41 Facts About Joe Thornton

Joe Thornton has previously played for the Boston Bruins, San Jose Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League .

Joe Thornton was selected first overall by the Bruins in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft and went on to play seven seasons with the club, three as its captain.

Joe Thornton would go on to another 14 seasons with the Sharks, including four seasons as team captain and a run to the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals.

Joe Thornton's nickname "Jumbo Joe" is a nod to his large stature and to Jumbo the elephant, who died in St Thomas, Ontario, where Thornton was raised.

Joe Thornton is the last active player in any of the major North American professional sports leagues to have played in the 1990s, and is the last active NHL player to have played in an NHL game against Wayne Gretzky.

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Joe Thornton grew up playing minor hockey in his hometown of St Thomas, Ontario, for the St Thomas Travellers.

The following season, Joe Thornton joined the Stars full-time and reeled off 104 points over 50 games as a 15-year-old, and was drafted second overall in the 1995 OHL Draft to the Sault Ste.

Joe Thornton posted a 76-point season in his first year, earning both OHL and CHL Rookie of the Year honours.

The following season, Joe Thornton improved to 41 goals and 122 points, second overall in League scoring behind Marc Savard of the Oshawa Generals, and was named to the OHL second All-Star team.

Bruins head coach Pat Burns was measured in his deployment of Joe Thornton, using him almost exclusively on the fourth line and making him a regular healthy scratch.

Joe Thornton continued to build into a key player in the Bruins' line-up, increasing his points total in each of the following two campaigns.

Joe Thornton ranked third in NHL point-scoring, behind Peter Forsberg of the Colorado Avalanche and Markus Naslund from the Vancouver Canucks.

Joe Thornton played on a line with fellow NHL players Rick Nash and Niklas Hagman, helping HC Davos to win the League championship and the Spengler Cup.

Nash and Joe Thornton have subsequently kept in contact with HC Davos and their longtime coach Arno del Curto; Joe Thornton returns to train with the club for up to a month each summer.

Negotiations on a new contract were strained: Joe Thornton was reportedly unhappy with the direction of the Bruins franchise, and upset with criticism of his play in the Bruins' early playoff exit in 2004.

Mike O'Connell, the Bruins general manager who traded Joe Thornton, stated in June 2011 that he "would still make the trade", and that it was "satisfying" that Boston had won a Stanley Cup before Joe Thornton's new team had.

Tallying 92 points in 58 games with the Sharks after the trade, Joe Thornton finished the season with a league-leading 96 assists and 125 points total to earn the Art Ross Trophy as the league's top scorer.

Joe Thornton became the first player to win the award while splitting the season between two teams.

However, in the 2006 playoffs, Joe Thornton was criticized for his play, as his production decreased to 2 goals and 9 points in 11 games as the Sharks were ousted in the second round.

Joe Thornton is the only player in NHL history to win the Hart Trophy while playing for two different teams in the same season.

Joe Thornton began the 2007 playoffs by recording six assists in the Sharks' first-round series against the Nashville Predators.

However, Joe Thornton was effectively neutralized by Red Wings defenceman Nicklas Lidstrom, for the remainder of the series as the Sharks were eliminated in six games.

Joe Thornton finished the playoffs with a career-high 12 points in 15 games.

In November 2010, Joe Thornton was suspended two games for a controversial hit to the head against St Louis Blues forward David Perron.

Later in the campaign, Joe Thornton eclipsed Marleau as the Sharks' all-time leader in assists.

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Joe Thornton became the San Jose Sharks' all-time leader in assists with 567.

Joe Thornton finished the playoffs with just two goals and an assist.

Joe Thornton finished fifth in playoff points with 21 and second in playoff assists with 18.

Since Joe Thornton started playing in the NHL in 1997, he has had the most assists among the league's active players.

In January 2018, Joe Thornton injured his ACL and MCL and missed the remainder of the season recovering from surgery.

Joe Thornton put up four goals and six assists during the playoffs.

Joe Thornton scored one goal in the Maple Leafs seven-game series loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Joe Thornton was named to Canada's national under-20 team for the 1997 World Junior Championships in Switzerland.

Joe Thornton collected a goal and an assist over six games, as Canada was eliminated in the quarter-finals by the United States.

At the 2005 IIHF World Championship in Austria, Joe Thornton led all scorers with 16 points in nine games and was named tournament MVP.

Joe Thornton made his first appearance in the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Joe Thornton recorded three points as Canada was shut out in three of six games, losing to Russia in the quarterfinals.

Joe Thornton was joined by his Sharks linemates Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau, as well as Sharks defenceman Dan Boyle, on the squad.

Joe Thornton registered a goal and an assist over seven games, helping Canada to a gold medal finish.

Joe Thornton was later invited to the Canada's hockey camp for the 2014 Winter Olympics, but did not attend due to his son being hospitalized with an illness.

Joe Thornton was named to the Canadian roster for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey held in Toronto.