Kukla's Korner Hockey
Entries with the tag: Joe+Thornton
Thornton & His ‘Dummy’
by Paul on 09/17/09 at 09:09 PM ET
Comments (5)
What do you think, does Joe have the talent or not?
thanks to a KK reader for the pointer...
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One Of These Two May Not Be On Team Canada
by Paul on 08/26/09 at 09:49 AM ET
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from Michael Farber of Sports Illustrated,
The last time Vinny Lecavalier actually had to make a team was ... well, never.
And the last time Joe Thornton had to make a team ... was, well, almost never.
Making teams are for other guys, not the gifted and precocious and iconic. But as Canada Red and Canada White departed the Pengrowth Saddledome after Day 2 of the Most Serious Olympic Hockey Orientation Camp in the world, it seemed apparent that there would not be room for the both of them next February.
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Tags: Joe+Thornton, Team+Canada, Vinny+Lecavalier,
How About This One? Spezza For Thornton
by Paul on 05/02/09 at 06:27 PM ET
Comments (9)
from Don Brennan of Off The Posts at the Ottawa Sun,
It was suggested to me this morning by a friend in the business that the Senators and Sharks might want to consider a 1-for-1, high-profile trade that would give each team a significant shake on the heels of a disappointing season: Jason Spezza for Joe Thornton.
Spezza, who is 25, is listed as 6-foot-2, 206 pounds. He has 418 points in 404 regular season games. He has 39 points in 40 playoff games. He’ll make $8 million for each of the next four years.
Thornton, who is 29, is listed as 6-foot-4, 235 pounds. He has scored 842 points in 836 regular season games. He has 53 points (and just 12 goals) in 76 playoff games. He’ll make $7.2 million for each of the next two seasons.My opinion: The younger Spezza has more upside. But if the cap goes down, as expected, that salary could be a real handicap.
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Tags: Jason+Spezza, Joe+Thornton,
Afternoon Line
by Paul on 04/27/09 at 12:20 PM ET
Comments (11)
“I don’t think it’s in Joe’s nature to be mean, but when he is mean, he’s unstoppable. That’s intensity. When you’re intense, you’re a hard person to play against.”
“He can’t pick his spots. For him to be known as one of the greatest players in the world from now on, he’s got to bring that. He makes a lot of money to bring that intensity. You can’t rely on just his eyes and his know-how all the time.”
-Jeremy Roenick on Joe Thornton. More from David Pollak at Working the Corners.
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Tags: Jeremy+Roenick, Joe+Thornton,
Joe Thornton In The Spotlight
by Paul on 04/19/09 at 10:22 AM ET
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from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal,
He’s a nice guy, fun to be around. Sweet hands. Big body. Good teammate. Doesn’t ever play the “I’m a star” card.
But when the light goes on for the playoffs, it’s like he gets stage fright. Does he have it in him to be a lead dog in the playoff race, like Vincent Lecavalier, another highly talented centre, was with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004? Or the mild-mannered but zealously competitive Joe Sakic for all those years in Colorado?
Admittedly, it took Steve Yzerman 14 years before he carried his first Stanley Cup in Detroit and legitimized his career. Super Mario Lemieux didn’t win until he was seven years along the NHL trail in Pittsburgh. But this is Thornton’s 11th NHL season. His legacy continues to be that of a wonderful player in the regular season, a guaranteed top-10 point-producer.
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O’Connell Would Trade Thornton Again
by Paul on 02/08/09 at 07:30 AM ET
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from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,
Joe Thornton will be back on Causeway Street Tuesday night, only his second visit to the Hub of Hockey since the Nov. 30, 2005, trade that Mike O’Connell orchestrated, sending Jumbo Joe, the Boston franchise’s centerpiece, to the San Jose Sharks.
Some three-plus years later, O’Connell figures the trade was justified, and it is one that he would make again, given the same circumstances. As for what he got in return, said O’Connell, there will always be those who say he should have received more.
