The San Jose Sharks are going to make the playoffs. The Boston Bruins are not.
In fact, Boston general manager Mike O’Connell was fired last month, showing he hadn’t perfected the art of always getting ownership to believe it was someone else’s fault.
Perhaps Bruins president Harry Sinden, the former GM who always found ways to scapegoat coaches and keep his job, had patented that dodge for the New England territory.
Yet guess who fired O’Connell? Yes, Sinden.
In the wake of the mess in Boston – and we’re not talking only about the Big Dig – could you blame former Bruin Joe Thornton if he smirked a bit?
He hasn’t succumbed to the temptation, Thornton said in Denver last week.
“I have a lot of friends there I still talk to,” Thornton said after the Sharks beat the Avalanche at the Pepsi Center. “But we’ve been playing so much hockey, I’m not worried about whether they’re winning or losing. I wish them all the best, but I can only focus on us right now.”
That’s known as taking the high road, which is what he did when asked about O’Connell as well.
“Everybody knows it’s part of the business, and that’s what happens when you don’t win,” he said, shrugging.
It was the most one-sided deal of the season. Thornton came to the Sharks on Nov. 30 for Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau. Curiously, many folks in Boston swallowed the Bruins’ rationalization – puck, stick and skate blade. And that went something like: Great player, but slightly overrated and certainly overpaid in this era. Not the sort of leader who can lift a team beyond its on-paper capabilities. Good riddance? Maybe not. But getting those three guys for him was a good deal.
Sturm is a nice player and Stuart could develop into a top-drawer defenseman, but Thornton is a centerpiece. That’s even at a cap number of nearly $6.7 million a year, under the three-year deal he signed last summer.
The problem was the Bruins’ tradition of relative parsimony and arrogance in the wake of the new collective bargaining agreement was a destructive combination. They cleaned house as the lockout approached, then waited for free agents to beg to come to Boston. They didn’t. And this 2005-06 team, hastily and ineptly assembled, was a disaster, even with Thornton. So the whispers began, and too many folks who should have known better – as well as those who always have bought whatever Sinden was saying – gave them credence.
The Sharks aren’t complaining that Thornton isn’t worth that big a portion of the capped payroll. Patrick Marleau still is wearing the “C,” but Thornton quickly has become a leader. He has helped his linemate, Jonathan Cheechoo, take another step toward superstar status as well, and Cheechoo is going to crack 50 goals any day now. With Marleau and Thornton, the Sharks have what is a rare 1-2 center punch in the new NHL. Plus, Thornton has an outside chance at catching Jaromir Jagr and winning the NHL scoring race.
Hart Trophy? Jagr deserves that, hands down. But Thornton deserves to be among the top three.
And most important, San Jose is winning.
The Sharks were only 8-12-4 at the time of the trade. They have climbed back in the playoff hunt with a steadiness that almost kept them under the radar, and some of us were beginning to wonder if our post-trade assumption – that the Sharks would get back among the top eight in the West – was going to turn out to be off-base. But going into Saturday’s games, the Sharks were in the No. 7 spot and seemingly in good shape to claim a playoff spot.
Mr. Hobey
San Jose coach Ron Wilson, a two-time All-America defenseman as a Providence College Friar, virtually benched Matt Carle in the third period of the Sharks’ win over the Avalanche on Wednesday night.
Afterward, Wilson smiled and noted that Carle clearly was nervous playing in front of his former University of Denver teammates and friends, and also that he had looked up and found himself playing against such familiar names in his college town.
“Joe Sakic, Hejduk and all of those guys!” Wilson said, smiling. “He’s played really well, and he’s going to make a huge impact on our team going forward.”
The Sharks, who drafted Carle in 2003, handled the situation with class during the young Alaskan’s stay in Denver. Even after his signing, they jumped on board the Hobey Baker Award bandwagon, and had no problem with Carle going to Milwaukee for the awards ceremony Friday, held in conjunction with the Frozen Four. The defenseman became the first DU player to win the award.
Modano OK
The Stars, tying a record set by every other NHL team, aren’t exactly forthcoming on the injury disclosure front, but the word out of Dallas on Friday was that Mike Modano tweaked an old knee injury against Anaheim on Thursday and would be available for the playoffs – if not sooner. It looked a lot worse when it happened, and the Stars were fearing the news would be bad. The Stars also hoped to get Bill Guerin, out since suffering a fractured orbital bone in mid-March, back in the lineup this weekend.
Grahame benched
Heading into the final 10 days of the regular season, it seemed as if the defending champion Lightning is committed to going with Sean Burke – not Denver native John Grahame – as its playoff goalie. Grahame’s up-and-down season hasn’t been good enough, at least not in the eyes of coach John Tortorella.
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
