Joe Thornton Jersey Card

(As per years past, this is a twin-post with my "regular" blog, where I predicted the San Jose Sharks would finish third in the Pacific Division in 2019-20).

"Jumbo" Joe Thornton will be back with the Sharks this coming season, outlasting "Little" Joe Pavelski (now with the Dallas Stars), as he signed a $2M, one-year deal earlier today. It was inevitable: if he were to continue playing, it would and could only have been with the Sharks, who had a roster spot conveniently still open for him.

At this point of his career, at age 40, he should find his rightful place centering the third line behind the younger Tomas Hertl and Logan Couture and, although he posted 51 points in 73 games in 2018-19, it would be foolish if not unfair to expect more than 40 points from him in that role. I'd also expect him to miss 10-15 games from the nagging pain of injuries past and just to get some rest on  a few back-to-back games.

I still cheer for him never to win a Stanley Cup, but there is no denying that he - along with, say, Jason Spezza, Sidney Crosby, Andrei Markov and Nicklas Lidstrom - is one of the best playmakers of his generation and, as such, is pretty much a lock for the Hall Of Fame, whether I like it or not.

There will be those who will remind the rest of us that he has always failed to lead a team to a championship, winning gold medals with Team Canada riding other players' coattails, from the 1997 World Juniors (Boyd Devereaux, Marc Denis) to the 2004 World Cup (Vincent Lecavalier, Joe Sakic) to the 2010 Olympics (Roberto Luongo, Jonathan Toews, Jarome Iginla, Shea Weber) and the 2016 World Cup (Sidney Crosby, Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, Toews).

But as leader of the 2001 World Championship squad? Fifth place.

As captain of the Sharks and Boston Bruins? Nada.

He will probably top the 1500-point mark this year and he has a reasonable shot at Gordie Howe's games played record if he plays for two more seasons after that, but apart from the 2005-06 Art Ross and Hart trophies, winning in the NHL has eluded him.

And yet, he's a three-time 100-point performer - and one of those times came in 2002-03, near the end of the Dead Puck Era. That is quite the accomplishment.

Here he is as I will likely remember him best, wearing the captain's "C" for the Sharks, in one of their many different teal (now-home) uniforms:

It's card #GJ-JT from Upper Deck's 2014-15 Series 1 set and UD Game Jersey sub-set, and features a white game-worn jersey swatch that is from either the Sharks' or the Bruins' white uniforms.

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.

Joe Thornton Swatch Card

The San Jose Sharks are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games, so does that mean they're back on track? Or is this just another lull in a potentially awful season?

Who knows, really?

They're still the team run by GM Doug Wilson, who dresses three players who have been the team's captain (current one Joe Pavelski, as well as Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton) on a nightly basis, and whose #1 goalie is Martin Jones, the 26-year-old unproven commodity who came over from the Los Angeles Kings by way of the Boston Bruins last summer.

The one thing the Sharks seem to change more often than captains and goalies (at least since Evgeni Nabokov) is their uniforms. Their initial one was okay, but their best one was this one, save for the jersey numbers on the front, which make it too busy, though the amount of black, orange and white is perfect in contrast to the teal:

It's card #GG-JO from Panini's 2012-13 Titanium set (and Game-Worn Gear sub-set), which I got as a "hit" in a pack of various repackaged in 2014 or 2015. It features none other than the much-maligned Thornton, who was recently voted onto San Jose's 25th Anniversary Team (other notable centers in Sharks history include Mike Ricci, Vincent Damphousse and Jeff Friesen, so it was a no-brainer to vote former the Art Ross winner onto it).

Regular readers know I never trust the Sharks to win, or even make the right moves; they are the Western Conference's Toronto Maple Leafs without the continuous embarrassment of finishing in the bottom-5 but with the added weight of always choking in the playoffs when viewed as contenders. Oh, and no Stanley Cups. Ever.

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:

Joe Thronton Jersey Card

Yes, I shall continue the streak of jersey cards because one of the two bits of news I'd expected all summer that hadn't come yet finally has: the San Jose Sharks have stripped Joe Thornton of his captaincy. (For the record, the other one involves Cam Ward moving to a team in black and gold).

