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One last shot Boston may trade Bourque to Stanley Cup contender
Posted: Friday March 03, 2000 03:26 PM
BOSTON (AP) -- The Boston Bruins are willing to trade 18-time All-Star Ray Bourque, who has spent his entire 21-year career with the team, if he wanted one last chance at a Stanley Cup before retiring. "We would try to," assistant general manager Mike O'Connell said Friday. "But this (rumors of a trade) happens every year." Bourque has won five Norris Trophies as the league's top defenseman, but he has never won an NHL championship. Although he has always said he wants to finish his career with the Bruins, that might be changing now that retirement looms for the 39-year-old defenseman and Boston probably will miss the playoffs. Bourque, who will make $6 million this year, the final season of his current contract, hasn't said whether he will return for another season. The Boston Herald, citing a source it did not identify, reported Friday that Bourque "would welcome a trade" and that he will be dealt before the March 14 deadline. Bourque, his agent, Steve Freyer, and O'Connell denied that Bourque wants out. "No decision has been made in that department yet," Bourque told the Herald after a 5-2 loss to Montreal on Thursday night. "Obviously when things go like this it's tough. It's not the way you want to end the season. You like to be in the dance. Right now we're outside looking in." O'Connell said the team has approached Bourque about staying around after he retires. But Bourque has always said he won't make any decisions until he is finished playing. O'Connell said he will assume Bourque wants to remain with the Bruins "unless Raymond states it's going to be different." If he changes his mind, O'Connell said, the team owes it to its biggest star to help. "I don't even want to comment on that, because it gives it a whole new life," O'Connell said. "But he's been an outstanding player, and role model."
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