Welcome back to another episode of Run It Back! Today, we are looking back on the story of former NHL forward Joe Thornton and his impact on the San Jose Sharks.
We are inching closer to April, and you know what that means: playoff hockey is not far away. In the months leading up to the NHL’s behemoth of a postseason, general managers from around the league are in constant contact with one another as the teams on the outside looking in try to get available players between the start of the season and the trade deadline. The trade deadline gives teams an opportunity to go all-in on their playoff pushes by acquiring elite players from around the league, all in hopes that these players provide that extra jolt to get to the promised land.
No matter the size and scale of a trade, each transaction has an impact on every team and player that is involved. Sometimes, the most significant trades happen at the trade deadline, and other times, they can happen early on in a given season. The Joe Thornton trade falls under the latter category, as he was traded to San Jose within the first two months of the 2005-06 season.
Before I go any further, though, let’s rewind a little bit.
In 1997, the Boston Bruins selected Thornton with the first overall pick in that year’s entry draft. Nicknamed “Jumbo Joe” for his large stature and in reference to Jumbo the elephant (who died in his hometown of St. Thomas, ON), Thornton was an impressive prospect down in the junior ranks. Over two seasons with the Ontario Hockey League’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, Thornton averaged 35.5 goals, 63.5 assists, and 99 points, earning OHL Rookie of the Year honors in 1995-96. Needless to say, Thornton was sure to succeed at the NHL level.
Despite fracturing his arm during the 1997-98 pre-season, Thornton made Boston’s roster out of training camp, appearing in 55 of the team’s 82 games. Averaging just over eight minutes of ice time per game, Thornton finished the regular season with three goals and seven points in 55 games. During the playoffs, Bruins head coach Pat Burns continued his sparing use of Thornton, who averaged just six minutes and 35 seconds on the ice and did not get on the score sheet as Boston fell to the Washington Capitals in the opening round.
Over the next several years, Thornton developed into a key component of the Bruins’ lineup, and his ice time steadily increased beginning in 1998-99. After tallying nine points in 11 playoff games in 1999, Thornton continued to appear on the score sheet, recording at least 20 goals and 60 points every season from 1999-2000 to 2001-02. Thornton’s heightened output was rewarded ahead of the 2002-03 campaign, being named as Boston’s team captain for the year.
2002-03 would be Thornton’s best season in a Bruins uniform, notching 36 goals and 65 assists for 101 points over 77 games to finish as one of the NHL’s top scorers. That season, Thornton earned his second All-Star selection and finished fourth in voting for the Hart Trophy, the league’s MVP award. Boston reached the playoffs for the fourth time in Thornton’s career, losing to the New Jersey Devils in the first round; Thornton had three points in five games, scoring one goal in the series.
Unfortunately, Thornton’s play declined in 2003-04, dipping to just 73 points in 77 games. That January, Thornton was knocked out of the lineup for a few games after suffering a fractured cheekbone in a fight against New York Rangers forward Eric Lindros. Thornton’s relationship with the Bruins’ front office began to deteriorate, with Jumbo Joe having failed to live up to expectations after his prolific 2002-03 season. On top of this, Thornton was held scoreless in the postseason once more as the Bruins blew a 3-1 series lead versus the Montreal Canadiens in the first round.
This would be the last season of NHL hockey until the fall of 2005, as the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expired in Sep. 2004. The lockout completely wiped out the 2004-05 season, the first time that any of North America’s major professional sports leagues had to cancel an entire season. During the lockout, Thornton played abroad in Switzerland for HC Davos as he pondered the future of his time in Beantown.
Despite a difficult period of contract negotiations during the summer of 2005, Thornton re-signed with Boston in free agency, signing a three-year deal ahead of the 2005-06 campaign. Although Thornton did well for the Bruins early on in the year, registering 33 points in 23 games, Boston was not doing so hot in the standings, and ultimately decided to trade their captain elsewhere.
On Nov. 30, 2005, the Bruins traded Thornton to the Sharks for Wayne Primeau, Brad Stuart, and Marco Sturm. Thornton joined a rising squad in San Jose, a team that prominently featured the likes of 1997 No. 2 pick Patrick Marleau and had reached the Western Conference Finals in 2004. The Sharks were looking to further their climb to the top of the league, and made what would become a monumental trade to do so.
