Thornton will leave Sharks for Toronto
Joe Thornton’s time with the San Jose Sharks has come to an end — at least for now.
Thornton on Friday ended any suspense as to where he might play next season, signing a oneyear, $700,000 contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
There had been speculation in the last week that Thornton, who became an unrestricted free agent Oct. 9, could leave San Jose for the Maple Leafs. In recent days, reports indicated that Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas and coach Sheldon Keefe had reached out to Thornton, as had players Auston Matthews, Jake Muzzin and John Tavares.
The full- court press worked, as Thornton, who helped the Sharks become one of the NHL’s most consistently successful team’s over a 15-year period, is moving back to his southern Ontario roots. Thornton is originally from St. Thomas, Ontario, which is roughly a two-hour drive west of Toronto and where his parents still live.
In 1,636 career NHL regularseason games between the Boston Bruins and Sharks, Thornton has 1,509 points, including 1089 assists. He also has 133 points in 179 playoff games, as he helped the Sharks reach the Western Conference finals four times from 2010 to 2019 and the Stanley Cup Final in 2016.
Thornton had 1,055 regularseason points with the Sharks from 2005 to 2020, second-most in franchise history. His 804 assists and plus/minus of 161 ranks No. 1 in the team’s history, and he is second in games played (1,104).
Before the official announcement was made, Thornton called several of his longtime Sharks teammates to tell them he was leaving San Jose.
“He just told me he would miss me,” said Tomas Hertl, who began his NHL career in 2013 as Thornton’s linemate. “I was thanking him for playing with me because he was such a great teammate. It’s sad because we’ve been playing with him for so long. You feel like you’ll always play with him, but now he’s with a different team.”
There is a chance Thornton could be back with the Sharks
next season, but for now, it’s tough to say goodbye.
“Words can’t express what Jumbo has meant for my career,” Patrick Marleau wrote in a text to the Bay Area News Group. “I love him like a brother and I know he will be an amazing influence on the Leafs. Our loss is their gain, no question.”
“Mentor, line mate, friend and all of the above. Going to miss having him around the locker room,” Sharks forward Kevin Labanc tweeted Friday afternoon. “They don’t make them like him anymore! You got a good one @MapleLeafs. Good luck in Blue Jumbo!”
With a larger-than-life personality, Thornton became the face of the Sharks’ franchise, which sold out 205 consecutive home games at SAP Center, including the playoffs, from December 2009 to October 2014.
Thornton was acquired by general manager Doug Wilson from the Bruins on Nov. 30, 2005, in arguably the biggest trade in the nearly 30-year history of the franchise. The Sharks sent forwards Wayne Primeau and Marco Sturm and defenseman Brad Stuart to Boston for Thornton, who was bearing the brunt of the Bruins.
From Dec. 1, 2005, to the end of the 2019-2020 season, the Sharks had the most regular-season points of any NHL team with a record of 659-376-125.
The Sharks also had the third-most amount of playoff wins in that time, 80, as they made the postseason in 13 of Thornton’s 15 seasons in San Jose. The Sharks could never win it all, though, and do not figure to be a Stanley Cup contender this season despite changes to their coaching staff and some personnel moves.
Thornton, in his first season in San Jose, won both the Art Ross Trophy and Hart Memorial Trophy in 2006, becoming the first and still lone Sharks player to win either award.
Thornton is in Switzerland and not expected to address reporters until Sunday. Thursday, he signed with HC Davos, which he played with during the 2004 -2005 and 2012-13 seasons. He is expected to play with the team Saturday night.
Thornton is the third cornerstone player to leave the Sharks via free agency in four years. Patrick Marleau, brought back by the Sharks earlier this week as he nears Gordie Howe’s all-time NHL games played record, signed a three-year contract with Toronto as a free agent in 2017. Joe Pavelski left the Sharks as a free agent last year as he signed a three-year deal with the Dallas Stars.
“I know it’s kind of a cliché, that it’s a business,” Hertl said. “Still, it’ll be tough to start a season and just see when you get to the locker room and there’s not a number 19 there. Sitting there with a big smile. First guy in, always around making jokes.
“Feels the same ( last year) with ( Pavelski) and now with Jumbo. I know things change, but it’s always tough to see great players and great teammates leaving. It’s tough to say way after all of these years.”
Marleau has played 1,723 NHL regular-season games, just 45 games behind Howe. Thornton’s 1,636 games rank ninth all time, and he also ranks seventh in assists (1,089) and 14th in points.
The NHL has not yet finalized a schedule for the 2020-21 regular season or announced when training camp might begin. The league set Jan. 1 as a possible target date for a new season to begin but has not yet made anything official.