“That’s always the case, even if it’s your best trade,” said the former Bruins general manager, these days overseeing pro development for the Los Angeles Kings. “But it was like any trade: You take in, rely on what everyone in the organization says - scouts, everyone - and let’s not forget there was a money issue here, too, moving Joe with his high [$6.6 million] salary. This wasn’t the pre-salary-cap NHL. Like all these deals, the money had to work, too.”
continued plus more hockey topics…
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This Is Joe
by Paul on 02/07/09 at 06:33 PM ET
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from Sharkspage,
San Jose public television station KTEH recently featured San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton as part of a series of local profiles called This is Us. The program features Bay Area figures including surfing pioner Jack O’Neill, Gilroy boxer Roberto Guerrero, San Jose Opera’s Irene Dalis, botanist Joel Goldsmith among several others.
This is US labels Joe Thornton “the best professional athlete in the Bay Area” and calls him a potential lock for the Hockey Hall of Fame. They speak with Thornton about growing up playing the game with his brothers, and note that above all the one intangible he brings to the game for San Jose is leadership.
continued and watch the 7 minute video there.
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Joe Thornton’s Return to Boston
by Alanah McGinley on 02/06/09 at 06:11 PM ET
Comments (2)
From the CP via TSN:
Thornton said at the time that he was “blindsided” by the deal that sent him to the Sharks for Brad Stuart, Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau. Facing Boston now is just another game.
“Really that’s all it is to me,” he said. “There’s not too many ex-teammates over there, and it’s just really an important game in the schedule.
“They’re the best in the East and we’re the best in the West. So it’s an important game that way rather than I’m playing against friends.”
read on for more from Thornton’s media conference call today
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Tags: joe+thornton,
Joe Thornton Thinking Shorter Contract Deal
by Paul on 01/29/09 at 09:54 AM ET
Comments (2)
from David Pollak of Working the Corners,
That 12-year contract extension that Detroit gave Henrik Zetterbeg today isn’t the kind of job security that Joe Thornton lusts after. In fact, when it comes to term of contract, Thornton said he sees one year or three years as the ideal length. Thornton has another season after this one on his current three-year deal, and if he decides he wants to finish his career in San Jose, he said he’d want it to be in a series of three-year deals, not one gigantic extension.
“Three years is a long time when you think about it,” Thornton said. “A lot can change in three years so why put yourself in for such a long term when three is enough for me.”
Still, Thornton liked the 12-year, $72 million deal.
more on the Sharks including the Boyle injury…
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Tags: Joe+Thornton,
Your ASG Captains
by Paul on 01/22/09 at 10:23 AM ET
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from John Kreiser of NHL.com,
Montreal forward Alex Kovalev will be wearing the captain’s “C” in front of the home folks at Sunday’s All-Star Game.
Kovalev was named captain of the Eastern Conference team and San Jose center Joe Thornton will wear the “C” for the Western Conference squad when the NHL holds its 57th All-Star Game at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
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Tags: Alex+Kovalev, Joe+Thornton,
‘Risk’y Joe
by Paul on 12/11/08 at 10:31 AM ET
Comments (2)
via NBCBayarea, Off the ice, Sharks forward Joe Thornton takes strategy to a whole new level with the computer version of the game Risk.
thanks to SanJoseSharks.com for the pointer…
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Tags: Joe+Thornton,
Hard To Shut Down Joe Thornton
by Paul on 09/26/08 at 11:26 AM ET
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from John Kreiser of NHL.com,
Joe Thornton is the NHL’s most prolific passer, having paced the League in assists for the third consecutive season while leading the San Jose Sharks to the Pacific Division title last season.
But Thornton’s value to the Sharks is more than just the numbers he puts up. Opponents had to figure out a way to try to shut him down for an average of 21:23 per game last season – more ice time than any other forward who spent all season in the division.
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A Meaner Joe Thornton
by Paul on 09/18/08 at 09:17 AM ET
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from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal,
Every team is unbeaten. Coaches are sleeping well at night. Every draft pick looks like a keeper. It’s training camp, and here are some few things to consider for the upcoming season:
Does Jumbo Joe Thornton have to change the way he plays (i.e., get into the traffic more or be a little nastier) to win a Stanley Cup?
All those 90- and 100-point regular seasons are swell, but guys who rack up points yet don’t win often don’t get enough votes for the Hall of Fame.
many more things to consider…
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Tags: Joe+Thornton,
Why No Joe
by Paul on 08/08/08 at 06:19 PM ET
Comments (3)
from Allan Muir of Sports Illustrated,
I knew some of you wouldn’t take it very well. But honestly, I was surprised by how many of you did.
