BstonBruin

you try to get the best deal possible at all times especially when your giving away your best player. I bet they could have gotten much more in return if they put him out on the market for a week or so and let teams know that he is available.

Yumcha

Ah, I feel your pain dude.
But, if you want bad trades, look up the Blackhawks' transactions over the years:

- Jeremy Roenick to Phoenix for C Alexei Zhamnov, RW Craig Mills and a 1st-round pick (RW Ty Jones !!?!**#$#@$@#$!?!??!??!??!!!!)
- Dominik Hasek to Buffalo for G Stephane Beauregard and a 4th-round pick (LW Eric Daze)
- Ed Belfour to San Jose for G Chris Terreri, RW Ulf Dahlen and D Michal Sykora
- Phil Esposito, RW Ken Hodge and LW Fred Stanfield to Boston for C Pit Martin, G Jack Norris and D Gilles Marotte
- Bryan McCabe to Toronto for D Alexander Karpovtsev
- Doug Gilmour and J.P. Dumont to Buffalo for C Michael Grosek



Okay...Now, I'm very bitter again.

BstonBruin

yeah none of those trades make sense either....im sorry

Yumcha

Not a single one. All of them probably can be put into the all-time trades in all of sports...but, if you want complete lop-sidedness, the Gilmour and Dumont to Buffalo for Grosek was the biggest one of all...

Jonesi

Per Eklund this is how it went down:

Looks like originally it was going to be Samsonov and some draft picks.. meh just read below..


Well folks, this one really came out of nowhere fast!

Although I failed you on this one big time, nothing makes me angrier than missing something of this magnitude, I am getting information from several sources this morning on how this went down.

Apparently the Bruins decided yesterday morning internally that they may consider moving Joe. They did not talk to anyone about it according to several GMs and sources. Not all in the Bruins organization were on the same page, but "If you are going to move Joe, you had to do it quickly. You don't leave a guy like this on the market for long." I was told by a Bruins source.

A trade had all but been finalized during the day that would have sent Samsonov and some picks to San Jose for Stuart. The decision had been made that after that deal was made they would quietly put Joe's name around. They told the Sharks of this, "kind of in passing" and they jumped on it.

The Bruins had become frustrated with Joe's unwillingness to be a power forward and take the puck to the net. "With the new rules no one could stop him, but he wanted to be Gretzky" a source said.

It is also important to note that Joe has a no-trade clause in years two and three of his deal.

I left the Flyers game after the first period last night, and was driving home to help my wife out with two screaming kids. (I get most of my work done in the two hours prior to the games at the arena...talking to other press guys, media types, scouts, etc...)

When I got home I had two emails from blackberries telling me that the Shark's players had been taken off the ice in warmups...that tells you how fast and unexpected the inclusion of Thornton was in this deal. the Sharks had to play with 19 guys for crying out loud.

According to another source of mine, "The Rumor is taht Joe heard about the trade FIRST from NESN...He made a call to Mike O'Connell at that point, and then he was told he would get a call back very soon. He then went out to eat with his parents, and did get a phone call from the Bruins, but it was well after the deal was made (around 10:45 est)"

That is how unexpected it was...

I got several responses from Bruins fans. Many negative. But I also heard many Bruins fans complain about Joe's play recently.

A prominent hockey agent emailed me with this opinion, "The Thornton deal is a mindblower..........how they could not get Marleau back in return is unreal......Stuart will really help the D-fense but the lack of a pure #1 center will hurt them. Bergeron and Zhamnov will need to step up their play considerably..........They fired the Captain instead of the GM!"
This trade is the defining moment for O'Connell that much is certain. Stuart is what the Bruins needed, and Sturm is a much better player than most of us in the east know.

I want to thank all those who emailed me their thoughts and to the many insiders who kicked in big time to help me piece this much together....what makes Eklund work is the many people on the inside and their emails...Thanks.

More later for sure...

Yumcha

^ Zhamnov to help pick up the production in Beantown?

Moog-Type-S

Amazing Stupidity!!! Gotta hand it to the Hawks for HORRIBLE trades!!!


Those morons............hahh ahh haa haha ha.......oh wait...........
The Kings have Roenick....and he is.........not so good.
Takes up alot of $$$$$ and produces little on the ice.
Nice dumpster dive, Dave Taylor.

Anyone wanna trade for Roenick......anyone???? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

Jonesi

Hell yea..

Thibault for Roenick

TSXforme

Speaking of lopsided trades -


How about Barry Pedersen for Cam Neely & Glen Wesley? (Canucks got fleeced on that one)

Or Markus Naslund for Alex Stojanov? (Pittsburgh got fleeced on that one)

Moog-Type-S

I'll take a bag of pucks for Roenick...you keep Thibault.

Yumcha

I was wondering when you were going to turn up and add salt to the wound...


YA JERK! Well, at least I can take some comfort in that my Hawks beat your Kings last night.

Yumcha

You could trade JR for a mike?

Cuz, that's the equivalent.

Jonesi

That was in the 90's when the Pens were stacking the team for Stanley Cups.. Gave up alot of good young players..

Markus Naslund, Shawn McEahern etc..

Then came the Jagr, Kovi, Straka etc trades for nothing..

Yumcha

Don't forget how the Kings practically gave Kevin Stevens away...!

Jonesi

Hey the Hawks almost won a Stanley Cup...



Had to add some more salt..


But thanks for Thibault focker..

Yumcha

I will never forget that goal Jagr scored on the Hawks where he went around Smith, Chelios, and 15 other Hawk players...



