Brian Burke Revisits Joe Thornton Trade, Says Boston Took Worse Offer

By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) -- If you're a Bruins fan, it's possible that the Joe Thornton trade in November 2005 made you angry. It's just as possible that you're still angry.

Well, prepare to get a little bit angrier.

Longtime NHL executive Brian Burke, like the rest of society, is holed up at home with not much else to do aside from answering some Twitter questions. One such question posed asked Burke to name one trade he didn't make that he wished he had. His mind immediately went to his days as the general manager of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. (Yes, they were still mighty back then.)

Having just taken over as Ducks GM that season, Burke said he made an offer to Bruins GM Mike O'Connell -- a better offer than the one from San Jose which O'Connell ultimately accepted.

"I tried desperately to get Joe Thornton to Anaheim. I thought we beat the offer that got accepted. Mike O'Connell was the GM and we were babysitting him, checking in once a day, sometimes more," Burke said. "I told OC that I would protect 5 players on my roster and he could take whoever he had ranked 6th. No restrictions. Then I'd add another roster player, a prospect, and a first. I'm still bitter we didn't get him."

As you likely remember, O'Connell accepted a deal that brought Marco Sturm, Wayne Primeau and Brad Stuart to Boston. Of the three, only Sturm lasted in Boston, but only through 2010.

It's unclear which five players Burke would have protected, but with the Ducks just a year away from winning the Cup, it's fair to assume that Burke wanted to keep his top dogs.

Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer were off limits, as were Andy McDonald and Joffrey Lupul. Goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere probably would have made the list, even with Ilya Bryzgalov on the roster.

Some of the other names on Anaheim's roster that year? Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry certainly jump out. Both were 20 years old at the time and would have represented a long-term return for O'Connell and the Bruins. Joffrey Lupul was also a young forward who'd finish that year as one of Anaheim's top scorers.

Throw in the first-round pick, and, well, yeah.

Yikes.

Some players who were available with Anaheim's 19th selection the following year include Claude Giroux, Semyon Varlamov, Nick Foligno and Nick Foligno, though nobody can say whom the Bruins would have drafted if they owned that pick. The Bruins did take Kessel with the fifth overall pick that year.

Nevertheless, the impossible has happened. The Joe Thornton trade has somehow become even worse than we all already knew it to be.

Extreme yikes.

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• Boston Bruins
• NHL
• San Jose Sharks