Can the Sharks fill the void left by Thornton?
The Toronto Maple Leafs begin the on-ice portion of their training camp Monday and the locker room inside their practice facility will likely be a bit more boisterous than it was before.
More than 2,100 miles away in Scottsdale, Ariz., the atmosphere at the start of the Sharks’ training camp was a tad different. Guys were still happy to be around each other and playing hockey again, but the vibe was, well, unusual.
“It’s different. I miss him,” Sharks captain Logan Couture said of Joe Thornton. “I think every single person that’s played with that guy and has been around him is going to miss him.”
“It sucks,” said Brent Burns, who was on FaceTime with Thornton on Thursday morning before the start of camp. “He was one of my closest buddies. Our families were close. I can’t say enough about him.”
For 15 years, Thornton, 41, was the face of the Sharks franchise. Besides his production as one of, if not the top playmaker in the NHL, Thornton was also San Jose’s emotional leader, setting expectations for everyone in the room.
Thornton, though, signed a one-year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs in October for the league minimum of $700,000, feeling his hometown team had a great chance of winning the Stanley Cup this season, a better chance, anyway, than the transitioning Sharks.
Thornton’s reasoning looks sound. In the newly formed North Division with the seven Canadian teams, the Leafs are thought of as favorites. With the playoff format being what it is, with teams playing solely within their divisions for the first two rounds, Thornton and the Leafs have a decent chance of making the semifinals.
The Sharks, meanwhile, have big question marks, and are projected to be in a fight just to be one the top four teams in the West Division.
One of the main questions? How do they try to fill a Jumbosized void?
On the ice, at least, some things are starting to come into focus.
The Sharks have to figure out who their third line center will be. On Friday, the first day the Sharks were on the ice, Dylan Gambrell centered a line with Patrick Marleau and John Leonard. Noah Gregor also skated at center Friday.
Both Gregor and Gambrell can probably have a little more offensive upside than Joel Kellman, who is a solid two-way player but had just seven points in 31 games last season.
Even in a down year last season, Thornton had 31 points in 70 games. The Sharks have to find a way to come close to equaling that production so that all of the offensive responsibility isn’t being placed on the top two lines.