Bruins GM Mike O'Connell Fired

noctambulist · Post by **noctambulist** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 11:07 pm

From Boston.com, the Boston Globe web site:

BREAKING SPORTS NEWS: Bruins general manager Mike Oâ€™Connell has been fired. The team will make a formal announcement at a 6 p.m. news conference. Assistant GM Jeff Gorton will serve as interim general manager, and will also be considered a candidate as the team searches for a permanent GM.

noctambulist · Post by **noctambulist** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 11:10 pm

O'Connell fired
By Kevin Paul Dupont, Globe Staff

Bruins general manager Mike Oâ€™Connell has been fired. Team president Harry Sinden announced the decision at a news conference at the Garden before tonightâ€™s Bruins-Sabres game.

â€œMike Oâ€™Connell was the gentleman heâ€™s always been when I spoke to him,â€

Systemfel · Post by **Systemfel** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 11:47 pm

About time, but the damage was already done.

Post by **Minstrel** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 12:15 am

Yeah, a few months too late... I can see Sullivan being an assistant somewhere for a few years and getting another head coaching shot; I think he's a good coach caught in a hideous situation.

Post by **E5150_ca** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 2:07 am

I don't think anyone can say they didn't see it coming.

Post by **Minstrel** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 2:32 am

Was just flipping around to games with the NCAA's at the half and I stopped on the Bruins game for a moment and they said "We knew e didn't want him signing any other players and we knew we'd be making a change in the offseason" So if you no longer trust the gut to even sign anyone at this point why the hell didn't you let him go when he came to you and said "I've got this great trade lined up to get rid of a guy who will be battling for the league scoring lead, is the face of our organization and one of the league's elite players for a 2nd and 4th liner"

And then you keep him around for the trade deadline deals too to trade Samsonov? Man it sounds like something Chicago would do...

Post by **inSTAALed** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:11 am

Minstrel wrote: Man it sounds like something Chicago would do...

What about Millbury? Sounds like something he already has done, plenty of times.

Post by **Minstrel** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:55 am

Oh yeah the Thornton deal was a total Millbury shout-out

I meant it sounds like they are running their organization like Chicago has; bring in someone and let them make the calls then at an odd time finally let them go and start reinventing the past saying they've know he was an idiot for a long time and they didn't agree with his moves etc.

flea · Post by **flea** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 11:04 pm

Well here a good news!!!

Too late, but good news!!!

I first had read that the one who has been fired was Sullivan, never mind!!!

Post by **Minstrel** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 12:28 am

flea wrote:Well here a good news!!!

Too late, but good news!!!

I first had read that the one who has been fired was Sullivan, never mind!!!

No, but I would say he has the proverbial Sword of Damocles hanging over his head though...

flea · Post by **flea** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 3:49 am

Minstrel wrote:
flea wrote:Well here a good news!!!

Too late, but good news!!!

I first had read that the one who has been fired was Sullivan, never mind!!!
No, but I would say he has the proverbial Sword of Damocles hanging over his head though...

LOL, I think Sullivan has the sword so near that it helps him shaving, lol!!!

Hes probably the next to go....but really, I would wait until the offseason...no good would come now if they change the coach right now, damage is already made.

Hopefully we bring somebody with a clear mind to the club who makes some good moves in the offseason, we need new blood bitterly in Boston.

Now look at the draft and pick somebody good, sign some good UFAs and try to be a contender again in the next couple of seasons...

Post by **E5150_ca** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 5:05 am

Want Quinn?

We've got dibs on Sutter.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 3:13 pm

It's about time this happened but it's too little too late. He's already disassembled the team. Just wait until the next EHM. The Boston Bruins are going to be one of those teams that are going to be really hard to turn around. They've traded away most of the talent without getting much in return.

Now that O'Connell is gone, they need to let Sinden go too. I'd also like to see them cut Sullivan loose. Like Minstrel said, Sully would be better off as an assistant for a few years before trying his hand at being a head coach again.

flea · Post by **flea** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 5:27 pm

I agree totally here!!

Well, OConnell was the one who put the name on the trades, but the real man behind all what happend this season is no other then Harry Sinden!!!
Hes a guy who prefers to win some buck more than have his fans happy and a good team!!

Just imagine last seasons team, with Nylander, Rolston and Knuble, add one or two good d-men and I bet we would be in the playoff and be a real contender for the Cup, instead we are looking already at who to draft!!!

