SAN JOSE – Joe Thornton enjoyed a remarkable 24-year NHL career and, during his prime, was perhaps most responsible for helping transform the San Jose Sharks into one of the league’s premier teams.
Fitting, then, that Thornton is set to become the first individual to play most of his NHL career with the Sharks to be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The Hall on Tuesday is set to announce its Class of 2025, and it would be shocking if it didn’t include Thornton, who is in his first year of eligibility after playing his last NHL game in 2022 with the Florida Panthers.
Eight players who spent brief parts of their lengthy playing careers with the Sharks are enshrined in the Hall: Ed Belfour, Rob Blake, Igor Larionov, Sergei Makarov, Jeremy Roenick, Teemu Selanne, Mike Vernon, and Doug Wilson.
However, Thornton spent 15 of his 24 years, from 2005 to 2020, in the NHL with the San Jose Sharks, where he helped make the team a consistent Stanley Cup contender and established himself as one of the premier players of his generation.
“I think he’s one of the greatest players that ever played the game,” Wilson said of Thornton in November, shortly before Thornton had his No. 19 retired by the Sharks organization.
“The great players make everybody around them better. You go back and you look at every single player that ever played with Jumbo; their numbers just went way up, and that’s because of Jumbo.”
When the City of San Jose held a special ceremony for Thornton before his number retirement ceremony, the 6-foot-4 centerman was asked about being elected to the Hall of Fame this year.
“That’s a pipe dream,” Thornton said. “You know, that stuff doesn’t happen.”
Considering Thornton’s resume, it almost certainly will.
Drafted first overall by the Boston Bruins in 1997 and stepping right into the NHL at the age of 18, Thornton is sixth all-time in regular season games played (1,714), seventh in assists (1,109), and 14th in points (1,539). Thornton also played in 187 postseason games, 30th most in NHL history, and ranks 49th with 134 playoff points.
Thornton, 45, was also a four-time All-Star and an Olympic gold medalist for Canada in 2010. In his first season with the Sharks in 2005-06, Thornton captured the Hart Trophy as the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team, and the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s top scorer.
Thornton left the Sharks in 2020, and played one season with both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers. He officially announced his retirement in October 2023, having made his mark as one of the NHL’s greatest ever players, playmakers, and personalities, with an unbridled enthusiasm for being around his teammates and the sport of hockey.
“Super proud of his accomplishments and proud to call him my cousin,” longtime NHLer and former Sharks forward Scott Thornton said in November. “Everybody always asks me about him, so I’m always talking about him, and I never get tired of telling stories about Joe.
“He’s a character that you don’t see very often in the game. On and off the ice, he’s a big part of a locker room environment, the culture, and his game on the ice speaks for itself. One of the greatest passers to ever play the game.”
The process to be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame is unlike baseball, where writers select the inductees.
The Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee has 18 members, a group that includes executives, media representatives, and former players and coaches who consider potential inductees through a rigorous process. Committee members can nominate no more than one individual in the Player Category, the Builder Category, and the Referee or Linesman Category. Nominees needed to be submitted by April 15.
From that pool of nominees, the committee can select a maximum of four male players, two female players, two builders, or one builder and one referee or linesman. All nominated candidates need to receive at least 14 votes (75%) to be elected.
This year, the four male players expected to be elected are former NHL defensemen Zdeno Chara and Duncan Keith, goalie Carey Price, and Thornton.
Chara, who won the Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins in 2011, is seventh all-time in games played (1,680), won the James Norris Memorial Trophy in 2009 as the league’s best defenseman, and the Mark Messier Leadership Award in 2011.
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Sharks legend Patrick Marleau, the NHL’s all-time leader in games played, is in his second year of eligibility but might have to wait until 2026 at least to get his Hall call. Right now, it appears Thornton will become the first longtime Shark to get into the Hall when the announcement is made Tuesday in Toronto.
“Nobody loves the game more than him, and he gave so much to the game,” Wilson said of Thornton. “He is so deserving of every award and every accolade that comes his way, because he’s given so much to this game.
“There’s no limit to what he gets coming back, because it’s so deserving.”
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