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Like many fans who had witnessed his sudden rise, then Bruins GM Harry Sinden was just as surprised at the sudden fall of a once bright star:
“We sold that trade on getting Jim,” Sinden said. “He was a local kid, and he had just won the Vezina the year before. Everyone in town was excited. When we got Jim, we thought there was a good chance that he could get back to where he had been. But he was pitiful in his first game, and by the end of that season after he played 18 games for us, I said to myself, ‘Wow. This guy can’t stop anything.’
“Jim bore no resemblance to the goalie who had won the Vezina. He was flopping and diving and guessing. Everything was wrong. That was as big a dropoff as I’ve ever seen in a player. And when things didn’t go right, Jim looked everywhere except at himself. He said we didn’t have the right goalie coach. Jim said he wasn’t used to a defense playing like ours, leaving him wide open. He just couldn’t believe it was him. Jim was given a huge [$2 million] contract after just one full year. And the Vezina probably went to his head. It was like getting ready for games wasn’t as important anymore, like he was thinking, ‘It’s all over. I’ve made it.”
Carey played just 10 games in Boston and 10 for Providence of the AHL in 1997-98, not even dressing for the playoffs. He played well in Providence during 1998-99 but was still released by the Bruins on March 1st.
Full story here.