The Bourque to Philly trade was a weird situation. A good friend of mine worked for the Flyers at that time and explained everything to me when it was going down, and after Ray eventually went to Colorado.
Bourque had his heart set on Philly for a few reasons:
1. He 100% wanted to stay in on the East Coast, primarily for his kids and family
2. The Flyers were a contender in the East
3. He was very good friends with Rejean Lemelin who was the Flyers Goaltending Coach during that time
The Flyers thought they had a deal for Bourque. The one drawback was that Ray didn't know how much longer he wanted to play and didn't want to commit beyond his current contract with anyone, at the time. The Flyers made a fair offer that included Langkow, Delmore++
Ray was told he was being traded to the Flyers and, ironically, it was the day Boston was in Philly. Bourque joked with Flyers players that he would be walking into their room after the game. The deal was as "done" as it could possible be without the final stamp of approval from the NHL. Sinden was happy with the deal, Ray was thrilled to be coming to Philly, the Flyers players were jacked and Clarke was happy. But, there was one little fly in the ointment...
Avs GM, Pierre Lacroix had been working Sinden for months, behind the scenes. Sinden told Lacroix to "forget about it" because Ray wanted to play on the East Coast and the Bruins were going to honor his request. But Lacroix was relentless - he told Sinden that he would pay more than any other team and that trading Bourque to the East would haunt him. He knew that Sinden didn't "really" want to give Ray his wish, but out of respect he would. Lacroix played on this.
A few weeks before the trade, Lacroix told Sinden that he spoke to a mutual friend that he shared with Bourque and that Ray said he would be open to play for Colorado if that ended up being the place he was traded. [Years later, Lacroix admitted that this was an embellishment and just a way to keep dialogue open with Harry Sinden.]
The day Bourque was traded to the Flyers, Lacroix called Sinden and Sinden told him the deal with Philly was going down. Lacroix begged Siden to reconsider, promising him that Ray would be open to playing for Colorado. Lacroix convinced Sinden to trade him to the Avs, and said that if Bourque resisted, he would nullify the deal silently. Sinden agreed to the trade and before he could even tell Ray he was going to Colorado instead of Philly (like he was originally told) Avs players such as Joe Sakic were already calling Bourque to welcome him to the team. One by one they called and Bourque was sold. Sinden and Lacroix got their way, Ray didn't (at the time), although going to Colorado ended up being the best thing for him at the end of the day... and he loved every minute of it.
The Flyers were left hanging.
The whole, "the Flyers weren't offering anything good" was pure PR spin by Sinden, who needed to publicly "justify" why he didn't grant Bourque his wish of staying on the East Coast. Everyone knew the Flyers would never concede Simon Gagne (who was far better than anyone Colorado was offering) so Sinden threw that name out there to deflect heat off himself. Gagne was never included in discussions - Langkow and Delmore/Eaton, plus a pick was always the genesis of what Sinden wanted in return. The deal was fine, other than Sinden really didn't want Bourque to win a Cup playing for another team in the East.
Here's a addition...
I heard first-hand that when the Flyers players were told that Bourque was NOT coming to the Flyers - after they all thought he was - the team was a little deflated emotionally. This is what bothered Clarke the most, because the deal was "done" and word was trickling down to the players. Even Bourque was chumming it up with the Flyers players he knew, telling them he was going to be their teammate, etc. Later, Clarke was quoted as saying the NHL was a "blood sport" even among GM's who would pull no punches to get a deal they wanted or improve their team. If I recall correctly, he referenced the "Bourque to Philly trade" as well as when he traded Darryl Sittler to Detroit for Murray Craven, right after telling Sittler he was going to be the new captain of the Flyers.