Boston Sports Then and Now

Chiarelli should be working the phones on draft night.

It is that time of year again. No, not just mourning yet another Bruins disappointment, but rather looking forward to the draft… and potential trades.

Boston GM Peter Chiarelli has indicated he will likely look to improve his team via the trade market rather than free agency. You can never really trust a GM this time of year, with all the posturing and signals they send to try to gain an advantage in the market.

But a trade 43 years ago changed the direction of two franchises, one ending a drought and one perhaps prolonging their own drought.

In 1967 the Boston Bruins traded Pit Martin, Jack Norris and Gille Marotte to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield in what is considered one of the most lopsided trades in NHL history.

Esposito was certainly no slouch in Chicago, playing with Bobby Hull and amassing 74 goals and 174 points in 235 regular season games for the Blackhawks, but Chicago was apparently expecting more from a young Espo and he was sent packing. With the Bruins, Esposito became the first player in NHL history to score 100 points in a season and would help bring two Stanley Cups back to Boston. Chicago has not won a Cup since 1961.

Hodge and Stanfield never really lit up the scoreboard in their short time in Chicago, but found magic when they came to Boston. Hodge played 143 games (regular season and playoffs) for the Blackhawks, netting 16 goals and 58 points.

Stanfield had just 5 points in 55 career games with Chicago and was considered a throw in to the trade.

Esposito was a scoring machine for the Bruins.

Perhaps Espo, Hodge and Stanfield just needed a change of scenery, or perhaps the talent on Boston’s team boosted them to new heights. Regardless, the trio helped Boston find success and contributed to a record breaking offense.

In the 1968-1969 season, Esposito scored 126 points, a new NHL record. At the time, the previous record was 97 points…held by Chicago’s Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita. It took just three years for Esposito to help Boston end a 29 year drought as the Bruins brought home the Cup in 1970.

Hodge would score 105 points twice in his career as a Bruin and had 13 points in 14 games when the Bruins won

Hodge was key part of the "Espo Line" with Cashman and Esposito

the Cup in 1970. Stanfield never scored less than 54 points while wearing a black and gold sweater,  playing mostly on Boston’s third line. Stanfield totaled 32 points in 29 games in Boston’s Stanley Cup winning years, great value for a third line wing.

In addition to bringing home the Cup, Esposito added 5 Art Ross trophies as the league’s best scorer and 2 Hart trophies as the league MVP in his tenure as a Bruin. He and Bobby Orr formed one of the best tandem’s in NHL history, as Orr worked his magic defining the offensive defenseman role and Esposito went to the front of the net to either clear the way for Orr or pick up Orr’s rebounds.

Obviously trades like this do not happen every day. The Bruins clearly won this trade and without Esposito, Hodge and Stanfield who knows if the Bruins would have broken their Stanley Cup drought.

To expect a trade like this again is probably expecting the impossible. But you never know in the NHL.

Sometimes a player just needs a change of scenery or the right chemistry with a new linemate to ignite their talent. Keep that in mind as Peter Chiarelli is (potentially) wheeling and dealing at the draft and over the summer.

Who knows, the key parts to a Bruins Cup run could be arriving from other teams this summer.