The Joe Thornton Trade -November 30, 2005
The Joe Thornton trade was necessary and great for the Boston Bruins. Many at the time didn’t think so. While obviously he enjoyed the majority of his career with the San Jose Sharks while reaching one Stanley Cup Final, the greatest dividends developed in Boston.
This is an exerpt from chapter-9 of “No Heavy Lifting – Globetrotting Adventures of a Sports Media Guy” featuring a behind-the-scenes look at the famous trade that forever changed the Bruins. Among other things, it freed up the money to allow Boston to sign Thornton’s fellow Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Zdeno Chara.
The book is evergreen, meaning the stories inside are timeless and relevant. What it’s like to run a marathon, be involved in a political scandal, or jump out of an airplane. You can find the lowest price or purchase directly from the publisher at ECW Press – “No Heavy Lifting”
From chapter-9, “The Italian Job” …
There were other Bruins participating at the Olympics in Torino. I found rookie defenseman Milan Jurcina entertaining. “Jerky” was an amiable kid, who attempted to use his size and competitiveness to overcome shortcomings in skating and skill. He became a regular on the blueline for Slovakia at international events.
Marco Sturm would have represented Germany, but he was suffering through the first of many knee injuries that would eventually limit the latter portion of his NHL career. He finished with 273 points in 556 games played in an NHL career that ended in 2012.
Recent Bruin, turned San Jose Shark, NHL star Joe Thornton, drew plenty of interest. Despite the general media frenzy around Thornton and his high-profile trade, I didn’t pay that much attention. Not a big fan of his overall demeanour towards winning and losing during our brief time together in Beantown, and a strong proponent of “The Joe Thornton Trade,” I didn’t really follow or approach “Jumbo” during his mixed-zone visits. I think I grabbed some audio from him on only one occasion at the Games.
Less than three months had passed since his trade, which had rocked the hockey world. I went into the Bruins dressing room post game, as I always did, the night of November 29, 2005, in New Jersey. Thornton had lost a defensive zone draw to Devils centre John Madden in the final minute of regulation. Madden won the puck cleanly, flipped it over to Alexander Mogilny, who ripped a shot past Boston goalie Andrew Raycroft for the game winner. The Bruins had blown a 2–0 lead and now had a three-game losing streak. They had lost nine of ten, having just recently ended a six-game losing streak in Toronto.
I’ll never forget the interview Thornton did with two writers and myself after the loss, and this after getting burned on the face-off. We were crammed just inside the visitors’ dressing room door, and somewhat rushed, as the team hastily prepped for the post-game charter flight home.
“We’re fine, we’ll be OK,” Thornton repeated. I knew some surfer dudes from five years of living in Hawaii, but the hockey man in me, and the hockey reporter in me, watching this team flail in the early season, didn’t appreciate the beachy response. Dude, we’re fine.
Yes, as captain, he was generally always willing to talk post game, which is commendable, but the mantra was far too routine, far too casual, and never laced with urgency. After the loss to the Devils, his response seemed unfathomable to me.
The next night, a Wednesday, I was out with my assistant, Abby, at The Druid pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts, down the street from where I lived that season. NESN showed up on my caller ID.
“What the hell, Abby, it’s NESN. I’d better take this.” I stepped outside the noisy bar to hear SportsDesk coordinating producer Rob Wallace’s voice on the other end of the line.
“Simmer, where are you?” he asked.
“In Cambridge. What’s going on?”
“The Bruins just traded Joe Thornton,” he declared. He allowed just enough time for me to recover my jaw before he followed up with, “Can you come in?”
Uh oh. I was conflicted. Of course I was interested in the opportunity to jump on SportsDesk live with anchor Hazel Mae to handle this gigantic sports story. But I was also two or three glasses of wine deep. I was buzzed, and, besides, I wasn’t really confident I could bring any significant historical perspective to Thornton’s tenure in Boston. I was only twenty-six games into my first season with the Bruins. I weighed the benefits and the potential pratfalls of going on the air or not going on the air, and made the right decision. I’d been around the business long enough to know that the factors working against me, especially the wine buzz, could do great harm to my career, while the potential downside of not going on the air that night hardly existed. My decision was made even easier knowing that NESN had the option of calling on Kevin Paul Dupont, Hockey Hall-of-Fame honored writer for the Boston Globe, as an analyst to break things down.
I loved the trade from the get-go and was clearly in the minority when I said so. From the perspective of leadership and chemistry, I felt the Bruins had been treading water. They needed what some refer to as a change in culture. Thornton could pile up points all he wanted, but the Bruins would never win a Cup with him as captain. And they didn’t. Boston General Manager Mike O’Connell traded Jumbo to the Sharks for speedy German winger Marco Sturm, stalwart defenseman Brad Stuart, and a third-line centre, Wayne Primeau. The fans went nuts, the reporters who behaved like fans went nuts, but to many in the hockey world, the reasoning was clear.
“O.C.,” as O’Connell was known, went through hell. The Boston fans ripped him and chanted for his dismissal at games. The former first overall pick in the 1997 draft, Thornton was one of those “homegrown” Bruins that Boston hockey fans loved. They felt betrayed. Making it worse, Thornton went on to win the Hart Trophy as League Most Valuable Player in 2006, the first time a player traded midseason had ever done so.
Small picture, short view, a tough pill to swallow; big picture, long view, trading Thornton was the best thing the Bruins could have done in the new millennium. Among other things, the salary cap space he freed up allowed for the long-term signing of future Cup champion, Captain Zdeno Chara.
“Yeah, well, don’t be surprised if the Bruins win a Stanley Cup before the Sharks do,” I said more than once. I’m a staunch believer in four essential factors in the sport of hockey, with its firehouse mentality requiring everyone fully on board for one another; they’re what I call the 4-Cs: coaching, chemistry, commitment, and character. As an observer, I was convinced the Bruins didn’t have them all with Thornton, and that his change of scenery would do everyone a world of good.
O’Connell lost his job with eleven games remaining in the regular season. Head coach Mike Sullivan lost his job during the summer. The men allegedly responsible for the horrible pre and post lock-out player personnel strategy that actually led to the dysfunctional roster and the shitty record, owner Jeremy Jacobs and his senior advisor, the man who regularly followed his orders, Harry Sinden, of course lived to see another day. …
Check out the remainder of the “Italian Job” chapter and a dozen other adventures in “No Heavy Lifting” by clicking here. The stories are evergreen. Thank you. Enjoy. And Enjoy the Hockey Hall of Fame induction weekend.
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