To say that Thornton delivered for San Jose after the trade would be an understatement—not only did Thornton pick up where he left off, he won the Hart Trophy as league MVP and the Art Ross Trophy as the leading scorer. Thornton’s 58 regular season games with the Sharks after the trade were some of the best of his career, tallying 72 assists and 92 points over this span; combined with his totals with Boston at the start of the year, Thornton had a league-leading 96 assists and 125 points. Thornton developed fantastic on-ice chemistry with teammate Jonathan Cheechoo, who scored 49 goals following Thornton’s arrival and wound up winning the Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL’s top goal-scorer.
In the playoffs, San Jose defeated the Nashville Predators in five games to advance to round two, Thornton’s first appearance in the second round since 1999. The Sharks’ run came to an end against the eighth-seeded Edmonton Oilers, losing in six games after going up 2-0 in the series. Thornton ended the 2006 postseason with nine points in 11 games, his highest total in seven years.
Thornton had another solid year in 2006-07, finishing atop the NHL in assists for the second year in a row with 92. San Jose won 51 games and ended the season with 107 points, both of which were new franchise bests. Just like last year, the Sharks beat Nashville in five and were eliminated in six games in the second round, this time by the top-seeded Detroit Red Wings. Nevertheless, the climb continued.
By this point, Thornton had more than established himself as a valuable presence on the ice. Following his incredible run over the last year and a half, the Sharks signed Thornton to a three-year contract extension worth $7.2 million per year, keeping him with San Jose through the 2010-11 season. Combined with the one year left over from Thornton’s 2005 contract with the Bruins, the Sharks had four more opportunities to win the Stanley Cup with Jumbo Joe.
Thornton’s production slightly decreased in 2007-08, but he still led San Jose in scoring with 96 points. With Thornton’s help, the Sharks won the Pacific Division title and obtained the second playoff seed in the West. Following a seven-game bout with the Calgary Flames, San Jose fell in the second round once again, losing to the Dallas Stars in 4OT in Game 6. Over 13 playoff games, Thornton had two goals and eight assists for 10 points, including seven points vs. Calgary in the first round.
In 2008-09, the Sharks claimed the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s best team during the regular season, going 53-18-11 for 117 points. If you guessed that Thornton was San Jose’s leading scorer this season, you would be correct! Playing alongside two 30-goal scorers in Marleau and Devin Setoguchi, Thornton recorded a team-high 61 assists and 86 points, yet again serving as a valuable playmaker for one of the NHL’s best teams.
Sadly, the Sharks did not live up to the hype in the playoffs, being upset by the Anaheim Ducks in the first round after dropping both of the series’ first two games. Thornton served as one of San Jose’s only bright spots in the series, leading the team in scoring with five points in six games. Perhaps next year will be the year Thornton wins the Cup with the Sharks?
San Jose had another solid performance during the 2009-10 season, finishing atop the Western Conference for the second consecutive year. Cheechoo, whose production had plummeted over the last three seasons, was packaged in a deal with the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Dany Heatley, a two-time 50-goal scorer. Marleau and Heatley were the team’s top two goal-scorers with 44 and 39 goals, respectively, while Thornton again led the team in assists (69) and points (89) in his age-30 campaign.
The Sharks made up for their blunder the previous year by defeating the Colorado Avalanche in the first round; despite falling behind two games to one, San Jose won the next three games to take the series in six. Thornton led the Sharks in scoring in their second-round matchup with the Red Wings, totaling eight points in the series as San Jose squeaked past Detroit in a tight five-game contest. At last, the Sharks had reached the Western Conference Finals with Thornton on the team, making it past the second round for just the second time in franchise history.
The Conference Finals pitted top-seeded San Jose against the West’s second seed, the Chicago Blackhawks. The Sharks scored the opening goal of the series, but could not answer back when the Blackhawks scored two to win Game 1. Thornton assisted on Marleau’s power play goal in Game 2, although Chicago had already scored three goals by that point and won 4-2. The series shifted away from San Jose, both geographically and literally, as the Blackhawks won the next two games to take the series in just four games.
The Sharks’ largest lead of the series came in Game 4, when they went up 2-0 partway through the second period; Chicago scored four unanswered goals to take the game and series. Thornton’s assist in Game 2 would be his only point of the series, although he finished with 12 points overall in 15 postseason games. Next year has to be the year, it has to be!
Although the loss stung, there was still a job to finish on the ice. In Oct. 2010, Thornton signed another three-year extension with San Jose, keeping him under contract through the 2013-14 season. That same month, Thornton was named as the Sharks’ captain, succeeding the retiring Rob Blake. 2011, please be the year that Thornton wins the Cup.
