Boston Bruins (22-16-7) at San Jose Sharks (30-10-7), 7:30 PM PST.
In honor of tonight's tilt against the Boston Bruins, I was going to look back on the notion floating around that if the Bruins kept Joe Thornton, they never would have been able to get Marc Savard and Zdeno Chara on the same roster. Then my dog started peeing blood at 3 AM and the rest of my day kind of went haywire (he's ok, though; I'm lacking sleep). So you should go see who Rudy cast in Sharks: The Movie, then read my short-short version of The Trade rant: Joe Thornton's cap hit bounced between $6.6 million and $7.2 million. Marc Savard's cap hit was $5 million before his extension. If The Trade never happened, the Bruins don't get Marco Sturm and his $3 million cap hit, so they could have kept Jumbo and added a 2nd/3rd liner for about $1.5 - $2 mil while signing Chara. Make sense?
As to who's better? Make all the jokes you want about Thornton's playoff performance, but his numbers as a Shark are actually pretty darn good: 6 goals, 29 assists for 35 points in 41 games. In fact, if you take out the infamous injury-rib year from Joe's Boston career, he still had nine points in 11 games. Savard's points-per-game in the post-season are slightly better: 7 goals, 12 assists for 19 points in 18 games.
Who would you rather have? You can look at the other factors, such as the all-important regular season performance (nod to Thornton), faceoffs (Thornton), and size (Thornton).
I know some people try to justify The Trade from Boston's side, saying that the salary cap hit opened a bunch of doors for them, etc., etc...but really, I don't think so. I'd take Thornton over Savard any day.
The Bruin I'd Like On My Team: I still have a soft spot for that crazy German, Marco Sturm. Plus, he once told my wife that he really liked schnitzel, and I think he was referring to food rather than going for a double entendre.
Prediction: Sharks 4, Bruins 2: All goals by Thornton, just for kicks.
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