Guy Lafleur, Mario Lemieux, Mats Sundin, Mike Modano, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby: all first overall draft picks implicative of hockey greatness. But few players in history have the elite distinction of sharing a record with Wayne Gretzky and Super Mario. Fewer players drafted first overall were marketed as a franchise-player for seven years, then traded early in a season while leading their team in scoring. And only one has turned such a transaction into an Art Ross and Hart Memorial Trophy (top scorer and MVP, respectively) in a single season: Joe Thornton, 2005-2006.
And that Gretzky/Mario comparison? In the past two seasons, no player has had more assists than Thornton. Including Thornton ('05-'06 and '06-'07), they are the only three players to notch consecutive 90+ assist seasons. With 716 points in 719 games, Thornton is gaining on one of the most impressive stats in hockey: a point per game career average, and he's only a multiple-point game away from it. After 47 games — just over half way through the season — and 56 points (15g, 41a), this year Thornton's on pace to average more than a point per game in five of his last six seasons. Impressive for a guy many thought wouldn't develop into a first line caliber center.
In the December 12, 2005, issue of Sports Illustrated, less than two weeks after Big Joe was dealt to from the Boston Bruins to the San Jose Sharks for forwards Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau and defenseman Brad Stuart, writer Michael Farber was quick to confront the growing notion of Thornton as another underachieving number-one draft pick. "[There] is a sense among some GMs that while indisputably a first-rate center, Thornton, the top pick in the 1997 draft, won't ever make the leap from being a good player to one of the league's elite," argued Farber. "Thornton, whose Boston teams won one postseason series during his tenure, was eviscerated in the media while being held pointless as Boston blew a three-games-to-one lead against Montreal in the first round of the 2004 playoffs."
The 28-year-old, London, ON native has proceeded to silence his critics, emerging as one of the finest forwards in the league. His ability to dictate the tempo of a game with his debilitating puck control and flawless passing is contemporarily legendary. Thornton's line mate during his abridged first season with the Sharks, Jonathan Cheechoo — a winger known more for his funny last name than for his game — won the Rocket Richard Trophy for most goals in a season (56). Thornton's impact? Cheechoo's highest goal tally had been 28, just a season before Thornton's arrival. In six months skating beside Thornton, Cheechoo doubled his single-season goal production. It's true, as John Glennon of The Tennessean wrote two years ago, "more often than not, what Thornton begins, Cheechoo finishes." (In those 58 games, 38 of Cheechoo's goals originated from the blade of Thornton's stick.)
Thornton has evolved into the type of forward that makes the players around him better. The doubts have turned into accolades. Referring to the 6'4", 235-pound center's effectiveness in San Jose's 2006 playoff series against Nashville, Predator Brendan Witt was quick to acknowledge the threat. "The more time and space [Thornton] has, the more he can make plays," he remarked. But, this may not be entirely coincidental.
At the time of his trade, and despite inking a three-year, $20 million contract in the previous offseason, Thornton's tolerance for Boston's front office was festering. After taking a pounding in the press following the Bruins' implosion in the first-round of the 2004 playoffs, Thornton was quick to comment once he left town. "You see other GMs sticking up for their players," Farber quotes Thornton. "[This is] the way the Bruins do business. You come to expect it." Thornton, he continues, contended that his rapport with Bruins management had been unstable from the beginning. (This presents an entirely different set of questions, like why Thornton signed a multi-year extension if that relationship was so turbulent.) But much like Randy Moss upon his arrival to the 2007 New England Patriots, a fresh environment can quickly rejuvenate a player's perspective, and regenerate his performance.
How crucial is Thornton's contribution? Consider that in the past two and a half seasons, including his 23 games with Boston in '05-'06, Thornton has only been held pointless in 55 of 210 games. He has scored a goal or an assist — often times several of each — in almost 75 percent of his games since the opening face-off of 2005. So far this season, Thornton's 56 points is close to double Milan Michalek's 29, the Sharks' second leading scorer. Driven by his dominant performance, the Sharks' success rests considerably on Thornton's health. If he goes down, so does his team.
After a slow start this year, San Jose now sits third in the Pacific Division (57 pts) and Thornton is 11th in league scoring (second in assists behind Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby who has 63). The Sharks were expected to advance deep into the playoffs the past two seasons. They were eliminated in the Conference Semifinals in those two postseasons, but Thornton earned a fraction of "redemption," according to coach Ron Wilson, by getting a pair of playoff series victories under his belt. Thornton is essential to the Sharks' success, and the potential that has yet to materialize. If they continue playing as they have, those expectations will merely expand.
There is no doubt Cheechoo (7g, 7a) and San Jose captain Patrick Marleau (8g, 15a) have struggled this season, with a collective 37 points between them. And defensively, Thornton is flexing a +11 amid the team's -24. But the Sharks' consistence among the league's top five (well, sort of, the Sharks are in a four-way tie for fifth in the NHL as of this post) reveals that the fruits of Thornton's labor have disseminated more evenly down the bench. This is what makes Joe Thornton one the top players in the NHL. In this case, he's emulated the Great One: when faced with slumping teammates, he still finds a way to score.
But after a recent goalless drought that began on December 15 and stretched 15 games, asked before the sixteenth game if the streak was starting to agitate his approach, Thornton coolly replied, "I'm not that worried about it." That simple phrase illustrates his demeanor towards the game. Thornton is focused on furthering the Sharks' recent success. He had an active points streak and, more importantly, his team was (is) winning. Was he somewhat concerned? Probably, but he wasn't sweating the insignificant. He still finds a way to carry his team — an affirmation that Joe Thornton is one the NHL's premier stars.
That night, he scored.
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