It was not.
You know the drill by now: San Jose finishes with over 100 points during the regular season, wins the Pacific Division title, and gets a high playoff seed, but still fails to win the Stanley Cup. Hang on, though, I will get to that.
In his first season as the Sharks’ captain, Thornton finished with under 80 points for the first time since before he had been traded. Even still, he remained one of San Jose’s top scorers, leading in assists (49) and finishing second to Marleau in points (70). So what happened in the playoffs?
Well, the Sharks made it back to the Western Conference Finals again. San Jose took down the Los Angeles Kings in the first round in six games, then narrowly avoided losing in seven versus Detroit in round two after taking a 3-0 series lead. Thornton registered at least one point in almost every game, carrying two goals and nine assists into Game 1 of the Conference Finals.
The Sharks matched up against the Vancouver Canucks, the league’s best team during the regular season. Vancouver had taken down Chicago and Nashville over the first two rounds of the playoffs, needing exactly as many games as San Jose to do so. The stage was set: the current Presidents’ Trophy winners vs. the team that had claimed the top seed in the West over the previous two seasons. This was going to be quite the duel.
Unfortunately, the Sharks did not win said duel. Thornton scored the opening goal of Game 1, but the Canucks scored two unanswered goals in the third period to win 3-2. Game 2 was tied 2-2 through the end of the first period before Vancouver broke the game open with five goals over the last two periods. The Canucks held a 2-0 series lead heading to San Jose, but the Sharks were not completely out just yet.
Determined to not go down 3-0, San Jose was hungry for a win at home. Thornton assisted on two goals in the opening period, helping the Sharks jump out to a 3-0 lead in the early going. Though the Canucks responded with three goals in the third, Dan Boyle’s power play goal kept San Jose on top, and the Sharks eventually prevailed, 4-3.
However, San Jose was unable to tie the series, losing 4-2 in Game 4 despite scoring two goals in the final period. It was too little too late, though, and the Sharks headed back to Vancouver for Game 5 with their backs against the wall. Just like in Game 1, San Jose lost 3-2 after leading 2-1, with the Canucks’ Kevin Bieksa dealing the finishing blow in 2OT. Thornton ended the 2011 postseason with 17 points in 18 games, leading the Sharks in scoring during one of their deepest runs yet.
Thornton’s latest contract extension kicked in during the 2011-12 season, and he continued to prove that he was one of San Jose’s best players. Thornton remained the Sharks’ top playmaker, tallying 59 assists and 77 points to propel the team to another postseason berth. The 2012 playoffs were not as fruitful for San Jose, though, as the Sharks were knocked out in five games by the St. Louis Blues in the first round. As per usual, Thornton kept San Jose afloat, ending with five points in the series. Onto 2013 we go, hopefully the Sharks will finally get over the hump this time.
The start of the 2012-13 campaign was delayed until Jan. 2013 thanks to another lockout, as the existing CBA had expired in Sep. 2012. Thornton returned to HC Davos during the lockout period, rejoining San Jose once CBA negotiations had concluded.
Due to the lockout, the regular season was reduced to 48 games, down from the usual 82. Thornton played in every game for the Sharks, and by this point, I don’t need to tell you that he was San Jose’s top scorer again. The Sharks earned the sixth seed in the West, getting belated revenge on Vancouver with a four-game sweep in the first round.
The second round intensified San Jose’s rivalry with the Kings, the teams’ second playoff meeting in three seasons. Los Angeles entered the 2013 playoffs as the reigning Stanley Cup champions, hoping to successfully defend their title. With the Sharks hungry to return to the Conference Finals after a first-round exit the year prior, this series was sure to be a dogfight.
After dropping Game 1 in L.A., San Jose lost the lead late in Game 2 as the Kings scored two power play goals within the final two minutes of regulation. Back at home, the Sharks won Game 3 in overtime as Thornton assisted on Logan Couture’s game-winner. San Jose won Game 4 as well, heading back to Los Angeles with the series tied at two games apiece. Although they were shut out 3-0 in Game 5, the Sharks rebounded with a 2-1 victory at home in Game 6 to force a Game 7 in L.A.
Despite Boyle’s efforts to bring San Jose back into the game, the Kings defeated the Sharks in Game 7 to return to the Western Conference Finals. The home team won every game in this series, heightening the fiery rivalry between two of the West’s most potent squads. With Thornton turning 34 that summer, time was running out for San Jose to win it all with Jumbo Joe.
