Both the 2005 and 2006 seasons represented a changing of the tides for the Boston Bruins.
Over the span of those two years, Mike O’Connell, Jeff Gorton and Peter Chiarelli orchestrated a number of moves that uprooted the Original Six franchise — dealing away Joe Thornton, adding Zdeno Chara and investing in the future with youngsters like Patrice Bergeron.
Given the amount of upheaval felt in those two years, we figured we’d take a long look at all the moves taken in the post-lockout era that have allowed Boston to keep a Cup-contending window open for over a decade now.
After sorting through over 40 free-agent signings from 2005 onwards, we decided to take a look at all the trades struck by O’Connell, Gorton, Chiarelli and Don Sweeney.
In total, there were over 90 trades struck between the Bruins and other clubs since the 2004-05 lockout, although we’ve whittled this list down to 71 — with AHL-centered transactions not making the cut.
The Bruins have run the full gamut when it comes to placing your odds on the trade market, with the Original Six franchise emerging with some steals — and a number of duds — over the past 15 years.
After rolling through our five worst trades on Wednesday, let’s wade through the rest of Boston’s major misses today:
66 - Brawn over Brains - June 29, 2015
To Boston:
Zac Rinaldo
To Philadelphia:
2017 3rd-round pick (Kirill Ustimenko)
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This one … was a head-scratcher.
One of Sweeney’s first moves as Bruins GM was this swap with the Flyers — acquiring a proven agitator and pest in Rinaldo, but at the cost of a third-round pick.
Even though the Flyers whiffed on their pick in goalie Kirill Ustimenko, this trade still was a case of dreadful asset management from the Bruins — given both the draft capital expended and Rinaldo’s disastrous run in Boston.
Added to the roster in order to add some snarl to the lineup, Rinaldo spent most of his shifts looking to run opposing skaters, producing just three points over 52 games.
Suspended by the NHL for five games for an illegal hit against Tampa Bay’s Cédric Paquette, Rinaldo was ultimately placed on waivers and sent down to Providence — where he earned ANOTHER suspension in his first game down in the AHL after getting slapped with a match penalty for a dangerous hit.
Rinaldo never played another game up with Boston, spending the entire 2016-17 toiling down in Providence before leaving in free agency.
65 - Power outage - Feb. 18, 2011
To Boston:
To Toronto:
2011 1st-round pick (Rickard Rakell)
Conditional 2012 2nd-round pick (Mike Winther)
Although Boston boasted a pretty loaded lineup in the weeks leading up to the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the B’s were far from impervious — with a 20th ranked power play (16.2% success rate) identified as a potential Achilles’ heel.
64 -
Going all in? - Feb. 29, 2016
To Boston:
To New Jersey:
2016 4th round pick (Evan Cormier)
While Cormier hasn’t panned out, that 2017 second-round pick (later acquired by San Jose) was used to draft UMass product
Mario Ferraro
, who cracked the Sharks’ lineup in 2019-20 and figures to log major minutes down the road for a rebuilding San Jose club.
63 - Needing help on the blue line - Feb. 27, 2007
To Boston:
To St. Louis:
But, despite all of his merits in the O-zone and on the power play, Wideman did often draw the ire of Bruins fans — with a number of defensive gaffes and uninspiring effort often allowing opposing clubs to land some punches against Boston.
62 - Schaefer stumbles - July 17, 2007
To Boston:
Peter Schaefer
To Ottawa:
Shean Donovan
With Boston in need of some scoring punch on the winger, Chiarelli pulled off this deal in July 2007 — dealing away bottom-six grinder Shean Donovan (a player with a PERFECT name for Boston) for Schaefer, who offered plenty of promise.
After tallying 96 points in his previous two seasons up in Ottawa, Schaefer was slotted in on Boston’s top line to open the 2007-08 campaign — tallying six points in his first 11 games. But even as he continued to log minutes next to one of the NHL’s top playmakers at the time in
Marc Savard,
Schaefer’s production soon dried up.
Ultimately, Schaefer was relegated to a spot in the Bruins’ bottom-six grouping, closing out his lone season in Boston with nine goals and 17 assists over 63 games.
Things didn’t improve from there, as Schaefer didn’t even crack the NHL roster out of camp — spending the entire 2008-09 season down in Providence. Boston ultimately opted to buy out Schaefer the following year, with lingering cap hits in 2009 and 2010 proving to be a thorn in the side of the Bruins.
61 - Letting a veteran go - July 24, 2009
To Boston:
2010 4th round pick (Craig Cunningham)
To Carolina:
With Boston in need of freeing up some cash with
Phil Kessel
due a new contract, the B’s traded Ward back to his old team — the same Hurricanes team that bounced Boston just a few months prior, with old friend
Scott Walker
reunited with the player he sucker-punched during Game 5.
With Ward gone, Boston recouped a 2010 fourth-round pick (used on
Craig Cunningham
) and BC product
Patrick Eaves,
who was immediately placed on waivers for the purpose of a buyout.
With that extra money saved from moving Ward, Boston rebounding by signing …
Derek Morris
, who didn’t even last one full season in Boston.
