Thornton may not be going, but O'Donnell's gone
By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff | July 7, 2004

The Bruins team you'll see in 2004-05, provided there is a season, is well
on its way to being vastly different than last year's edition. Forward Mike
Knuble, a top-line player, signed with the Philadelphia Flyers as an
unrestricted free agent Saturday. Free agent defenseman Sean O'Donnell, who
was one of the steadiest contributors and a leader on the team the last
three seasons, signed a three-year, $6-million deal with the Phoenix Coyotes
yesterday.

The club's top right wing -- Glen Murray -- appears close to signing with a
new team, reportedly Detroit. But don't expect captain Joe Thornton to be
going anywhere. A column by Larry Brooks in Sunday's New York Post said
Thornton, a restricted free agent, wants out of town.

However, general manager Mike O'Connell -- who spoke to Thornton and his
agent, J.P. Barry, yesterday -- got no indication that Thornton is
disgruntled. The GM had lunch with Thornton and defenseman Nick Boynton June
10 in Toronto prior to the NHL awards ceremony and met with Barry at the NHL
draft, saying all seemed well. O'Connell contacted both regarding the story
in the Post and came away believing there is no discord.

"I read the article [yesterday] morning," said O'Connell. "Someone told me
about it. I called Larry [Brooks] and I told him, `I don't know where you
got this,' and he said he got it from very reliable sources. But I spoke
with Joe in Toronto at the awards dinner. Never did he mention anything to
that effect to me. I met with his agent at the NHL draft and never was it
brought up that he wanted to be traded. It's all news to me."

O'Connell said that didn't change in the conversations he had with Thornton
and Barry yesterday.

"I didn't get anything from them that I didn't get earlier," he said.

The Post story said Thornton, who was playing with a rib injury in the
playoffs against the Montreal Canadiens, was unhappy he wasn't supported
more by management. O'Connell doesn't see how that could be true.

"Larry's comments say we didn't support [Thornton]," said O'Connell. "I
think if you look at what we said about Joe, I don't think there's any doubt
that we realized he was hurt. I remember sitting in the press conference
[two days after the Bruins were eliminated in seven games] saying Joe was
definitely hurt."

O'Connell also didn't get any indication that Thornton was upset by the
number of players the Bruins were willing to part with to free agency. The
loss of Knuble and possibly Murray means Thornton will be getting new
linemates.

"I tried to sign Knuble," said O'Connell. "Murray was looking for $30
million for five years. That's too high for us."

O'Donnell said he enjoyed his time in Boston but was thrilled to join
Phoenix.

"This was where I wanted to come," said O'Donnell, who played 61 games for
the Phoenix Roadrunners of the International Hockey League in 1994-95. "I
like the city, I like the team, it's close to LA [where his wife, Allison,
works as an actress] and we have a good, young nucleus. There's an
opportunity to play a lot."

With the league counting down to the expiration of the collective bargaining
agreement Sept. 15, there are more questions than answers regarding who will
be wearing the black and gold.

"I am very concerned about how to proceed," said O'Connell, when asked if he
is worried about the roster when all is said and done. "I think a lot of
teams are because of the labor issue. Right now, we're still dealing in
today's dollars. When the new deal comes in, we'll be dealing in tomorrow's
dollars and I don't know how they work together.

"[Other teams] see it the way they want to see it and they do business the
way they see fit, but based on the knowledge I have and what we've heard --
what we've all heard -- I'm not prepared to do that because of the pending
labor situation. We've said it for the last two years, even the last three
years."

O'Connell isn't sour on the idea of bringing in free agents but the labor
situation has handcuffed teams committed to holding the line in terms of
escalating salaries.

"We're going to look at [the market], but this is the first time this has
happened, something so serious," he said. "I've never experienced this
before and I'm waiting to see how it all plays out. If you look at the team
that won the Stanley Cup [Tampa Bay], there were four or five skill players
on that team, one of whom was the goalie. We have four or five skill players
on our team right now, one of them being the goalie.

"How we fill in those spots is going to be the key [as well as] when we fill
them in. Hockey's in a tough spot right now. It's a great sport, but there's
a labor issue that has to be rectified for the health of the sport going
forward. Hopefully, we'll get it squared away and we'll never have to deal
with something like this again."



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