2005–06 Boston Bruins season

Off-season

Key dates prior to the start of the season:

• The 2005 NHL entry draft took place in Ottawa, Ontario, on July 30, 2005.
• The free agency period began on August 1.

Regular season

After Joe Thornton voiced his unhappiness with his contract in Boston in 2005, many teams reportedly sent offers to the Bruins. However, Thornton re-signed with the team on August 11, 2005, on a three-year contract worth US$20 million. On November 30, 2005, he was traded to the San Jose Sharks in a blockbuster four-player deal which sent forwards Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau and defenseman Brad Stuart to Boston. Thornton was the team's leading scorer at the time by a substantial margin and many felt Bruins general manager Mike O'Connell had traded away one of the few players who was truly showing an exemplary effort. On January 10, 2006, Thornton returned to Boston as a member of the Sharks, but was ejected for checking Bruins' defenseman Hal Gill from behind at 5:13 of the first period. Thornton received a five-minute major and a game misconduct. The misconduct was later rescinded by the NHL.

General manager Mike O'Connell was fired on March 25 and replaced on an interim basis by assistant general manager Jeff Gorton.

The Bruins ended up finishing with the third-worst record in the Eastern Conference, but the story of the season for the team was the emergence of goaltender Tim Thomas. Thomas had been in the Bruins organization before and had become a star in Europe before deciding to give the NHL one last try. Injuries to incumbent starter Andrew Raycroft and backup Hannu Toivonen pushed Thomas into the starting role, one that he did not relinquish until after the 2011–12 season.

Final standings

Schedule and results

|- |1||October 5, 2005||1–2 || align="left"| Montreal Canadiens (2005–06) ||0–1–0 || |- |2||October 7, 2005||1–4 || align="left"| @ Buffalo Sabres (2005–06) ||0–2–0 || |- |3||October 8, 2005||7–6 OT|| align="left"| @ Pittsburgh Penguins (2005–06) ||1–2–0 || |- |4||October 10, 2005||4–2 || align="left"| @ Tampa Bay Lightning (2005–06) ||2–2–0 || |- |5||October 13, 2005||5–2 || align="left"| @ Florida Panthers (2005–06) ||3–2–0 || |- |6||October 15, 2005||1–5 || align="left"| @ Ottawa Senators (2005–06) ||3–3–0 || |- |7||October 18, 2005||3–4 || align="left"| @ Montreal Canadiens (2005–06) ||3–4–0 || |- |8||October 20, 2005||3–4 || align="left"| Buffalo Sabres (2005–06) ||3–5–0 || |- |9||October 22, 2005||6–3 || align="left"| Pittsburgh Penguins (2005–06) ||4–5–0 || |- |10||October 24, 2005||4–5 SO|| align="left"| @ Toronto Maple Leafs (2005–06) ||4–5–1 || |- |11||October 26, 2005||3–4 OT|| align="left"| @ Carolina Hurricanes (2005–06) ||4–5–2 || |- |12||October 27, 2005||2–1 || align="left"| Toronto Maple Leafs (2005–06) ||5–5–2 || |- |13||October 29, 2005||4–5 SO|| align="left"| New Jersey Devils (2005–06) ||5–5–3 ||

| Legend:

Player statistics

Scoring

• Position abbreviations: C = Center; D = Defense; G = Goaltender; LW = Left wing; RW = Right wing
• • = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Bruins only.*
• • = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Bruins only.*

Goaltending

Awards and records

Awards

Milestones

Transactions

The Bruins were involved in the following transactions from February 17, 2005, the day after the 2004–05 NHL season was officially cancelled, through June 19, 2006, the day of the deciding game of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals.

Trades

Players acquired

Players lost

Signings

Draft picks

The 2005 NHL Entry Draft was the 43rd NHL entry draft. As a lockout cancelled the 2004–05 NHL season, the draft order was determined by lottery on July 22, 2005. Teams were assigned 1 to 3 balls based on their playoff appearances and first overall draft picks from the past three years. According to the draft order, the selection worked its way up to 30 as usual; then instead of repeating the order as in past years, the draft "snaked" back down to the team with the first pick. Therefore the team with the first pick overall would not pick again until the 60th pick. The team with the 30th pick would also get the 31st pick. The draft was only seven rounds in length, compared to nine rounds in years past. The labor dispute caused the shortened draft.

• Boston's picks at the 2005 NHL entry draft in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Farm teams

The Bruins' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate was the Providence Bruins. The Bruins had 43 wins and 92 points and finished in fourth place in their division. The Bruins were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs against Portland. Eric Healey and Tim Thomas were selected to the AHL All-Star Game and Healey was the captain for PlanetUSA. Jonathan Sigalet was nominated for the AHL Man of the Year Award.

