"I feel good. I know my birth certificate says 39, but I think not playing a full 82 games and playoffs last year, my body feels really, really good and I feel healthy," the center told The Athletic in remarks published Wednesday.
Thornton missed the final 35 games of the regular season and the 10 games San Jose played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after having surgery to repair his anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in his right knee Jan. 25, two days after he was injured in a game against Winnipeg Jets.
They were the same procedures he had on his left knee on April 22, 2017. Thornton did a quick rehab last year and started the season on time but admitted he may have returned to soon.
"Possibly, possibly," Thornton said. "I trained real hard (last offseason) to get back for training camp. That was my goal. Maybe I rushed it just a little bit."
He said he has no such worries this season.
"The left knee] feels unbelievable now. There's no issues with that at all," Thornton said. "I only had probably three months last [offseason] with the left [knee
