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Joe Thornton

Joseph Eric Thornton (born July 2, 1979) is a professional ice hockey centre and an alternate captain for the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League. He was drafted by and played seven seasons for the Boston Bruins before being traded to San Jose. His on-ice vision, strength on the puck, deft passing ability, and power forward style of play have led to him becoming one of the league's premier top line centres. For the 2005–2006 season Thornton was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy for being the NHL's Most Valuable Player.

Playing career

Boston Bruins (1997 – 2005)

Drafted 1st overall in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft by the Boston Bruins, Thornton played six seasons for the Bruins, his best season coming in 2002–03 when he scored 101 points.

During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Thornton played for Hockey Club Davos on a line with fellow young Canadian star Rick Nash and Niklas Hagman, winning the Swiss ice hockey championship.

San Jose Sharks (2005 - present)

2005–2006 season

After Thornton voiced his unhappiness with his contract in Boston in 2005, many teams reportedly sent offers to the Bruins. However, Thornton re-signed with the team on August 11, 2005, for a three year deal worth US$20.0 million. On November 30, 2005, Thornton was traded to the San Jose Sharks in a blockbuster four player deal, which sent forwards Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau and defenceman Brad Stuart to Boston. Thornton was the team's leading scorer at the time by a substantial margin and many felt that Bruins GM Mike O'Connell had dealt away one of the few players who was truly showing an exemplary effort. On January 10, 2006, Thornton returned to Boston as a member of the Sharks, but was ejected for checking Bruins' defenceman Hal Gill from behind at 5:13 of the first period. Thornton received a five minute major and a game misconduct. The misconduct was later rescinded by the NHL.

Upon arriving in San Jose, Thornton improved the Sharks' fortunes. Thornton made an immediate impact, hitting the cross-bar and almost scoring on his first shift as a Shark. With 14 points in his first 6 games, he found instant chemistry with winger Jonathan Cheechoo, often setting up Cheechoo for one-time shots in the slot. With Thornton as his centreman, Cheechoo became a 50-goal scorer and won the Rocket Richard Trophy. Thornton himself would lead the NHL with 96 assists and win the Art Ross Trophy as leading NHL scorer, the first player to do so the same season he was traded.

The 2005–06 playoffs saw Thornton in a familiar scenario as past postseason campaigns he has been a part of. He was never able to produce points as he was in the regular season and there was a startling lack of chemistry between Thornton and Cheechoo. Joe recorded 4 assists in a five-game quarterfinals series against Nashville and had 2 goals and 3 assists in the semifinals series against Edmonton, a series that the Sharks lost in 6 games.

2006–2007 season

Thornton began the 2006–07 campaign at a far slower pace production-wise than his Hart Trophy-winning year the previous season. He did not score his first goal of the season until the Sharks' 12th game. However, it was later revealed he was battling toe injuries for the entire first half of the season, until he was finally able to recover sometime in January.

After recovering from the injuries, Thornton resumed scoring at the same frenetic pace that earned him accolades in 2005–06. Although 19th in league scoring at the time of the NHL's Christmas break, Thornton scored so many points that he ended up battling Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby for the scoring title late in the year, eventually finishing 2nd in scoring to Crosby with 114, 6 fewer than the Pittsburgh sophomore. Always a tremendous passer, Thornton became just the third player in NHL history (with the other two being Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux) to record consecutive 90-assist seasons.

It appeared as though Thornton was finally having the breakout postseason expected of him all these years after he recorded six assists (although no goals) in the first-round series against Nashville. He proceeded to score a goal and add three assists in the Sharks' first three games of the second round against Detroit. However, Thornton was effectively neutralized by superstar Red Wings defenceman Nicklas Lidström, among others, in the final three games of the series, as the Sharks were once again bounced from the playoffs in the second round.

In the offseason, Thornton signed a three-year contract extension worth US $21.6 million that will run to June 2011.