“It’s about time someone recognized that Team Canada should steer clear of Joe Thornton,” wrote Ron Godin of Etobicoke, Ontario. “He’d be gangbusters against Latvia and France, but he lacks the heart and the will to compete against the Americans and Russians.”
That pretty much mirrors the thought process that went into the decision to leave Thornton off my proposed 2010 Team Canada lineup…
And while Yzerman was willing to play a checking role for the Canadians, he already was accustomed to that style of play after having his game reshaped in Detroit by Scotty Bowman. Remember, Yzerman won the Selke in 2000, so that was part of his game.
You can’t say that for Thornton. And it’s not that I think he’s incapable of checking. It’s just that Canada’s depth gives it more appealing options.
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Thornton Delivers
by Paul on 04/16/08 at 08:17 AM ET
Comments (2)
from Mark Purdy of the Mercury News,
Thornton was planted in front of the Calgary net, taking a royal Canadian pounding from a passel of guys in red Flames jerseys. Sharks defenseman Douglas Murray launched a gorgeously on-target shot from up top. Thornton then used his trademark stick control to perfectly deflect the puck past goalie Miikka Kiprusoff.
Suddenly, the enormous Pengrowth Saddledome went silent. You could almost hear the flaming gas jets in the rafters, the ones that regularly shoot out big bursts of fire, click off the way they do on your home barbecue.
Sharks 3, Calgary 2. Prescription filled.
And it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy in the process of overcoming a largely unfair reputation as a playoff non-dominator.
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Evening Line
by Paul on 04/15/08 at 06:55 PM ET
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via the CBC 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs Blog,
Thornton, San Jose’s leading goal scorer and point producer in the regular season, has only three assists and the questions were whether the Flames have done anything special to defend him.
“No, they’re just tight checking,” Thornton said after the morning skate. “They take away your time and space, so you have to make your space. They’re tight on you, they make sure you have no room.
“That’s how you play hockey.”
Curiously, Thornton is coming off a two-assist performance, but knows his play will be closely compared to Jarome Iginla’s.
“When you’re down 2-1, everybody can do more and I have to do more to help this team win,” Thornton said. “I have to have a big game tonight.”
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Good Luck Charm
by Paul on 04/13/08 at 05:15 PM ET
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from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,
“We’re like the Queen,” the San Jose Sharks’ Joe Thornton was saying. “We travel with our own toilet seat.”
OK, that probably needs some explanation. The Sharks moved into the visitor’s dressing room at the Pengrowth Saddledome Sunday morning, to continue their best-of-seven Western Conference playoff series against the Flames. The Sharks usually travel with all kinds of team-related paraphernalia. Draped just inside the entrance to the dressing room are replicas of their Pacific Division champion banners (from 2001-02 and 2003-04). There are personalized Shark skate mats for each player; every one of the four walls also has a This Is Sharks Playoff time posters. All make sense – sort of.
Update 6:01pm ET: More from Duhatschek today on the Sharks/Flames series, including musings on Jarome Iginla’s “scoring slump”:
[On] Masters Sunday, Keenan invoked the spirit of Tiger Woods, noting how Iginla “reminds me of Tiger – a bogey on the first hole and then he’s going to birdie the rest of the 17. I’m looking forward to it.”
added 6:51pm, Why not- even more on the toilet seat from Working the Corners....
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Tags: jarome+iginla, joe+thornton, mike+keenan,
Evening Line
by Paul on 04/09/08 at 07:16 PM ET
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from Working the Corners at the Mercury News,
Thornton had plenty of nice things to say and credited Keenan with helping his own development as a young player. Today Keenan returned the compliments, saying nice things about Thornton and telling one story from his early days as a Bruin.
“One day I told him, ‘Joe, you’ve got to train harder. Ride the bike.’ And he asked me how long? ‘I don’t know, I’ll be back to let you know.’ And I got preoccupied. An hour later, I forgot. And he’s still riding, and the trainer says Joe wants to know if he can stop now. I said, ‘Oh my god, I forgot all about hm.’ So I go and say, OK, Joe, now you can get off.”
read on about how Thornton may have been traded to the Florida Panthers…
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Tags: Joe+Thornton, Mike+Keenan,
Sharks Hot At The Right Time
by Paul on 03/10/08 at 06:12 PM ET
Comments (1)
from Pierre LeBrun of the CP via Yahoo,
There isn’t a hotter team in the NHL right now than the San Jose Sharks and they don’t sound like they’re done winning, either....
