SB Nation - Joe Thornton

Sharks' Joe Thornton Has Faith In NHLPA, Not Playing In Switzerland

K_Zim — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 20:59:28 -0000

In a strong statement of confidence, the San Jose Sharks' Joe Thornton has "no plan" to skip off to Switzerland should the NHL go into lockout mode. Thornton's brother and agent, John Thornton, emailed CSN California on behalf of the Sharks' captain, and his stance reveals a belief that the NHLPA will come to an agreement with the league to avoid a lockout.

Why is this a big deal coming from Thornton?

Having been practicing with Swiss team HC Davos of late, the rumor mill over in Switzerland had Thornton and the New York Rangers' Rick Nash heading overseas if a lockout occurs, according to Kevin Kurz. Both Thornton and Nash played with HC Davos during the cancelled NHL season of 2004-05.

Even more of a pull to Thornton heading to Switzerland could be his wife, who is Swiss.

But the Swiss rumor mill is apparently incorrect.

John Thornton's email said Joe Thornton believes in NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr, and that's a positive sign for hoping that the league and its players can find common ground before or soon after Sept. 15, when the current collective bargaining agreement ends.

Capitals Forward Alexander Semin 'Easy To Intimidate' According To Sports Illustrated Players' Poll

Adam Vingan — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:03:06 -0000

Washington Capitals forward Alexander Semin is called a lot of things. "Enigmatic;" "lazy;" the list goes on.

Now a new adjective can be added to the front or back of Semin's name: intimidated. Find out why below the jump.

According to a recent Sports Illustrated players' poll, 145 NHL players were asked to name which "All-Star-caliber player is the easiest to intimidate." Semin ranked third on a list of 15 players:

Phil Kessel - Toronto Maple Leafs
Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin - Vancouver Canucks
Semin
Patrick Kane - Chicago Blackhawks
Ilya Kovalchuk - New Jersey Devils
Danny Briere - Philadelphia Flyers
Jeff Skinner - Carolina Hurricanes
Ryan Kesler - Vancouver
Mike Cammalleri - Calgary Flames
Matt Duchene - Colorado Avalanche
Ryan Getzlaf - Anaheim Ducks
Eric Staal - Carolina
Steven Stamkos - Tampa Bay Lightning
Joe Thornton - San Jose Sharks
Scott Gomez - Montreal Canadiens

"Semin is an enigmatic, lazy and intimidated winger." Feel free to copy and paste for your articles and tweets.

Nyjer Morgan To Practice With San Jose Sharks, World To Become Slightly More Awesome

Bill Hanstock — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:01:39 -0000

Nyjer Morgan is known to most Bay Area baseball fans -- nay, most baseball fans in general -- for his outlandish and at times petulant antics on and off the diamond. He goes by the alias (or "alter ego") "Tony Plush," has been known to throw his glove and pout instead of going after a missed, live ball in the outfield and is not above openly taunting fans. One of the many, many interesting things about Morgan is that he had the option of pursuing professional hockey before giving it up in favor of baseball. On Tuesday, the San Francisco native and San Jose resident (yes, he's one of us) comes full circle, as he will practice with the San Jose Sharks.

Somehow, SB Nation has been able to acquire an advance transcript of Morgan's transcript, which has not happened yet.

Todd McLellan: Welcome to HP Pavilion, Mr. Morgan! We're pleased to have you here with us today.

Nyjer Morgan: Mhm. Mhm. Sure man. Let's do this.

McLellan: We wanted to have some of our Sharks players show you "the ropes," so here's your "tour guides" for the day: Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Antti Niemi.

Joe Thornton: Aw hey dere Mr. Morgan sir. Y'aboat ready t'get started dere?

Morgan: Man you're not gonna tell me how to hockey man I've been hockeying since I was born.

Patrick Marleau: Well let's just take er easy t'start with and then we can let er rip when we're nice an warmed up.

Morgan: Man nobody gets Ricardo Kaboom warm, Ricardo Kaboom was born warm man, he's on FIYAH!

/chuckles, spins in circle, does elaborate hand gestures

Marleau: Who's Ricardo Kaboom?

Morgan: /rolls eyes excessively

That's my hockey alter ego, man. Tony Plush is my baseball alter ego, Ricardo Kaboom is my hockey alter ego, Tony Gumbel is my professional alter ego and my foosball alter ego is Alistair St. Croix.

Thornton: Uh, should we

Morgan: YAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

/skates out onto ice full speed still wearing blade covers

/swings hockey stick like baseball bat

/slides headfirst into net

Morgan: One point for Team Kaboom!

