Joe Thornton Autograph Card

I know I'd predicted/hoped the Pittsburgh Penguins would win in six games against the San Jose Sharks, but before Game 5, I was hoping they'd get it over with; however, Martin Jones deserved to have people talk about his performance for another two days, so I'll be content if they get it done this weekend.

Joe Thornton had another assist in the Sharks' 4-2 win, putting him at 3 goals, 18 assists and 21 points in 23 games in these playoffs, after an 82-point (19 goals, 63 assists) regular season. His career playoff point totals aren't awful (121 in 155 games), but they mostly pale to his regular-season play, and he usually can't seem to make his teammates better or stand up when it counts.

Which didn't stop Team Canada from adding him to their World Cup roster for September two weeks ago, because when he's surrounded by game-breakers, as can be attested by his 2010 Olympic gold medal and his 2004 World Cup title on teams led by Jonathan Toews and the Tampa Bay Lightning trio (Martin Saint-Louis, Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards), respectively, he doesn't ruin his team's chances either; he's usually just a towering non-factor that makes few mistakes.

Here he is wearing the Boston Bruins' alternate jersey from the turn-of-the-millennium, on the signed insert version of card #9 from In The Game's 1998-99 Be A Player set:

I wasn't very fond of these jerseys; yellow isn't my thing. But now that we have the Nashville Predators doing even worse with it, these don't look half as bad. The card looks much better to the naked eye: there are nice shades and the thin black-sharpied signature stands out a lot more.