Boston Bruins: Pros and cons to facing the San Jose Sharks
By Luke Ryan
Con: They’ll be rallying around former Boston Bruins captain, Joe Thornton.
Joe Thornton is one of those players that you hold at a certain level, but you can’t quite place him in the next tier up because he’s never won a Stanley Cup.
For years, he represented the Boston Bruins as their captain and did so with an honour and pride in the badge that he has now carried over to the San Jose Sharks.
You could fully expect the whole of that eclectic mix of characters in the Sharks locker-room to be rallying around Thornton, especially given it’d be his old team he’s facing.
Turning 40 just after the Stanley Cup is given out this year, it’s fair to say that Joe doesn’t have very many more chances at winning the big one.
Remarkably though, despite his age, he still has the ability to be a game-changer; you only need look at the fact he had a two goal, one assist night in Game 3 of the current Western Conference final to know that there’s still spark in the old boy yet.
It’s also worth noting he was a 51-point regular season point scorer and had dropped below that figure in every one of his 22 seasons in the NHL. We’re literally talking 4 seasons (one of this being his rookie year).
This year will almost certainly see the San Jose Sharks rallying around ‘Jumbo’ Joe, in which the same way that we once saw the Colorado Avalanche do for fellow Boston Bruins legend, Ray Bourque.
Somehow earning a Stanley Cup for the old guy in the room always manages to unite a team. That unity could prove challenging to get past for Boston. A united team that is willing to put it all on the line for each other is a truly scary thought; especially when they’re comfortably playing a bit of crash-and-bash style hockey!