Sharks icon left indelible mark on franchise, San Jose

SAN JOSE – San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan stood behind a podium inside the rotunda at city hall on Thursday afternoon and took a moment to extoll the virtues of San Jose Sharks icon Joe Thornton.

In officially proclaiming this Saturday as Joe Thornton Day, Mahan not only mentioned the longtime centerman’s accomplishments during a Hockey Hall of Fame-caliber career but also noted his less-known philanthropic work, specifically with the Make-A-Wish foundation.

“You can’t mention San Jose without mentioning the Sharks and Joe,” Mahan said. “You’ve given your all to both.”

Nineteen years after they acquired him from the Boston Bruins, the Sharks will raise Thornton’s No. 19 to the rafters at SAP Center on Saturday, right beside Patrick Marleau’s No. 12.

“I never thought I’d get my own day,” Thornton said, “but here we are.”

Thornton was joined Thursday by his wife, Tabea, his children, Ayla and River, and his parents, Wayne and Mary. Sharks team president Jonathan Becher also spoke about Thornton, and several city officials joined Mahan in recognizing one of the NHL’s all-time greats.

“It’s everything to have mom and dad here, and my wife and kids. It means everything,” Thornton said. “To share these moments with them is very special because, as a family, you go through a lot in the hockey world, and I phoned my mom and dad after every game.

“I’m going to cry a lot this weekend, by the way. But I’m going to laugh a lot too. But hockey’s been a family thing for a lot of years, and it still is.”

In his 15 years in San Jose, Thornton left an indelible mark on the city and the franchise.

In his first game with the Sharks on Dec. 2, 2005, two days after the trade with the Bruins, Thornton had two assists to lead the team to a 5-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres.

The Sharks had lost 10 straight games at game sparked a six-game win streak, and Thornton that season would go on to win the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL player deemed most valuable to his team and the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leading scorer with 125 points in 81 games.

“It was awesome to watch,” said Sharks assistant general manager Tom Holy, who worked in the team’s media relations department when Thornton was acquired. “That was my first year in the league. So I thought, ‘Oh, this is how it just always is.’”

After that, Thornton seemingly never stopped scoring in his decade and a half in San Jose.

Thornton ranks first in Sharks history in assists (804), points per game (0.96), power-play points (402), and plus-minus (+161). He is second all-time in team history in points (1,055), third in games played (1,104), and fourth in goals (251).

Thornton, drafted No. 1 overall by the Bruins in 1997, one spot ahead of Marleau, had 1,539 points in 1,714 games over an NHL career that lasted until the end of the 2021-2022 season.

Likely to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame next year, Thornton is sixth all-time in games played, seventh in assists (1,109), and 14th in points.

During Thornton’s 15 years in San Jose, the Sharks had the best regular-season record in the NHL (659-376-125), made it to the playoffs 13 times, reached the conference finals four times, and reached the Cup final in 2016.

Although the Sharks are still searching for their first Stanley Cup, they wouldn’t have had so many opportunities to win a championship without Thornton and Marleau, the two players most synonymous with the franchise.

“I’ve known Patty since I’ve been 17 years old,” Thornton said. “To be up there together, it’s a special night for me, and to see the number 12 and the number 19 up there, and I’m sure there’s going to be some more numbers coming after us, but I’m looking forward to it.”

Beyond the numbers, though, was his effect on the city.

While the Sharks enjoyed relatively strong attendance figures in the early-to-mid 2000s, Thornton’s arrival made the Sharks the hottest ticket in town.

From 2009 to 2014, despite an NHL lockout to start the 2012-2013 season, the Sharks had a 205-game sellout streak at their then-17,562-seat downtown arena, helping to fill not only the team’s coffers but also those of downtown businesses.

During the lockout in 2012-13, which reduced the NHL season from 82 games to 48, some owners of bars and restaurants within walking distance of the arena told Bay Area News Group that sales halved or worsened because of the lack of Sharks fans.

“It affected more than the businesses,” former San Jose Mayor Tom McHenry said of the Sharks’ success with Thornton. “It affected all of the people who ran the businesses.”

Thornton does not have an official role with the Sharks but is confident that the team, with its nucleus of young players, will be able to win a Stanley Cup one day.

“It feels good around here now. It feels really good,” Thornton said. “You can see we’ve got some really, really good young talent here. It’s going to take a while, as everybody knows, but there’ll be a parade here one day, and I can’t wait for it.”