But back to the team in teal, and what some observers are calling ''a (very public) nervous breakdown'':

The strangest part in all of this? Stripping Thornton's ''C'' came nearly five years to the day of losing his alternate captaincy back in 2009, when the Sharks also took away Patrick Marleau's ''C''. That shakeup came after a massive playoff disappointment (sound familiar?) in which the Sharks won 53 regular season games before getting bounced in the opening round by Anaheim. That led (head coach) Todd McLellan to overhaul his entire leadership group (sound familiar?) and go into training camp with no captains or alternates (sound familiar?).

This, after GM Doug Wilson promised to clean house and rebuild, then opted not to (or at least just let some second-tier veterans go). Someone's stepping on someone else's toes; someone's going to lose their job over a decision they went along with but didn't make themselves.

Thornton is 35. Can he be The Guy, The Franchise, the difference maker? No, and he never was, and perhaps it shouldn't have been expected of him.

Is he an elite player? Yes, he's still one of the best passers in the league, and still gets close to a point per game late in his career.

He hasn't won in the NHL, but when used as a spare part by a team that could afford it (Team Canada), he has won gold at the Olympics (2010) and the World Cup (2004). Like Dave Andreychuk, he might end up winning the Cup in his last season as a third-liner on an actual contender rallying around him for that final victory lap.

Or maybe he's like Eric Lindros: really good, just not what people expected, and just that notch under what it takes to be the guy who carries a team (and/or be in the Hall). For the record #2: I think Joe Thornton is a much better more accomplished player than Lindros, because he jumped at the chance to be merely a role player (Canada 2010 versus Canada 2006, i.e. ''Mega-Fail'') for the greater good and his team.

Speaking of Canada, here he is wearing his country's white (''home'') uniform, and judging by the ads on the helmet and jersey, either from the Spengler Cup or the World Championships, from Upper Deck's 2013-14 SP Game-Used Edition, card #TC-JT of the Team Canada Fabrics sub-set, with a game-worn matching white swatch:

I prefer my international uniforms without the Zepler ads, but at least they help in placing the athlete in the right context...

Joe Thornton Autograph Card

After Jarome Iginla last week, here's another card inspired from a post inspired by The Iron Lung's attempt at getting a hard-signed autograph card from every player in the NHL's 1000-point club. This time around, former captain of the Boston Bruins (and current one of the San Jose Sharks), Joe Thornton.

I'm not a huge fan of Big Joe, but I do enjoy watching him fail at another Stanley Cup run each year, although he's making the suspense last longer of late, which isn't good for my heart pressure. I started having these feelings for Thornton when his Bruins would play my hometown Montréal Canadiens and find embarrassing ways to finish first in the division yet fall to the Habs come playoff time.

I'll give him one thing, though: he's the only player ever to have won the Art Ross trophy as points leader in the year when he was traded. At the time I was hoping this wouldn't become a trend, and I'm glad to see it didn't; I'm a purist that way, the type who didn't like when players got free agency after at most 7 seasons (then again, there are more destinations now that I wouldn't last a month in than there was when I played myself).

This card's a little weird, I'll give you that much; his last name in capitals letters, the lack of a design, and the bizarre absence of a logo make the whole thing an oddity, but that's because its manufacturer, The Score Board, didn't have a license to produce official cards, even in this uniform, Big Joe's junior team, the Sault-Ste-Marie Greyhounds. Here's the logo that was on his chest before it was airbrushed out:

Take a good, long look at that logo, which the team's fans called ''The Ugly Dog'', as it was used only for four seasons before the team reverted back to its original jersey and logo

The card is an insert, signed in blue sharpie, from the 1997-98 The Score Board collection. The way TSB worked, essentially, was they would purchase packs of cards like you and I, from all the other manufacturers, sell the valuable cards to hobby shops and repackage the rest in new packs combining those of all brands (but inevitably more of those they got for cheaper, like Pro Set or Parkhurst), and adding signed inserts of prospects from Canadian junior leagues and American colleges to 'up' the value of their packs.

They also did end up getting licenses, mostly for NFL games and cards for movies, notably Star Trek, Star Wars, The Wizard Of Oz, and estate sets for the likes of Elvis Presley.

For more information, a pretty long article about them seemingly written by someone from the company posing as an objective onlooker can be found here.