What was General Manager Mike O’Connell thinking when he decided to pull the plug and trade his teams captain, their franchise player, their marquee player, their superstar?

Let’s look into this through the eyes of a General Manager.

Joe Thornton was drafted No. 1 overall by the Boston Bruins back in 1997 from a well-known junior franchise in Sault St. Marie. Even though the team didn’t win any Ontario Hockey League championships or Memorial Cups during his two years there, he had many positives that caught the eyes of General Managers across the National Hockey League.

He was 18 years old, stood 6-foot, 4-inches tall and weighed in at a solid 215 pounds. In his final year in junior, he scored an outstanding 122 points in just 59 games. The team would bow out of the playoffs in the 2nd round, but it certainly wasn’t because of the play of their top center. He would pick up 11 goals, 8 assists for 19 points in 11 games.

In Joe’s rookie season with the Bruins, he played in just 55 games and provided the team with only 9 points. The lack of offense provided by Joe in his rookie season was obviously disappointing considering the expectations that were put on him as the 1st overall pick from the recent NHL entry draft.

The next four seasons he generated better results, but certainly not to the standards of what the team, fans or Thornton expected to see. He played in 300 regular season games and put up 98 goals, 142 assists for a total of 230 points.

You might be saying to yourselves, those are good numbers. Yes, those are good numbers, however, those are not numbers you expect to see from a guy who plays on the number one line. Those are not numbers you expect to see from a previous No. 1 overall draft pick. Those are not numbers you expect to see from a guy who is one of the top five paid centers in the league.

In the 2002-2003 regular season, it looked as if the big center from London, Ontario was finally going to deliver on the lofty expectations that were put on him before he even entered into the league. He completed the season with his best offensive output in his brief NHL career, netting 36 goals and 65 assists for a total of 101 points. He was one of only five players in the past four seasons to surpass the 100 point plateau. Could Thornton and the Bruins finally be turning the corner?

Unfortunately, the answer would be no. In the following season (2003-2004), he came back to being average again as he posted 73 points in 77 games. He didn’t get a chance to redeem himself in 2004-2005 as the NHL locked out its players and was forced to play hockey overseas. Instead, he ended up in the Swiss Elite League playing for Davos. He once again put up decent numbers by potting 54 points in 40 games. Furthermore, Thornton and fellow NHL star Rich Nash would guide their new team to the Swiss Championship.

Despite the fact that Thornton has only delivered one outstanding offensive season, O’Connell continued to show the city of Boston and the rest of the Bruins franchise that Thronton was going to remain as the Bruins captain. They both signed off on a five year, $32.5 million contract.

"Joe's signing was a priority and we are again making clear how much he means to this franchise," O'Connell said in a statement. "He is among the upper echelon of players in our league and he just continues to get better."

Let’s fast forward to November 30, 2005. O’Connell and San Jose Sharks GM Doug Wilson confirm a report that Thornton has been traded to the Sharks in exchange for forwards Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau, as well as, defenseman Brad Stuart. What happened? Isn’t this the same Thornton that was just signed to a massive contract back in August? Where did everything go wrong? Why all of a sudden?

To be honest, this has been in the works for quite sometime now. O’Connell didn’t know where Thronton was going to end up, but he knew it was just a matter of time. The one main factor that stood out in O’Connell’s mind was the fact that their superstar forward and captain couldn’t lead this team to the promise land. In Joe’s eight plus seasons as a professional hockey player he has only helped one team win a Championship. Unfortunately, it was for a team in the Swiss Elite League.

With the B’s, he has only guided the team past the opening round of the playoffs once, in 1998-1999, when they reached the second round. In the season prior to the lockout, the Bruins were up 2-0 on Montreal in the opening round, only to bow out in seven games. The main concern for O’Connell was that his key player and captain didn’t register a single point in those seven games.

Finally, bringing you to the last two weeks prior to the trade with San Jose, the Bruins had only won 1 game in their last 10. That was enough for O’Connell. It was time for a change.

A new era has begun in Beantown. How will they fare without their former captain? Will the team be better or worse without him in the line-up? Will Thronton be able to lead the Sharks to a place where they haven't been.

All great questions and I wish I could give you the answers. All I can say is, it is going to be great to witness where these two teams end up come this spring time and in years to come.