Joe Thornton gets a big honor in San Jose by retiring his jersey number

The legendary Joe Thornton will be honored by the San Jose Sharks. The team where he played a significant part of his overseas career will see the elimination of his ”19” next season. He will be only the second player in Sharks history to receive this honor.

Joe Thornton played 24 seasons in the NHL

Canadian hockey player Joe Thornton played an incredible 24 seasons in the NHL. His career ”clicked” relatively recently, just before the start of the current season. And he left an indelible mark. In addition, San Jose will receive this honor as only the second player in franchise history to do so after Patrick Marleau.

He left a big mark on the historical statistics. In 24 seasons, he played 1,714 regular season games in the NHL, which ranks him sixth in the historical tables. In those games, he scored 1,538 points, the 13th highest total in NHL history.

Thornton has never been a goal scorer, rather he has always set up chances for teammates, like Adam Oates once did. That said, he hasn’t even crossed the 500-goal mark. But as far as goal assists go, he’s collected 1,108 of them, which ranks him 7th in regular season history.

No Stanley Cup, but he still set many club records for the Sharks

Unfortunately, he never won a Stanley Cup in the playoffs. Even so, he played 187 games, scoring 134 points on 32 goals and 102 assists. Of his 24 seasons in the NHL, he combined for a full 15 of them with the San Jose Sharks.

He set several club records with the Sharks. He has accumulated the most assists (804), is second in points (1,055), third in games played (1,104) and fourth in goals (251).

San Jose acquired Thornton in 2005 from Boston and it was in his first season with the Sharks in 2005-06 that he had the season of his life. That’s when he scored 125 points and won not only the Art Ross Trophy, which he battled Jaromir Jagr for until the last moment, but also the Hart Trophy, the league’s most valuable individual trophy awarded to the league’s MVP.

His jersey number 19 will be retired during the next season. The official date is not yet known. In the meantime, another Sharks icon, Patrick Marleau’s jersey number 12, has been hanging from the ceiling of Bay Arena since February 25, 2023. It will be filled out by 1997 No. 1 overall draft pick Joe Thornton starting next season.

Source: NHL