Well, general manager George McPhee went out and found that player on the free-agent market last summer in former Bruin Mike Knuble. After four productive seasons in Philadelphia, the 6-foot-3, 223-pound veteran winger is having another solid season, with 18 goals and 33 points for the Capitals.
On Tuesday morning, Knuble credited his just over four seasons (2000-04) in Boston for helping him become the player he is now. While part of the Black and Gold, Knuble was able to pick the brains of Hall of Famer Johnny "Chief" Bucyk and Wayne Cashman while playing alongside Glen Murray and future Hart Trophy winner Joe Thornton.
“I’ll always be thankful for the opportunity I was given here in Boston — it really changed my career around,” said Knuble. “I was around 30 years old and I got a chance in Boston. Playing with Joe and Glen changed my career. It really changed everything for me.
"Every city I’ve played in has been blessed with all kinds of great ex-players, and [in Boston], it was Johnny Bucyk. I didn’t remember him as a player, but he was a very humble guy. You’d never know he was one of the leading scorers in the history of the league. I loved talking to him. It was just good people [in Boston]. And I also had Wayne Cashman [to look up to], so we were pretty lucky in that respect.”
Knuble still has the Jeep he won when he was granted the Seventh Player award, which was voted on by the fans — and he remembers those fans fondly.
“I still drive around the Jeep that I got,” Knuble said with a laugh. “That’s my summertime car, so it’s still being used. I thank the people of Boston for that.”
Heading into the lockout, Knuble was understandably baffled and saddened when the then-Bruins management decided to disassemble what he and many others felt had the makings of a Stanley Cup-contending team. Ownership and management figured that it would be wiser to refrain from re-signing the likes of Knuble, Sergei Gonchar, Brian Rolston, Michael Nylander and Sean O’Donnell, instead choosing to come out of the lockout with an open checkbook. The belief was that players wouldn’t be able to command lucrative contracts and bargains could be made. Sadly, that wasn’t the case, and as the Bruins' 2005-06 season quickly faded into oblivion, Thornton was traded away, changing the course and direction of the franchise.
“They let everybody go [after the 2003-04 season],” Knuble recalled. “They held on to P.J. [Axelsson], Marty [Lapointe] and Patrice [Bergeron], and that was about it — along with [Andrew] Raycroft. We talked with Mike [O’Connell] during the year, but it didn’t click or whatever.
"We felt like we had the group to move forward with, but I know people can really debate whether that was the right strategy to come out of the lockout with. I guess Joe was there and Glen was re-signed, but they let a lot of us go. At the time, I was very disappointed. I liked it here and I wanted to stay and play with the guys. But that was a long time ago.”
Now Knuble finds himself playing on the same line as Ovechkin, arguably the best player in the world, and is part of the hottest team in the NHL. But while he and his former Bruins teammates have moved on, he still treasures his time in Boston.
"There were a lot of good memories here and it was a fun place to play,” Knuble said. “I was always fond of this place. But everything has changed now. It’s been five or six years now, and I came a long way as a player. I was very thankful for the opportunity I got — the guys I played with, the tradition and everything about being in Boston.”