“I feel like we’re peaking at the right time,” Thornton, named the NHL’s third star Monday after putting up seven points in four games last week, said on a league conference call.
“Really everybody is just playing really good hockey,” he added. “We don’t have have one thing necessarily that’s going incredibly well, we’re just playing every game real solid. Good defensive hockey. We’re getting production from our second, third and fourth lines. And obviously the acquisition of Brian Campbell really helped as well.”
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Tags: Joe+Thornton,
In the Alberta Deep Freeze
by Alanah McGinley on 01/29/08 at 07:18 PM ET
Comments (9)
From the Canadian Press,
NHL star Joe Thornton is walking through the freezer that is Alberta without a winter coat.
The San Jose Sharks centre, in Edmonton for an NHL game on Tuesday night, had on gloves and a toque but wore only a sports jacket when he and his teammates went to Rexall Place for the morning skate.
“He was telling everybody that he threw away his winter clothes when he moved to California,” said team media relations manager Tom Holy.
continued... and take note: factoring in wind chill it’s running about -44 (celsius) in Calgary and -51 in Edmonton.
I really do not miss living in the prairies… 
Filed in: NHL Teams, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, San Jose Sharks | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: dustin+boyd, jarome+iginla, joe+thornton,
Pass Of The Year
by Paul on 12/06/07 at 09:26 AM ET
Comments (0)
from Media News,
Maybe the only person unimpressed with the incredible pass that San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton made six minutes into the second period Wednesday night was Thornton himself.
“It was just unbelievable,” said Sharks captain Patrick Marleau, who converted Thornton’s cross-ice feed for the Sharks’ second goal.
“If that’s not the play of the month,” said Sharks coach Ron Wilson. “Man, that was a pass and a half. That was Gretzky and then some.”
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Tags: Joe+Thornton, patrick+marleau, san+jose+sharks,
Line Of The Day
by Paul on 11/30/07 at 01:04 PM ET
Comments (1)
“I feel when we’re confident and playing our best, there aren’t too many teams that can compete with us,” Thornton said. “That’s the raw deal. But we just haven’t been getting it from everybody right now. But I really do still believe that after 20-something games, we haven’t even hit the sky yet. We’ve got a lot to improve, but we’ll get there this year.”
more on the Sharks in this piece from Scott Burnside of ESPN.
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Tags: joe+thornton, san+jose+sharks,
Thornton Ready To Lead The Sharks
by Paul on 10/02/07 at 11:17 AM ET
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from Michael Farber at Sports Illustrated,
Thornton watched two games of the 2007 Ducks-Senators final on tape while in India and, between winces, noticed the physical dominance of Anaheim, the Western Conference team. So, why shouldn’t it be San Jose’s turn in 2008? “We have a little more experience from the Edmonton and Detroit series,” he said of second-round meltdowns in the past two seasons. “We realize we had some of those games in hand, but couldn’t find a way to finish them. There are a lot of pieces here, a lot of guys going through their prime years. Realistically, we’ve got a shot at the Cup.”
The Sharks, in fact, have an excellent shot. With Thornton taking the mantle of leadership that has been assigned to him since his teenage years with the Bruins, San Jose is SI’s choice to win it all.
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Tags: Joe+Thornton, san+jose+sharks,
Hockey Destination: San Jose
by Paul on 09/14/07 at 05:40 AM ET
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from the Mercury News,
“This is becoming a destination place,” Thornton said. “Word of mouth spreads like wildfire in this league, and guys love playing here. People believe you can win playing on this team, and it’s got a chance to keep going and going.”
The summer contracts - worth nearly $75 million - were an indication that General Manager Doug Wilson believes this nucleus can overcome its playoff failures and break through to claim a Stanley Cup. Yet it also appears to have been relatively easy to convince Marleau, Thornton and Michalek that they didn’t need to test the free-agent waters - even with the lure of more money elsewhere.
“For me it was a no-brainer signing an extension,” Thornton said. “Where else would I go that’s better than here?”
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