#76 - Joe Thornton

Joe Thornton (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #76)

Adjusted Stats

1997-1998   Bos          55 GP   3 goals     5 assists     8 points     0.15 PPG
1998-1999   Bos          81 GP   19 goals   29 assists   48 points   0.59 PPG
1999-2000   Bos          81 GP   26 goals   41 assists   67 points   0.83 PPG
2000-2001   Bos          72 GP   41 goals   38 assists   79 points   1.10 PPG
2001-2002   Bos          66 GP   26 goals   54 assists   80 points   1.21 PPG
2002-2003   Bos          77 GP   42 goals   75 assists   117 points 1.52 PPG
2003-2004   Bos          77 GP   28 goals   60 assists   87 points   1.13 PPG
2005-2006   Bos/SJ     81 GP   29 goals   98 assists   127 points 1.57 PPG
2006-2007   SJ            82 GP   23 goals   98 assists   122 points 1.48 PPG
2007-2008   SJ            82 GP   33 goals   76 assists   109 points 1.32 PPG
2008-2009   SJ            82 GP   27 goals   66 assists   93 points   1.13 PPG
2009-2010   SJ            79 GP   22 goals   76 assists   98 points   1.24 PPG
2010-2011   SJ            80 GP   24 goals   55 assists   79 points   0.98 PPG

Adjusted Playoff Stats

1997-1998   Bos          6 GP     0 goals     0 assists      0 points    0.00 PPG
1998-1999   Bos          11 GP   3 goals     7 assists      10 points  0.90 PPG
2001-2002   Bos          6 GP     2 goals     5 assists      7 points    1.19 PPG
2002-2003   Bos          5 GP     1 goal      2 assists      4 points     0.72 PPG
2003-2004   Bos          7 GP     0 goals    0 assists       0 points    0.00 PPG
2005-2006   SJ            11 GP   2 goals     7 assists      9 points    0.81 PPG
2006-2007   SJ            11 GP   1 goal      11 assists    12 points  1.14 PPG
2007-2008   SJ            13 GP   2 goals     8 assists      10 points  0.81 PPG
2008-2009   SJ            6 GP     1 goal      4 assists       5 points    0.85 PPG
2009-2010   SJ            15 GP   3 goals     8 assists      11 points  0.75 PPG
2010-2011   SJ            18 GP   3 goals     14 assists    17 points  0.95 PPG

Career - 995 GP, 343 goals, 771 assists, 1114 points, 1.12 PPG
Career-Highs - 42 goals (02-03); 98 assists (05-06); 127 points (05-06); 1.57 PPG (05-06)
Avg. (13 seasons) - 77 GP, 26 goals, 59 assists, 86 points, 1.12 PPG
Peak Avg. (01-10) - 78 GP, 29 goals, 75 assists, 104 points, 1.33 PPG, 0 Cups

Playoff Career - 109 GP, 18 goals, 66 assists, 85 points, 0.78 PPG
Playoff-Highs - 3 goals (98-99); 14 assists (10-11); 17 points (10-11); 1.19 PPG (01-02)

Accolades - 1 MVP Award, Art Ross
All-Star Teams - 1-time 1st-team, 2-time 2nd-team
Has Not Won Stanley Cup

Just as it seems somewhat off, or at the very least a fluke of timing, that Adam Oates is the second highest scorer (in terms of points, not goals) of the 1990s, it takes one aback slightly that Joe Thornton is the highest scorer of the 2000s. I give props to Joe Thornton, I like him a lot, he's a guy I consistently root for, and yet if I'm being honest, when I consider the players who were at their peak at some point during the decade, I'm not sure Thornton even cracks my top five, or even the top ten! (OK, maybe ten).

Just a few names off the top of my head for players I'd say had a more successful decade (even when they were just half a decade): Lidstrom, Brodeur, Sakic, Pronger, Niedermayer, Crosby, Ovechkin, Datsyuk, Zetterberg and, hell, just because he was so good in the first few years of the decade, Forsberg.

Now, Joe Thornton is still relatively young, at just thirty-two. Yzerman was thirty-two when he won his first Stanley Cup. So it's not like we can write the final summary of his career. It may be that we look back at Thornton's as a success story, albeit a delayed one: for years he put up gaudy assist and point totals, but came up incredibly short in the playoffs, before finally clicking and winning a championship or two in the twilight of his career.

But time is running out for Jumbo Joe, and the sad fact is, on my Pyramid of players, Thornton is mired in the group of great point-getters whose careers just weren't really as successful as their numbers demonstrated (Dionne, Oates, Hawerchuk). Now those are still Hall of Famers, and I am quite sure that Thornton will be as well.

Yet for a Hall of Famer, Thornton's career has the stench of failure attached to it. Thornton's numbers link him with Oates historically, but looking at his physique, you would expect him to be more in the Lindros mode (a big, physically dominant center who can barrel to the net or just crush you with a hit). Not so...Thornton is one of the gentlest players in the league, something that makes him impossible to dislike, but frustrating if you're waiting for him to take over a game. And as his career has progressed, Thornton has earned a (deserved) reputation for disappearing in big games. This isn't a case like Ovechkin where he's played very well in the playoffs but the team has let him down...Thornton himself has been the primary reason (though certainly not the only reason) for the underwhelming results shown by first the Bruins and now the Sharks. Oates' career playoff PPG drops only slightly beneath his regular season numbers (something that happens to almost all players...the playoffs tend to be lower scoring). But with Thornton, there's an enormous dropoff. Thornton's PPG in the playoffs, even after an adjustment, is 0.78, compared to his regular season rate of 1.12. And his +/- is a horrid -28.

Sometimes numbers can be misleading, but I've watched Thornton throughout the decade, and in big game after big game, he's come up well short of elite levels...or hell, even the respectable, hold-your-head high levels of, say, a Mats Sundin or a Daniel Alfredsson (two players who never won a Cup, but still laid it on the line as captains of their team). This doesn't just extend to the NHL playoffs...in 2006, he all but disappeared for the Canadian Olympic team, and while in 2010 the team won gold and Thornton was decent, it was telling that he was essentially there as a power play specialist with his Shark linemates Heatley and Marleau (the truly elite forward line in that Olympics was Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Brenden Morrow).

Maybe we'll remember Thornton as a classy ambassador for the game and a great point-getter, but someone who just didn't have that killer instinct to take it to the next level when the chips were down. Or maybe the Sharks will get their act together and make a run for the Cup in one of the next few years.  Only time will tell, but it's important for me to remind myself, in case I forget in future years, that while Thornton may have been one of the better centers of his era and one of the top scorers, he's not some Bourque-like victim of bad luck, an elite player who has had to wait for the Stanley Cup in spite of his excellent efforts. No...the responsibility for falling short lies with Joe.

Postscript #1 (end of 2011 playoffs) -For the second consecutive season, the Sharks fell short in the Conference finals, albeit to a favoured team, the Vancouver Canucks. But big Joe at least redeemed himself a little, averaging nearly a point-a-game and playing a more visible, physical game. Still no Cup ring, still no "Wow" playoff to go with his regular season numbers, but at least a step in the right direction.