Off Wing Opinion: On Second Thought

Off Wing Opinion: On Second Thought:


Even though Joe Thornton has been traded, nothing has changed in Boston. The Bruins are still struggling and the press continues to crucify the team.

On the other hand, in San Jose, it’s still Joe Freaking Thornton! and somehow, Boston convinced themselves that Thorton was the problem, and 29 other teams would have been more than happy to take that problem off their hands; San Jose actually DID.

Boston had major problems. Joe Thornton wasn’t one of them. Boston clearly felt that Thornton wasn’t the guy they wanted to be captain, and you just don’t make someone an ex-captain without moving him to a new team. Unlike moving Nolan to Toronto, Boston trading Thornton wasn’t trading away a failed captain — just trading away one that didn’t act like Boston wants their captain to act (whatever that is, but it seems to involve high emotion, lots of yelling, throwing guys into toilets and occasionally trashing a locker room, as far as I can tell. In other words, Trevor Linden not welcome….)

What boston doesn’t understand, I guess, is that while that kind of go-to “don’t you dare take a shift off” personality is important in the locker room, it doesn’t have to wear the C. It doesn’t have to be a captain at all; that kind of leader just, well, leads. And captains can lead in many ways — nobody will ever mistake Trevor Linden for Mark Messier, for instance, but both are very successful captains.

I expect that Thornton NOT being captain in San Jose will make him that much better, too. It’s one less thing to worry about — and it’s no insult to be on a team with Marleau as Captain, either. So I like the chemistry aspects here almost as much as the talent aspects.

I still remember when Dean Lombardi had his “chemistry rules” moment — when he brought in Ray Sheppard and Craig Janney to the team, which were combined an absolute disaster; and according to Dean, “on paper, it was a great trade”. Dean, to his benefit, put a lot of work into learning how to judge character, and ended up doing a good job. But now, it’s clear, Boston is clueless about it. I feel sorry for Marco Sturm; the other two guys won’t get boston expectations heaped on him the way Marco will, and now, it seems clear, the honeymoon over the trade in boston lasted about two games, and then the mediocre play, bad chemistry and losing started again…

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    This was the most depressing moment in following the B’s for… 25 years now… which is saying something.
    I know Kevin Paul Dupont, of the Boston Globe (Boston sportswriters – one step above…. ?? I’m not sure, in the evolutionary scale, they probably beat out ameoba by a hair or so), had it in for Jumbo Joe, but I really can’t see how this trade helped the Bruins at all.
    And it’s looking pretty obvious now that it helped out the Sharks.
    Help Wanted: Please save our original six fixer upper… low pay, damned if you do, damned if you don’t, have to deal with most vicious sports press in the country, and are hemorrhaging fans faster than buttered toast hits the floor. Good times guaranteed.