Quote:
Originally Posted by powderjunkie
Boston never really bottomed out since drafting Thornton. The pulled a quick retool after the missed season, and the Thornton trade didn't even turn into anything significant for them.
Their 2 year rough patch got them Kessel 5OA and Zach Hammill 8OA. Kessel turned into Seguin and Hamilton, though only Seguin played on their cup winning team and he wasn't particularly significant.
Pretty amazing actually that Boston traded Joe Thornton, Tyler Seguin, and Dougie Hamilton for essentially nil returns (pretty sure Andrew Ference was the best piece they ended up with out of all of it), but still had ~15 years of contention including a Cup, 2 more Finals appearances, and the greatest regular season ever since the loser point.
And they did it all with their key guys:
45th
63rd
71st
50th
UFA (Chara)
UFA (Tim Thomas)
But you know what was probably most important? 2OA Seguin playing half the playoff games at 10:35 TOI.
and also trading with Florida to get a former 3OA pick who actually was really important...but 3OAs from Florida don't count.
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Boston is somehow the most well-run organization in the sport.
Having Seguin on an ELC let them add more depth to the lineup. And they happened to have cap space when Zdeno friggen Chara was available, because they decided punting on Joe Thornton was the right call.
And it was.
They always matter, even when they leave Chabot, Barzal and Connor on the table for nobodies.
We’re not them.