Finally at full strength, Thornton gives the third line ‘mismatches’
EDMONTON, ALBERTA >> The NHL is being put on notice: Joe Thornton is getting healthy and he’s starting to give the Sharks a serious matchup edge in the depth of the lineup.
On opening night, Sharks coach Pete DeBoer preached about the importance of finding a dominant third line that can tip the scale similar
to the mismatches created by the Pittsburgh Penguins vaunted “HBK” line during their Stanley Cup runs in 2016 and 2017. He’s experimented with a handful of different combinations in search of that dynamic, auditioning Evander Kane, Tomas Hertl and Thornton in the role that Phil Kessel played to near-perfection with the Penguins.
Now, in the wake of a 10-day break, Thornton is finally recovering from a series of nagging injuries that plagued him throughout the first half, turning DeBoer’s vision into reality.
“A healthy Joe Thornton creates mismatches. He turns depth players into very good players,” DeBoer said. “That’s a key to success in this league.”
Through all of the line tinkering, DeBoer’s received his best third-line performances this season when he’s partnered Thornton up with Marcus Sorensen, who’s blossomed under the future Hall of Famer’s tutelage. Thornton recorded 25 points in 43 games before All-Star Weekend, Sorensen scored a career-high 10 goals and the duo seemed to tilt the ice on a near-nightly basis.
Still, Thornton looked more like Thornton Lite as he played through a string of injuries over the first fourth months of the season. He flashed glimpses of the player who racked up 937 points in his first 914 games with the Sharks before he tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee on April 2, 2017. Most of the time, though, he looked more like a better-than-average depth player, which isn’t bad for a 39-year-old coming off two major knee surgeries just nine months apart.
Thornton’s health problems flared up just two games into the season when he left the team during an East Coast road trip to deal with an infection in the right knee that required surgery last season. At some point after he returned on Nov. 1, he broke a toe while blocking a shot and also suffered an ankle injury. Regardless, he played through it, giving the Sharks quality minutes in the depth of the lineup.
But Thornton is feeling rejuvenated after catching sun in Hawaii during the Sharks’ 10-day break for All-Star Weekend and the bye week. He’s picked up two points in three games, including his 1,000th point as a member of the Sharks off a vintage bank pass through the neutral zone that set up Evander Kane’s first goal on Thursday. More importantly, he’s giving the Sharks that third line mismatch that DeBoer’s looking for, doing so this week in a pair of road wins over the Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames, the Western Conference’s top two teams.
It’s a good sign for Sharks fans who are sizing up potential playoff matchups down the road.
“Finally,” Thornton said after the Sharks win in Calgary on Thursday. “The first half I was just battling this, battling that. Now, after the break, I feel healthy.
“Seven days without putting on skates. My feet needed it, to be honest with you.”
Thornton said his health is “close” to where it was last winter when he recorded 26 points in 28 games before suffering a right-knee injury that ended his season. DeBoer sees it, as well. “I do. I think the break really helped him,” the Sharks coach said. “This is around the time that he started to look back to normal after his first knee injury. He’s creating a goal for us a night right now.
“If he plays the way he’s playing right now, he can help us even if he only improves one percent over the next three months. He’s still an impact guy. But I still think there is some health improvement coming that will help his game.”
Thornton’s resilience in the face of injury over the last 22 months is paying off in other intangible ways. He’s a source of inspiration to a group that feeds off his determination.
“He just won’t take no for an answer. He’ll get on the ice some way, some how,” Kevin Labanc said. “You want to be like that. You strive to be like that, so you try to do the things you see him do.”
Justin Braun expressed a similar sentiment.
“Those rehabs have to be an absolute grind. Some guys might have just hung them up after a couple of those injuries,” the Sharks defenseman said. “But he’s back to his old ways and we just want to live up to what he expects from himself and from us.”
As Thornton returns to health, he’s also embracing the new role he’s playing in the depth of the Sharks lineup. After spending his entire career matching up against the game’s best forwards, Thornton is getting the opportunity to exploit matchups against less experienced and skilled players. “I love it,” Thornton said. Though younger players, such as Logan Couture, Evander Kane and Tomas Hertl, might be leading the Sharks’ offensive charge these days, Thornton’s role continues to be important because playoff series are often won and lost on the third line. Again, take a look at the role that the line of Kessel, Nick Bonino and Carl Hagelin played in the Penguins championships.
“In the playoffs, your top two lines usually cancel each other out,” Thornton said. “It’s up to your seventh forward or your 11th forward to get it done, and hopefully, have a mismatch. That’s what we’re hoping here.”
With that in mind, the big question heading down the stretch is whether Thornton can stay relatively healthy for another 27 games plus playoffs. Are his recent ailments the type of things that all hockey players battle through or are those nagging injuries inevitable when you’re 39 years old and trying to rebound from a pair of knee surgeries?
At this point, Thornton said that the knee issues and the collateral injuries are in the past.
“Sometimes you take a shot and you break a toe. It’s hockey,” Thornton said. “You break a finger or whatever. But I’m moving forward.”