10 years later: Remembering the Joe Thornton trade

A decade ago Monday, the Boston Bruins stunned the hockey world by trading franchise cornerstone and leading scorer Joe Thornton to the San Jose Sharks.

The struggling Bruins dealt Thornton for forwards Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau, and defenseman Brad Stuart.

Thornton had 33 points in 23 games at the time of the trade, and by season's end, had become the first and only player in NHL history to win the Hart Trophy while playing for two different teams in the same campaign.

The playmaking center also won the Art Ross Trophy that season with 125 points in 81 games, following it up with 114 points in 2006-07.

Sturm spent parts of five fairly productive campaigns with the Bruins before moving on to four other NHL clubs and playing his final pro season in his native Germany in 2012-13.

Stuart is in his 16th year and second with the Colorado Avalanche. Primeau played 101 games with the Bruins before being dealt, along with Stuart, to the Calgary Flames, in exchange for defenseman Andrew Ference and forward Chuck Kobasew.

Primeau played parts of three underwhelming seasons with the Flames before finishing his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2009-10.

Thornton led San Jose to nine consecutive playoff appearances, although the Sharks have never advanced past the Western Conference finals and infamously blew a 3-0 lead in the quarterfinal round in 2014, losing four straight games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings.

Meanwhile, the Bruins qualified for the postseason seven consecutive times from 2008 to 2014, winning the Stanley Cup in seven games over the Vancouver Canucks in 2011.

There's no doubting that in terms of talent, the Sharks won the trade, but it hasn't yet helped them lift hockey's ultimate prize.