to watch the Blues lose so what do I know about winning hockey.
December 2nd, 2005 at 4:27 pm
There are a lot of things the Bruins could have done to turn things around. It’s the Bs management that allowed all the good players to leave, so perhaps they should be fired instead of trading away the best player the team has seen in years.