Another year, another early postseason exit for Joe Thornton.
On Tuesday night, Jumbo and his San Jose Sharks teammates were eliminated from the playoffs after a 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues. The 39-year-old has now played in 179 playoff games but has just one Stanley Cup Finals appearance to show for it and zero rings. Thornton found himself in familiar territory, fielding questions after another playoff loss and having to answer if this once again was his final NHL season. He made it very clear that he hasn’t yet given any thought as to what he might do in the coming months.
Everything crumbled at the worst possible time for the Sharks. After scoring 13 goals through Games 1, 2, 3, SJ put up the two goals through the last three, and things went from bad to worse when the team announced stars Tomas Hertl and Erik Karlsson would not play in Game 6 due to injury. With Karlsson, captain Joe Pavelski and Thornton set to become unrestricted free agents, the team’s future is up in the air.
There’s nothing more hockey fans would love to see than Thornton hop on a tractor and sign another contract, but they’ll have to wait patiently as he makes up his mind. If he were to retire today, the St. Thomas Ontario native would finish his career with an Olympic gold medal, six All-Star appearances and eighth in all-time assists with 1,065.
(H/T San Jose Sharks)