Notes

References

References

1. (March 25, 2006). "Gorton takes over GM duties on interim basis".
2. "2005-06 Boston Bruins Schedule and Results".
3. "Postseason All-Star Teams".
4. (April 13, 2006). "Montreal beats Bruins, 4-3".
5. Boston Bruins 2014–15 Guide & Record Book, p.239
6. "2005-06 NHL Debuts".
7. (October 18, 2005). "Montreal beats Bruins, 4-3; Leetch notches 1,000th point".
8. "Hockey Transactions Search Results".
9. (July 31, 2005). "Brad Isbister acquired in a trade with Edmonton".
10. (August 30, 2005). "Bruins re-acquire 2006 4th Round Draft Pick".
11. (November 6, 2005). "Bruins trade Andy Hilbert to Chicago Blackhawks".
12. (November 18, 2005). "Bruins get Tanabe for Scatchard".
13. (November 30, 2005). "Bruins acquire Brad Stuart, Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau for Joe Thornton".
14. (February 8, 2006). "Bruins Acquire Brian Eklund from Tampa for Zdenek Blatny".
15. (March 9, 2006). "Bruins acquire Marty Reasoner, Yan Stastny and a second round draft pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft".
16. (June 15, 2006). "Bruins acquire forward Petr Tenkrat".
17. (August 2, 2005). "McEachern, Murray and Scatchard sign with the Bruins".
18. (August 3, 2005). "Brian Leetch headed to Boston".
19. (August 4, 2005). "Alex Zhamnov signs three-year deal with Bruins".
20. (August 12, 2005). "Jiri Slegr signs a one-year deal with the Bruins".
21. (August 15, 2005). "Bruins sign seven players, including Brad Boyes".
22. (August 23, 2005). "Bruins sign Leach, Nickulas and Stroshein".
23. (September 7, 2005). "Bruins sign four players".
24. (September 14, 2005). "Tim Thomas signs one-year contract with the Bruins".
25. {{hockey-reference. l/lacouda01. Dan LaCouture, retrieved June 21, 2022
26. (January 19, 2006). "Bruins claim Craig Anderson off waivers".
27. (January 31, 2006). "Bruins claim RW Josh Langfeld off Waivers; G Craig Anderson claimed by St. Louis".
28. (March 8, 2006). "Bruins claim right wing Mariusz Czerkawski".
29. (August 1, 2005). "Free Agents List".
30. (September 25, 2005). "Putting Stock in a new career".
31. (August 3, 2005). "Penguins sign veteran defenseman Gonchar".
32. (August 4, 2005). "Blackhawks sign free agents Lapointe, Spacek".
33. (October 5, 2005). "Machanics add three more to roster".
34. (July 1, 2009). "2009 Official Free Agent List".
35. "Senaste Nyett Från Linköpings Hockey Club".
36. (November 30, 2005). "RANGERS COULD REGAIN TWO".
37. (November 30, 2006). "Girard decides to retire".
38. (December 3, 2005). "Blues Claim Defenseman Kevin Dallman Off Waivers".
39. {{hockey-reference. n/nickuer01. Eric Nickulas, retrieved June 21, 2022
40. "NATHAN ROBINSON".
41. (July 28, 2005). "The Bruins sign two prospects".
42. (July 30, 2005). "Bruins sign Andrew Alberts and Mark Stuart".
43. (August 10, 2005). "Axelsson and Samsonov sign one-year contracts".
44. (August 10, 2005). "Jordan Sigalet and Jonathan Girard sign one-year contracts".
45. (August 12, 2005). "Joe Thornton signs a 3-year deal to stay in Boston".
46. (August 17, 2005). "Travis Green signs two-year deal with Bruins".
47. (August 30, 2005). "Bruins sign Hal Gill to one-year contract".
48. (August 31, 2005). "Ben Walter signs a three-year contract".
49. (September 16, 2005). "Bruins re-sign Andrew Raycroft to one-year deal".
50. (October 13, 2005). "Nick Boynton signs one-year contract".
51. (March 18, 2006). "Bruins sign Tim Thomas to a three-year contract".
52. (March 23, 2006). "Axelsson agrees to a three-year contract extension".
53. (March 24, 2006). "Bruins sign defenseman Matt Lashoff to three-year deal".
54. (May 8, 2006). "Kalus agrees to three-year deal".
55. (May 22, 2006). "Bruins Agree to Terms with Krejci & Karsums".
56. (June 1, 2006). "Bruins sign 2004 draft pick Kris Versteeg".
57. "2005 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com".
58. "Official Site of the Providence Bruins".