Niemi: You fall in net, Mr. Morgan!

Morgan: Them's the rules of the game, my man. Hey, what's that accent?

Niemi: I am Finnish.

Morgan: Well, you better "Finnish" hasslin' me about my Ricardo Kaboom brand of hockey. HYA HYA!

/laughs and skates backwards while making outlandish "T" hand signals

Morgan: SKILLS CHALLENGE NHL 2K11

/performs full wind-up slap shot on hockey puck

/puck goes flying into second deck of HP Pavilion

Morgan: You guys are way behind already, you better catch up.

Thornton: /casts confused glance at Marleau

Marleau: /shrugs

Morgan: I call this one the "Van Kaboominator."

/balances puck on Michal Handzus's head

/winds up

Michael Handzus: what

Morgan: You know what they say, man: when life "Handzus lemons..."

Handzus: what

Morgan: /rolls eyes

PSSSSHHHHHH

/swings

/just brutally cranks Handzus in the scalp, puck falls sadly to the ice

Handzus: AAAAAH AAAAAH

/bleeds from head

Thornton: Now what'd you go and do that for?

McLellan: Mr. Kaboom, I think I'm going to have to ask you to leave.

Morgan: Man you guys don't play hockey right anyway. I saw a foosball table in the locker room. Who wants to go toe-to-toe with Alistair St. Croix? His finishing move is called the "FoosPlushinator." Check it:

/pulls out knife

/is wrestled to ground by security

For all news and information regarding the San Jose Sharks, please visit Fear the Fin. For updates and perspective on Nyjer Morgan's baseball team, head on over to Brew Crew Ball.

New York Rangers 'Soft?' Well, Coach John Tortorella Isn't

Ed Valentine — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:23:00 -0000

San Jose Sharks captain Joe Thornton called the New York Rangers "soft" after the Rangers' 5-2 victory Monday at Madison Square. Sort of strange timing, considering that the Blueshirts won going away. It also did not sit well with Rangers' coach John Tortorella.

"It surprised me, and I've never heard a player say that. Joe's a heck of a player, but here's a player popping off about our team, and Joe hasn't won a g--damn thing in this league. He could go down as a player, being one of the better players in our league never to win anything. So what he should do is just shut up. It was uncalled for, it was classless, and I've never had it happen like that before," Tortorella said.

The Rangers and Sharks do not meet again this season, so the Rangers won't have a chance to show Thonrton first-hand that they disagree.

Joe Thornton On The New York Rangers: They're 'Soft'

Travis Hughes — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 04:24:27 -0000

When the San Jose Sharks left for a lengthy East Coast road trip over a week ago, they were in a less-than-ideal situation. They were just 1-3 on the young season, but with that trip looming, the need for wins was a bit more urgent than usual in October.

All the Sharks did on the ensuing trip was win five of six games, falling only in Monday night's game at Madison Square Garden. If you ask Joe Thornton, they probably should've won that game over the New York Rangers, too. Easily.

Via CSNBayArea.com:

"To be honest with you, they were probably the softest team we played against on this road trip," said Joe Thornton. "We played some good teams, and I think we probably should have beat these guys, to be honest with you."

The Sharks don't play the Rangers again this season, so we'll spare you the Circle Your Calendars part that usually comes here. Instead, we'll just wonder out loud how the team with the most penalty minutes per game in the NHL so far this season is somehow also soft. Hmm.

David Perron Not Expected To Begin Season With St. Louis Blues

hildymac — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 00:43:01 -0000

Sad news today regarding Blues forward David Perron. Perron, as you might remember, was injured on November 4th as he was leaving the penalty box by San Jose Sharks forward Joe Thornton. Perron returned to the ice and scored a goal ten minutes later as the Blues beat the Sharks, 2-0. However, that was Perron's last goal and last game so far as a Blue. That situation doesn't look to be any different for a while.

Perron's concussion didn't automatically manifest itself, leading to some sportswriters to say that Thornton's two game suspension for a hit to the head was unjustified. Thornton stated that it was accidental, and while it probably was, the hit gave Perron probably the worst and least talked about concussion of the season.

It's hit almost Savardian levels. Perron, according to Blues GM Doug Armstrong, has not been cleared for off ice or on ice workouts.

"Where we're at now, in the summer and with training camp, we've decided to just move forward with the idea that David won't be ready for training camp ... he'll just continue to progress and when he is ready, whatever time he is ready, he'll jump back in and start his training to resume his career. But we're not expecting him at training camp."

