Sinden, who called it an agonizing decision because of his longstanding friendship with O'Connell, said he didn't feel as though he had a choice.
''It's basically been dictated by the fact that the postseason is probably out of sight for us," said Sinden. ''We felt we probably would be doing this at the end of the year. It was not proper to let Mike continue doing what he's been doing, such as signing players, making plans for the future, when we basically knew at the end of the year we were probably going to relieve him of his job.
''It was made to correct what was becoming a rather awkward situation with the GM of the team and myself and the ownership in that we were contemplating making this move just recently -- we knew we were probably going to make it -- and asking someone to continue on in the job, which is just not the proper thing to do."
No one would dispute that the 2005-06 season has been a disaster for Boston. After losing a full year to the lockout, the Bruins had to scramble to field a team when it became clear that their business plan going forward was seriously flawed. They expected a buyer's market with plenty of talented, affordable unrestricted free agents to choose from; instead, it was very much a seller's market, with the salaries much higher than the Bruins anticipated. That made the sting of losing important core players such as Mike Knuble, Brian Rolston, and Sean O'Donnell that much worse.
O'Connell was charged with putting together a full roster in a very short amount of time, and it never jelled. Then he was then forced into playing ''Let's Make A Deal," to try to right the ship.
The closest the Bruins came to a run was prior to the Olympic break when goalie Tim Thomas caught fire after being recalled from Providence and helped Boston to an 8-3-4 mark. But Thomas ran out of gas, and so did the team. Since then, the Bruins have gone downhill: 4-8-2 in the 14 contests post-break, including last night's 5-4 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.