In the midst of the 2013-14 season, Thornton signed on for another three years, keeping him in teal through 2016-17. The Sharks finished the season with 111 points, five points behind the division champion Ducks. Under the new playoff format, San Jose would be paired up with the Pacific Division’s third-place finisher in the first round; that team was Los Angeles, who had eliminated the Sharks in 2013. Buckle up, because this series is about to be a bloodbath.
San Jose had home-ice advantage this time around, hosting Games 1 and 2 at SAP Center. Thornton scored the first goal of the series, helping the Sharks to a 6-3 win in which San Jose led by as many as five goals. Although the Kings led 2-0 early in Game 2, the Sharks unleashed an offensive onslaught, scoring seven goals over the final two periods. Thornton scored San Jose’s seventh goal in the third period, putting the exclamation point on a dominant win over the Sharks’ in-state rivals.
The series shifted to L.A.’s Staples Center for Game 3, where San Jose hoped to get one step closer to a series victory. Game 3 proved to be a back-and-forth affair, tied 2-2 through two periods and 3-3 at the end of the third. Marleau scored the decisive goal in overtime, bringing the Sharks just one win away from avenging last year’s defeat. Would San Jose advance?
Game 4 was tied at two in the second period when Justin Williams, Tyler Toffoli, and Marián Gáborík all scored to give the Kings a 5-2 lead. Though Joe Pavelski scored on the power play to get the Sharks within two, Los Angeles put the game out of reach with an empty-net goal in the waning minutes of regulation. It’s alright, though—San Jose still had three more chances to take the series.
The Sharks could not get a shot past Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick in Game 5, losing by a score of 3-0. Game 6 was knotted at 1-1, but L.A. scored three unanswered goals to necessitate a Game 7. Heading back home for the series finale, San Jose had one last chance for revenge.
Matt Irwin got the opening goal for the Sharks in the second period of Game 7, but the Kings took a 2-1 lead later in the frame on goals from Drew Doughty and Anže Kopitar. Toffoli scored another in the third, and Los Angeles captain Dustin Brown scored the first of two empty-net goals to cement a 5-1 win for the Kings. San Jose’s capitulation from Games 4 through 7 earned them the misfortune of becoming just the fourth team in NHL history to lose a best-of-seven series after leading three games to none. To add insult to injury, Los Angeles went on to win the Stanley Cup for the second time in three seasons.
The reverse sweep in 2014 was a harbinger of things to come, as the Sharks struggled in the 2014-15 campaign. After recording just three points in San Jose’s first-round meltdown—and none over the last four games—Thornton was stripped of his captaincy. The Sharks’ brass did not name a new captain for 2014-15, with Thornton serving as one of four alternate captains alongside Marleau, Pavelski, and Marc-Édouard Vlasic.
At age 35, Thornton experienced his lowest point total over a full season since 1999-2000, finishing with just 65 points in 78 games—not a bad season (he still led the Sharks in assists), but he was slowing down a bit. San Jose finished eight points out of the final wild card spot, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2003. Head coach Todd McLellan was fired at season’s end, exiting as the franchise’s winningest coach with 311 regular season victories over seven seasons.
Just as things were looking bleak for the Sharks, 2015-16 would prove to be the team’s most successful season yet. Under new head coach Peter DeBoer, San Jose made it deeper into the playoffs than ever before—for the first time ever, the Sharks reached the Stanley Cup Final.
Finishing third in the Pacific Division, San Jose squared off with the Kings in the opening round of the playoffs. Being their fourth postseason meeting in six years, the Sharks were eager to one-up their rivals to the south after being eliminated by them in back-to-back years. At long last, San Jose would finally exact revenge on L.A., beating the Kings in five games.
The ride did not end there, though, as the Sharks prevailed over the Predators in seven games in round two. This series mirrored San Jose’s crushing defeat against Los Angeles in 2013, as the home team won every game in both contests. Unlike in 2013, however, the Sharks had home-ice advantage in their series against Nashville, winning in seven after the Predators won Games 4 and 6 in overtime (Game 4 went to 3OT).
With the series win over Nashville, San Jose advanced to the Western Conference Finals for the fourth time in franchise history. Thornton had 11 points over the first two rounds of the playoffs, including three multi-point games in the second round. No matter how the Sharks fared against the Blues in the Conference Finals, 2015-16 had already been a fantastic year, especially after the gut-wrenching disappointments of the last two seasons.
