To put it mildly, the Boston Bruins were a complete mess before Zdeno Chara arrived on July 1, 2006.
They were a few months removed from trading their franchise center at the time, Joe Thornton, to San Jose, for Marco Sturm, Wayne Primeau, and Brad Stuart. Sergei Samsonov, a fellow first-round selection from 1997, departed a few months later at the trade deadline. The dreaded 2005-06 campaign concluded with the Bruins relieving Mike Sullivan and Mike O’Connell of their respective head coaching and general manager duties.
At that time, the proud Original Six franchise needed a culture change.