Thornton healthy, has high hopes for Sharks with Karlsson
After second knee surgery, center can't wait to start season with new defenseman
"Just for a little bit?" Thornton asked.
"No," DeBoer told him.
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Thornton didn't listen. There he was on the ice early Tuesday in a warmup suit. Caught, he said he was trying out skates and retreated to the locker room.
That's Jumbo. Thornton doesn't just love being with the guys and playing hockey. He loves the actual physical work that goes into it -- training, skating, passing, everything. Always has.
He's still a big kid, at 39 years old, after surgery to repair torn ligaments in each knee within the last year and a half, and still the No. 1 center on a Stanley Cup contender that includes Brent Burns, Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl, Evander Kane, Martin Jones, Joe Pavelski, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and now Erik Karlsson too after the blockbuster trade with the Ottawa Senators last week.
"I think every year this team has a good chance of winning," Thornton said Thursday. "I think that's been the mindset for the last 15 years, and I think with Erik coming in, I think we're excited in here. Our fan base is excited. We're going to give it a good shot this year, for sure.
"Honestly, I think I've had low miles on my body the last couple years, so I feel good. My mindset's right. I've trained hard. I've got a room full of great hockey players. There's no reason why I can't have a great year and the team can't have a great year."
Thornton tore the MCL and ACL in his left knee on April 2, 2017. He returned two weeks later and played the final four games of a six-game loss to the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference First Round before having surgery April 24, 2017. Amazing.
"There is no other player -- and I've been this business for 40 years -- that I've ever met like Joe Thornton," general manager Doug Wilson said. "So when you talk about his medical, he doesn't even listen to doctors."
But Thornton struggled with the knee early last season. And after he started looking like himself again, with 26 points (11 goals, 15 assists) in a 28-game stretch, he tore the MCL and ACL in his right knee on Jan. 23 and had surgery two days later. He warmed up for each game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the Sharks swept the Anaheim Ducks in the first round and lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in six games in the second.
"I just wanted to kind of be out there with the fellas," Thornton said. "But I thought maybe if we got by Vegas I'd maybe would have hit a series, maybe the conference final, so I was kind of pushing for that. I was proud of the guys, to be honest with you. It [stunk] I couldn't be out there with them."
The good news is that Thornton had 47 games' worth of wear and tear instead of 82-plus last season, went through a full offseason of training and is farther ahead of where he was at this time last year.
"You can already tell in this camp, his pace is way up," Pavelski said. "He looks fresh, looks like's moving good. It's always a transition from summer training to summer hockey to camp speed, and we're all trying to get up there, but I'm excited for where he's at right now and kind of how he's always been able to find his way regardless of what he's gone through in the summer."
This is the greatest playmaker of his generation. Thornton ranks 12th in assists (1,030) and 16th in points (1,427) in NHL history. Though the League keeps getting younger and faster, he still has his head, hands and heart.
Wilson said Thornton has adjusted to play more north-south, but game by game, Thornton takes pride in playing on his terms. Thornton said he doesn't adjust to the style of the opposing center, whether it's, say, Ryan Getzlaf of the Ducks or Jack Eichel of the Buffalo Sabres.
"I try to impose my will on the other centerman or whoever I'm playing against," Thornton said. "I'm never going to change my game. I'm just going to see if they can stop my playing my game."
Thornton has the crafty Pavelski, his longtime linemate, on his right wing and the speedy Kane, whom the Sharks acquired in a trade with the Sabres on Feb. 26, on his left in camp. The power play should be more explosive with the addition of Karlsson.
No wonder he still has that childlike enthusiasm, setting the tone for the rest of the Sharks.
"It's so contagious here," Thornton said. "You ask our training staff, everybody that's around this team. We have a lot of fun. Everybody enjoys coming to the rink every day.
"That's what's allowed us to be successful. I know we haven't won the Cup, but we've been successful. I think we create an environment that we come in, we work hard, we work extremely hard, we do our job. We see how important it is, but we enjoy it at the same time."
