Joe Thornton Jersey Card

Well, it's been an awkward year for Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks, as well as for the team who made him the first-overall pick in 1997, the Boston Bruins. Both teams are on the playoff bubble, and if I were a betting man, I'd put the odds of the Bs making it at 65%, while those of the Sharks dwell below the 20% mark.

Of course, the clown show continues in San Jose, and after stripping Jumbo Joe of the captaincy in an improvisation-filled summer of 2014, GM Doug Wilson explained a couple of days ago that Thornton had trouble taking the pressure that came with the role, to which Thornton replied he should ''shut his mouth''.

But the team isn't dysfunctional. At all.

I'm not the world's biggest Thornton fan. As a matter of fact, I like to remind everyone that unless he was used on a fourth line on a super-duper All-Star team (see: Team Canada at the 2010 Olympics), he's a perennial choker. But that's just judging from what the man, himself, achieves on the ice (or doesn't); it's nothing personal, apart that I like to see Bruins fail.

This situation, however, is attacking the man's character as a human being; and some of it wasn't even all bad: Wilson went on to say Thornton took the losses so badly he lashed out at people, without mentioning who. If it's a teammate who wasn't giving his full effort, it's actually commendable - and the captain's job - the say something. If it's his wife and kids, then obviously they have anger management classes for that.

I just wanted it said that I though Wilson's tirade was low. At the very least, it's something that should remain behind the locker room's doors.

Here's a throwback of Thornton in happier days, wearing the Bruins' white (home) uniform, probably while getting swept in the playoffs when facing the Montréal Canadiens, from Upper Deck's 2003-04 Series 2, card #FF-JT of the Franchise Fabrics sub-set: