Today, the Bruins face off at TD Banknorth Garden against St. Louis, the club that swapped Wideman to Boston at last season's trade deadline for Brad Boyes. It was a head-scratching move - ditching a top-six forward who had finished behind only Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby in the rookie scoring race in 2005-06 - that looked even worse amid the underwhelming showing Wideman displayed last season (3 points, minus-3 rating in 20 games with the Bruins).
Boyes, playing top-line minutes in St. Louis this season, already has 20 goals, seven more than Chuck Kobasew, Boston's leading lamp-lighter. But the giggles that were heard when the Bruins pulled the trigger have been somewhat silenced as Wideman, with the assistance of Julien and assistant coach Craig Ramsay, has developed into a top-four defenseman and the Boston blue line's most effective puck-mover.
"When we made the trade, we knew we were giving up a good player," said assistant general manager Jim Benning. "But we thought that in getting Wideman back, we were getting a defenseman back who can handle the puck and move it up ice. Last year, with the way the system was structured, I don't think he played very well for us. But this year, with how Craig and the coaches have worked with him, he's played more like we've expected him to play."
Those same elements - good skill level and puck-moving ability combined with a high-risk approach - prompted the Sabres to take a gamble on Wideman with the 241st pick of the 2002 draft. At the time, Benning was Buffalo's director of amateur scouting.
However, the Sabres cut their ties with Wideman when the sides couldn't agree on an entry-level contract.
"They wanted no part of me," said Wideman, who was presented with an offer just hours before becoming a free agent in 2004.
Wideman, who had completed his fifth season of junior hockey as an over-age player for the Ontario Hockey League's London Knights (24 goals and 65 points in 60 games), signed with St. Louis June 30, 2004.