And well, Iam also not a big fan of Sullivan. Hes still young and probably it was a bit too early to call him up from Providence as coach of "the big boys".

...at least we still can be a judge in who will be in the playoffs, we still have 3 games against the Habs and one against the Trashers....guess who I prefer in the playoffs

noctambulist · Post by **noctambulist** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 3:06 am

I'm not going to say I'm sorry to see O'Connell go. I don't think he did a very good job. But I have to say that I did not disagree with trading away Thornton. Thornton is a darn good player, but he was totally underachieving here in Boston. I can't tell you how many times I was yelling at him through the TV screen to get his butt out from behind the net and shoot the darn puck. He would go games without the announcers mentioning his name more than a couple of times. He was far from a leader of this team. Maybe the mistake was making him captain too soon an it put too much pressure on him. But he had many years to turn into the guy everyone expected him to be for Boston, and he never quite could do it. Not to mention he was a better-than-average player getting a superstar salary. I knew as soon as he went he would play much better and everyone would look back and say what a mistake it was. But he just wasn't playing to his potential in Boston and I think he needed the trade as much as the Bruins did.

On Samsonov, I don't disagree with that trade either. Sure, he's a good player, but he hasn't played a full season in over three years and his contract was up at the end of the season. Whatever he would have asked for would be too much. He's too much of a liability and too inconsistent to over pay for him. Let some other team worry about that.

Now here is where I blame O'Connell. I don't think we got equal value in the Thornton trade. Maybe we did in the Samsonov trade, especially since it looks like no one was really willing to give up much for him. I like Stuart, Sturm, and Primeau, but I don't think they filled the need the Bruins had.

On Mike Sullivan, I think he should stay. He did a pretty darn good job with the team he was given, and he wasn't given much. And lets not forget that Sullivan lead the Bruins to the top of the Eastern Conference in 2004, only to lose to Montreal. But I don't think anyone was calling for his head that year. I think he's a good coach and should be given another chance with some decent players to work with.

You guys have already touched on the real problem here. It's Sinden and Jacobs. Sell the team to someone who cares about hockey and cares about all the loyal Bruins fans in this town, and the world. Then fire Sinden.

Post by **Minstrel** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 7:05 am

noctambulist wrote:You guys have already touched on the real problem here. It's Sinden and Jacobs. Sell the team to someone who cares about hockey and cares about all the loyal Bruins fans in this town, and the world. Then fire Sinden.

Change this to Pulford and Wirtz (who always call the shots no matter who wears the coach or GM name tag) and it is the exact way we've felt in Chicago for ohhh 15 years or so. I hope for your sake that your "root problem" is resolved more quickly than ours which is a continuing nightmare.

noctambulist · Post by **noctambulist** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 1:07 pm

I don't see Jacobs selling the team any time soon. He owns the TD BankNorth Garden and owns the concessions company that sells all the food and beer there. The Bruins are a way for him to sell hotdogs and beer. To add insult to injury, he doesn't even live in Boston, he lives in Buffalo, NY.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 2:25 pm

The whole Jacobs is a cheapskate arguement applied in the past but now that we have a salary cap, it doesn't really work. This year's problems were a case of O'Connell misjudging the new free agency market and salary situation under the cap. O'Connell (and I'm sure Sinden as well) thought the market would favor team's like the Bruins who didn't have many players under contract. They thought they could lowball all the unrestricted free agents and they'd come flocking to the team. They didn't expect other teams to make sizable offers to free agents. This lead them paying certain players too much when they didn't get the guys they planned on. Management misjudged how the new NHL would work. Simple as that.

Post by **Minstrel** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 2:52 pm

I saw some discussion of this on CBC I think it was prolly HNIC I think.

Their drawing power to leverage that they had so few players under contract was undercut quite a bit by the 24% rollback of salaries which allowed a lot more teams to keep/sign/offer to more players. Their "big advantage" turned out to a frustrating exercise in scrambling and overpaying just to fill the roster. Yeah things could have gone better for them but they were working from behind from the getgo really and since it was O'C's master plan he was the one that took the fall for it in the end...

noctambulist · Post by **noctambulist** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 1:41 am

I agree with you bruins72, it was much more what O'Connell did in the offseason than any trade made since then that cost him his job.