With the Blues' camp just six weeks away, it was becoming more than obvious that Perron would not be ready for it. All that most Blues fans were waiting on was an official statement from the team. Unfortunately for people who suffer from concussions, you can never tell when you'll be 100% - or if you'll be 100% again. That's what makes injuries like this to Perron, Sidney Crosby, Marc Savard, and others so important to prevent. If they do happen, though, healing takes time and patience. Thankfully the Blues understand that.

I took a look at this when it happened at Thrashing the Blues, and was struck by Perron's tone after the hit:

"Obviously, Joe's not a dirty player. It's good I got to score a goal and it was a big one for us."

A big goal for the team, but hopefully not Perron's last one as a Blue.

Oh, wait - I thought he wasn't concussed? Hm. Jamie Baker want to take a look at this again?

2014 Becomes Pivotal Year For Sharks, Who Re-sign Devin Setoguchi For Three Years

James Brady — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:01:26 -0000

The rumors that the San Jose Sharks were working hard to bring Devin Setoguchi back to the team sooner rather than later, as the team inked him to a three year deal worth $9 million on Thursday. Setoguchi was scheduled to become a restricted free agent on July 1st, but the two sides were working towards a deal for at least the last week. Setoguchi has been a key contributor to the team since arriving in 2007, but has never quite reached the magic of his 2008-2009 season since it happened.

While 2009-2010 was definitely a down year, he did a lot this past season to get back in the good graces of the team and its fans. His style of play meshes well with the rest of the team, in that it's totally different in essentially every way. Setoguchi's speed and style is a stark contrast to the slow play from most of the team, and the Sharks are doing well for themselves by locking him up, and would continue to do well if they possibly found somebody else of similar playing style, so Setoguchi doesn't remain the only speed threat on the team.

Setoguchi finished the 2010-2011 season with 22 goals 19 assists, topping that off with seven goals and three assists in the playoffs, two of said goals were game-winners. He had a hat trick to his credit in the playoffs as well. He's still looking for consistency, and a solid three-year deal at this price with the cap room the Sharks are looking to have this offseason is probably just what he needs to gain that consistency. He'll have every chance to impress and, at $3 million per, it's hard to see him not doing so.

2014 is now a big year in regards to free agency for the Sharks. While it's three years away, it's worth noting that the team has Setoguchi, Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Dan Boyle and Patrick Marleau all on expiring contracts at that point. Obviously, some will be re-signed before then, but it sheds some light as to the current San Jose playoff window. They were bounced out just short of the Stanley Cup Finals this past season by the Vancouver Canucks, who went on to lose to the Boston Bruins in the finals.

Mike Smith Goes Deep At Rays Batting Practice

Jamie DeVriend — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 04:07:35 -0000

On Thursday night, the Tampa Bay Rays had a few members of the Tampa Bay Lightning visit Tropicana Field to try their hand at batting practice. (This was unfortunate timing for their visit, what with the Bruins having won the Stanley Cup the night before and the stands filled with obnoxious Boston fans who couldn't name more than four players on the team and probably think Joe Thornton still plays for the Bruins but still ran to the nearest sporting-goods store earlier in the day so they could buy a size-3XL Bruins jersey and wear it to the Trop with the tags still hanging off of them and yell "YOOO SAWWWWWK!" at everyone in earshot and threaten to start fistfights around their kids while double-fisting beers... but I digress.)

Steven Stamkos, Teddy Purcell, Nate Thompson, and Mike Smith traded in their sticks for bats and took some swings in the cage while Evan Longoria, Don Zimmer, Joe Maddon, and a few other Rays personnel looked on. Stamkos played shortstop as a kid and had some nice swings, driving one deep into the gap in left-center and one-hopping the fence. But no one hit a home run... until the very last pitch of the day.

(Video link here because it won't embed for some reason.)

Mike Smith at the plate... and there's a shot! High and deep and gone! And Smitty knew it, too, with the bat flip and everything. He rounded the bases, tossed his hat in the air, jumped around at home plate, and even got the shaving cream towel from Purcell while he talked to reporters.

It kind of makes sense that Smith would have home run power after seeing his strength as a puck-handling goalie (and a couple of near-goals scored with the opposing net empty). And he's pretty good with the glove -- maybe he can play some outfield in the offseason. Personally I'm waiting for Longoria and some of the Rays to come out and try shooting some pucks. As long as they don't do worse than Mac trying to score a goal in a radio contest before a Flyers game, it would be fun to watch.