Or that shootout in Game 4 (which also featured Hasek's coming-out-party)...

Jonesi

On a side note Thibault is back with the Pens for now.. Eeeeeks...

He's in the worst situation possible..

Before they placed him on waivers they asked him to go down to the minors for a "rehab/training" to get some playing time and get his form back..

But can you imagine having a bad season and being asked to go to the minors and playing for a team that is setting records 18-0-2 and losing games when you're down there.. And killing all the chemistry they have and killing all the records they're setting... That'll kill your confidence..

Poor guy..

Yumcha

I always liked T-Bo. He was never a great goalie but he was definitely decent during his years in Chicago. Classy player too...someone who would answer all the questions by the press no matter a win or blowout loss.

It's sad to see him on such a decline.

Jonesi

That Jagr goal was sick... I mean really sick.. About every guy on the ice had a shot at him and he went around everyone..

When did the Hawks lose Hasek? Was it after the Cup or shortly there after?

Moog-Type-S

Luc always plays well in L.A.

Jonesi

OH YEA....??!!!
__________________________________________________ ___________
Thibault didn't want to discuss his refusal to play in the AHL, saying only that it wasn't something he wanted to do. He also didn't want to talk about whether he would accept an assignment to Wilkes-Barre now that the Penguins could assign him there without his permission.

"I don't want to answer that question," he said. "It hasn't happened yet, and it might never happen, so I'm not going to answer that question."

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/trib.../s_399591.html

Jonesi

Straka always plays well in Pittsburgh..

Yumcha

In the offseason right after the Hawks got broomed out by your Pens.

The Hawks had at the time Jimmy Waite (who was a 1st rounder) waiting in the wings and did not have room to keep a 3rd goalie. I remember at the time that a few of us were leery to let Hasek go because of 1) his performance in relief of Belfour in the Finals 2) his track record in Europe...

Well, in one season with the Sabres, he proved his worth in Buffalo.

Yumcha

Roenick always played well in Chicago.

Jonesi

All I can say is OUCH.. He got them to the Finals even though they lost he played Amazing.. Can't believe they traded him...

savage

sad thing is you think we would have been saving a lot of money on the thornton trade and gotten stuart and some draft picks...

instead they get everyone else and they are only saving 1.5 mil...not enough to justify the trade IMO...

overall this is a stupid trade and could have gone down a lot differently if there actually was any intelligence to Bruins managment...

O'Connell is harry sindens puppet and neither have the mental aptitude to run a team in this NHL...

oh well...back to rebuilding for another 5 years...

Jonesi

This thread is awesome.. It's cool to hear the inside info from all different teams..

Yumcha

Well, no...Belfour carried the Hawks to the Finals. I recall how the Hawks pretty much blew out the entire Western Conference on the way to the Finals.

And given their touted goalie and "pillars" on D with Chelios, Smith, et al, and their supposedly good dump-and-chase forechecking, I remember reading how the Hawks were like big-time favorites against the upstart Pens.

Well, we all know what happened.




Hasek came out in Game 4 after Belfour was against owned by Pittsburgh and simply played his head off...But, his stops on like at least a dozen breakaways against the Pens' top scorers convinced me...

Yumcha

That's no different than Chicago. Everyone in mid-management and in the GM's office is Pulford and Wirtz's puppets...

Wanna guess who was behind each of those gawd-awful trades I listed (okay, give Mike Smith credit for one or so)...?

mc_yanzo

I'm pissed at O'Connell and Sinden. What a stupid trade.

Bruins are doomed. How do you trade a top 10 guy for a bunch of losers?!?!

I would have rather seen Sammy go...

BstonBruin

I hope they interview O'Connell or somebody from the offices at tonights game...i cant wait to see what their gonna say.

p.s. im glad we have quite a few people who know what their talking about when it comes to hockey...makes this thread very interesting

TSXforme

I'm glad that there are knowledgable puck heads here too! Too bad there aren't many from the West coast.

This Thorton trade reminds me of the Pavel Bure trade. There was a huge uproar amongst the Canuck fans when this happened. I distinctly remembered that the majority of people here thought Bure was traded for spare parts. At the time of the trade Jovonovski was similar to Stuart in the sense that there is a huge upside, but won't be able to see the immediate impact.

Jonesi

I think what dampens the "look" of the trade is when they throw in Wayne Primeau, it just doesn't look as attractive..


But I think they want him to do what Eklund was talking about in his blog..

"The Bruins had become frustrated with Joe's unwillingness to be a power forward and take the puck to the net. "With the new rules no one could stop him, but he wanted to be Gretzky" a source said."


So two decent young guys and a prayer of a power forward to fill the role they want..

Jonesi

A quick note from Eklund:

"From a good source, "Samsonov could still be moved. Keep an eye on this. Also...keep an eye on the Devils to make that cost-cutting move we've been waiting for them to make." "

TSXforme

Insert Todd for Joe and the same can be said with Bertuzzi.

Jonesi

Doesn't Joe's cousin or something play for San Jose ?

TSXforme

Yes...Scott Thorton is Joe's cousin.

BstonBruin

that would be awful if they traded Samsonov too...im lucky to get to watch him every night here. But im guessing anything could happen. I mean O'Connell could possibly trade Raycroft and have Toivonen as our number one starter.

BstonBruin

feeling a little better now.

Bruins just beat shutout the Sens 3-0 in their best 60 minute performance thus far in the season. Sturm got a goal and an assist, Stuart got an assist and Primeau drew some penalties.

This doesnt mean im still upset/sad/disappointed about Joe leaving

MSZ

Golf Sens Golf!