San Jose’s Thornton has left knee surgery
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Before Joe Thornton heads into an uncertain offseason where he could be a free agent and leave San Jose after nearly 12 years, he had more pressing business.
Thornton had surgery on a torn ACL and MCL in his left knee Monday to repair an injury that sidelined him less than two weeks before he returned to play the final four games of a first-round series loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
“I’ve been in this business a long time,” general manager Doug Wilson said. “You see a player play with that type of injury tells you all you need to know about him.”
Thornton downplayed the injury before the team announced the severity of what he played through and the surgery, calling it simply “the normal stuff that hockey players deal with” at this time of the season.
But his willingness to play four playoff games on basically one leg at age 37, and record two assists, was just another example of how important he is to San Jose and why the team wants him back this summer before he can become a free agent.
“Basically his knee is floating there,” coach Peter DeBoer said. “It was as courageous an effort, him doing what he did, as I’ve ever seen. And I didn’t see a drop off in his game. I know the point production wasn’t there. I think there’s some answers for that, including power play and fatigue and some things like that. Until his level drops where he has to take a reduced role, that’s not even on my radar.”
The futures of Thornton and teammate Patrick Marleau are the biggest questions for San Jose headed into the offseason. The two have been the face of the Sharks for years, with Marleau joining as the secondoverall draft pick in 1997 and Thornton coming in a trade from Boston in 2005.
“I want to come back,” Thornton said. “I think this is a Stanley Cup-caliber team and I think I’m a little bit older and I realize how good this team is. Of course, I’d like to come back. But we’ll have to see. I’m sure we’ll be talking.”
They have been two of the league’s most prolific players during their tenure, with Marleau scoring his 500th career goal this season and Thornton recording his 1,000th assist. Both will turn 38 before the start of next season, raising questions about how long San Jose will want to commit to them.
Blackhawks
Chicago fired assistant coach Mike Kitchen who joined coach Joel Quenneville’s staff in July 2010 and helped the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in 2013 and 2015. General manager Stan Bowman says in a release they “believe this decision is best for our organization moving forward.”
Senators
Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson told ESPN.com that he played the firstround series against the Boston Bruins with two hairline fractures in his left heel. He said he gotten injections in his heel.
“I've been playing on shots here,” said Karlsson, who admitted he was having trouble moving to his left. “It's frustrating because you've worked so hard all year, but it's better now and by Thursday it should be pretty much back to normal,” he said.
Karlsson led the Senators to a first-round victory while averaging 30 minutes per game in the playoffs, including 41:51 of ice time in a double-overtime loss to the Bruins in Game 5.