St. Louis took Game 1 at home, but San Jose won four of the next five games to close out the series in six. Thornton made a significant impact over the last four games, getting seven assists to finish tied with Couture as the Sharks’ second-highest scorer of the series. At 36 years of age, Jumbo Joe would be playing in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in his career.
Awaiting San Jose in the Final was the Pittsburgh Penguins, a team that had won the Cup three times before, once with team captain Sidney Crosby in 2009. Seeing as the Penguins finished better than the Sharks did during the regular season (104 points vs. 98), home-ice advantage in the series went to Pittsburgh.
The Penguins started out hot, taking the first two games at home. San Jose came back to tie things up at 2-2 in Game 1, but Nick Bonino scored the game-winner for Pittsburgh late in the third period. Game 2 was close as well, reaching overtime after Justin Braun scored the equalizer for the Sharks in the third; unfortunately, the Penguins won in OT, with Conor Sheary cementing the team’s 2-0 series lead.
Shifting to San Jose for Game 3, Thornton assisted on Braun’s goal in the first period to tie the game at one goal each. Patric Hörnqvist put Pittsburgh back in the lead in the second, but Joel Ward got the Sharks even once more in the third, with Thornton recording his second assist of the game in the process. Joonas Donskoi scored the game-winning goal in overtime, securing San Jose’s first-ever victory in the Stanley Cup Final.
The Sharks were unable to capitalize on this momentum, though, losing Game 4 at SAP Center. The Penguins scored first once again and did not relent, winning by a score of 3-1 to come within one win of their fourth Stanley Cup championship.
San Jose did not roll over in Game 5, however, staving off elimination with a victory at Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center. For the first time in the series, the Sharks scored first, going up 2-0 in the first period before Evgeni Malkin and Carl Hagelin brought the Penguins back into it later in the frame with one goal each. Melker Karlsson put San Jose in front once more with the fifth goal of the period, and Thornton assisted on Pavelski’s empty-net goal to seal the win near the end of regulation.
Back at SAP Center for Game 6, the Sharks were unable to hoist the Stanley Cup at home, but they could still tie the series and force a Game 7. This would not come to pass, however, as the Penguins won 3-1 in the decisive sixth game. Couture scored San Jose’s final goal of the series, tying things up in the second period before Kris Letang scored the Cup-clinching goal for Pittsburgh later on in the period.
As the final horn sounded, Thornton was left to watch as the Penguins hoisted the Stanley Cup at the Shark Tank. This time around, Thornton and co. came so close to winning that elusive Cup, but fell short once again. Thornton was most certainly not to blame for the loss, however, as he finished with a career-high 21 points in the 2016 playoffs, playing in all 24 of San Jose’s postseason games.
2016 would be the closest that Thornton came to winning the Stanley Cup during his 24 seasons in the NHL. The Sharks reached the playoffs in each of the next three seasons, making it as far as the Conference Finals in 2019, but were unable to reach the heights of 2016 a second time. As San Jose’s veterans got older, the team fell down the standings, missing the playoffs in 2020. Thornton went out the door following the season, serving as a veteran presence for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers over his final two years in the NHL.
On Oct. 28, 2023, Thornton officially retired from professional ice hockey, walking away from the NHL at the age of 44 with 430 goals, 1,109 assists, and 1,539 points over 1,714 games played. Alongside defenseman Zdeno Chára, Thornton was one of the last two players to have played in the NHL during the 1990s, having first been drafted back in 1997.
Though he did not win the Stanley Cup, Thornton gave it his all, winning MVP honors and a scoring title to complement his stellar performance and longevity over the course of his career. In celebration of his incredible tenure with San Jose, the organization retired Thornton’s No. 19 on Nov. 23, 2024. Thornton’s 804 assists with the Sharks remain a franchise record to this day, and his 1,104 games played with San Jose are third only to Marleau (1,607) and Vlasic (1,313).
Some players are very fortunate, winning one or even multiple championships over the course of their careers. Others are not so lucky, coming up short year after year despite several strong attempts to win it all. At the end of the day, though, an athlete should not be measured by how many championships they have won, but instead by how much effort they have put into mastering their craft.
Only one team can win it all, and there are often many players on other teams who are just as deserving to win. Although the ones that do not win will have everyone wondering what caused them to fall short, they have devoted just as much time and energy into being the best they can be as the ones who have been champions numerous times.
