This column originally ran in The Standard-Times on Dec. 2, 2005.

By Nick Tavares

Shock is not a word that I like to toss around lightly. Shock is one of those feelings best left reserved for family circumstances, accidents, disasters, etc.

Well, this Bruins team certainly feels like a disaster.

Of all the players who were destined to be traded this season in an attempt to right the ship, Joe Thornton was the farthest from the radar. Especially considering the way Bruins general manager Mike O'Connell built the team in the offseason around him.

O'Connell brought back Glen Murray to team with Thornton on the front line. He signed Brad Isbister to be Mike Knuble-light. Alexi Zhamnov, P.J. Axelsson, Travis Green, Dave Scatchard, Tom Fitzgerald, Shawn McEachearn and Sergie Samsonov were all re-signed or brought in to bolster the forward flanks.

Well, as in every team sport ever played, defense can't be ignored. So O'Connell made a pitch to the still valuable but 37-year-old Brian Leetch to be the linchpin. He later low-balled All-Star Nick Boynton and patched the rest of the "D" together with rookies and veterans.

Defense be damned, the Bruins were going to score at will and contend for the Cup.

Funny how that hasn't worked out.

So this team, which had four cornerstone players (Thornton, Samsonov, Boynton and Andrew Raycroft) and a clean slate on which to build one of the league's powerhouses, is in the gutter with no sign of life.

And who takes the fall for this? O'Connell, the man who so ineptly blew his chance at building a winner? Nope. It's Thornton.

O'Connell painted himself into a corner. He built a team that was in no way balanced enough to win. He threw the team's money away by overpaying for veteran forwards, neglecting defense and alienating Boynton in the process.

Samsonov, Thornton's draft classmate in 1997, is a free agent at the end of the year, and I'd be amazed if there weren't a shiny red sweater waiting for him in Detroit. It was going to be tough to keep him here with all the money committed to the cap before, and there won't be a whole lot keeping him here now.

And if you were Nick Boynton, would you sign a long-term deal with this team?

O'Connell has had his chance. He had one of the greatest opportunities to build a team any GM will ever see, and he blew it. He built a ship with gaping holes, and now he's shipped off the captain in a poor attempt to fix it.

The players he got -- Wayne Primeau, Marco Sturm and Brad Stuart -- are nice enough, Stuart especially. They're the kind of players, though, that could've been attained to begin with. There was no need for this to happen this way.

If owner Jeremy Jacobs is as committed to winning as he says he is, he'd fire O'Connell immediately. Teams, for better or worse, are built from the top down, and O'Connell has left this team gasping for air.

As for fans who might have been thinking about buying a ticket this year, don't bother. There's nothing to see here anymore, unless you enjoy train wrecks.

Jumbo Joe has flown off to San Jose to play alongside his cousin Scott and help another team struggling to get back in the playoff hunt. The Sharks have definitely improved their chances of making a run.

And the Bruins? Well, their status is clear.

They won't win this year. They have no idea how.

Nick Tavares is a columnist for The Standard-Times. E-mail him at ntavares@s-t.com

This story appeared on Page C1 of The Standard-Times on December 2, 2005.