Leadership issues

Thornton was under heavy scrutiny for his leadership while in Boston. He was criticized for being unable to raise his level of play during the playoffs, as he never scored more than nine points in two series or finished with a plus/minus rating higher than +1. Many people feel that Robbie Ftorek gave Thornton the "C" too early. Nonetheless, Thornton did tremendously in his new role in San Jose, as he put up career numbers in his first season with the Sharks. His success translated into Thornton becoming the MVP of the league.

During the absence of usual alternate captain Alyn McCauley from the San Jose lineup, Joe Thornton donned the "A" for the first time as a Shark in a game against Phoenix on March 30, 2006, and wore the "A" whenever McCauley was out of the lineup for the remainder of the season. Thornton has worn the "A" continuously since the beginning of the 2006–07 season. Many critics expected Thornton to fare better in San Jose where leadership duties would be falling primarily to captain Patrick Marleau. This proved to be the case, as Thornton won the Art Ross Trophy handily, while Marleau still finished with 86 points.

Thornton scored at a slightly cooler rate in the playoffs, posting two goals and seven assists in eleven games, but unlike in Boston his performance was not worthy of criticism; the Sharks' radio and TV announcers emphatically proclaimed him the team's best player on the ice even in the games the Sharks lost to the Edmonton Oilers in the second round of the playoffs.

Thornton was selected to play for Team Canada at the 2006 Winter Olympics and was expected to be key member of the Canadian National Team, unfortunately Thornton and the team failed to medal after they lost to Russia in the Quarter finals.

Events outside of hockey

Thornton was accused of hitting two police officers on May 17, 2003, after coming to the aid of his brother, John Thornton, at the bar Burty Bob's Two in St. Thomas, Ontario. He faced two charges of assaulting police and one of obstructing justice. Crown lawyer Kevin Gowdey announced at a court hearing he would not be pursuing the case against the Bruins Captain (at the time) in return for Thornton apologizing to the parties involved and beginning a "significant period of community service." cnn.com

Awards

1996 — OHL All-Rookie Team
1996 — OHL Rookie of the Year
1996 — Canadian Major Junior Rookie of the Year
1997 — OHL Second All-Star Team
2002 — NHL All-Star
2003 — NHL All-Star
2004 — NHL All-Star
2004 — Won the Spengler Cup
2004 — Won the World Cup of Hockey
2005 — Won the Swiss ice hockey championship
2006 — Won the Art Ross Trophy
2006 — Won the Hart Memorial Trophy
2006 — Named an NHL First-Team All-Star
2007 — NHL Western All-Star
2008 — NHL Western All-Star

Career statistics

			Regular Season					Playoffs
Season	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1995–96	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds	OHL	66	30	46	76	53	4	1	1	2	11
1996–97	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds	OHL	59	41	81	122	123	11	11	8	19	24
1997–98	Boston Bruins	NHL	55	3	4	7	19	6	0	0	0	9
1998–99	Boston Bruins	NHL	81	16	25	41	69	11	3	6	9	4
1999–00	Boston Bruins	NHL	81	23	37	60	82	--	--	--	--	--
2000–01	Boston Bruins	NHL	72	37	34	71	107	--	--	--	--	--
2001–02	Boston Bruins	NHL	66	22	46	68	127	6	2	4	6	10
2002–03	Boston Bruins	NHL	77	36	65	101	109	5	1	2	3	4
2003–04	Boston Bruins	NHL	77	23	50	73	98	7	0	0	0	14
2004–05	HC Davos	NLA	40	10	44	54	80	14	4	20	24	29
2005–06	Boston Bruins	NHL	23	9	24	33	6	--	--	--	--	--
2005–06	San Jose Sharks	NHL	58	20	72	92	55	11	2	7	9	12
2006–07	San Jose Sharks	NHL	82	22	92	114	44	11	1	10	11	10
2007–08	San Jose Sharks	NHL	82	29	67	96	59	13	2	8	10	2
	2005–06 NHL Season Totals	NHL	81	29	96	125	61	11	2	7	9	12
NHL Totals			753	240	516	756	756	70	11	37	48	65
OHL Totals			125	71	127	198	176	15	12	9	21	35