How ‘Jumbo’ Joe Thornton, the ultimate helper, made the Sharks perennial contenders

SAN JOSE — Doug Wilson knew he was making the Sharks a better team when he acquired Joe Thornton from the Boston Bruins in November 2005. What he may not have known was the impact Thornton would have on so many individual lives in San Jose.

“He’s one of the most special people — not just players, but people — that I’ve ever met in this game,” Wilson, the longtime former Sharks general manager, said by phone.

This afternoon, Thornton will become the second player — after Patrick Marleau — to have his jersey number retired by the Sharks as the franchise will raise his No. 19 to the rafters at SAP Center in San Jose before a game against the Buffalo Sabres.

Nicknamed “Jumbo,” Thornton played for the Sharks from 2005 to 2020 and elevated the team into one of the NHL’s best while he became one of the franchise’s all-time greats.

But for all of the gaudy statistics amassed during a 24-year NHL career — one that will almost assuredly result in enshrinement into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto next year — Thornton, 45, is also known for the way he treated people, whether they played hockey or not.

Tom Holy was in his first year in the Sharks’ media relations department, on his third NHL road trip, when Thornton arrived from the Bruins. After meeting the Sharks in Buffalo, Thornton held an introductory press conference, and Holy’s family from nearby Cleveland came to the city.

Holy and Thornton got to know each other pretty well that day as Thornton did four one-on-one interviews, all with Canadian outlets.

“We just kind of hit it off, and then our families hit it off,” Holy, now the team’s assistant general manager, said.

Thornton connected easily with others around the team, as well.

“He made everybody around the rink feel so important and feel like this was our purpose,” Holy said. “And I don’t know if he understands what he was doing, because he was also getting purpose from all of us.”

Close to 40 of Thornton’s former Sharks teammates, including former captains Patrick Marleau, Rob Blake and Joe Pavelski, are in town to try and show him just that. The ex-NHLers participated in an alumni game on Friday night before over 4,000 fans at Tech CU Arena.

Pavelski on Friday recalled a key moment with Thornton: His head injury from an awkward fall during the 2019 Sharks’ Game 7 comeback win against Vegas. One of the first images he saw when he came alert was his linemate’s bearded face, before Thornton and Sharks trainers helped Pavelski off the ice as his head was bleeding.

“I just remember (Thornton) saying, ‘We got you, you’re going to be all right,’ those types of things,” Pavelski said before the alumni game. “That’s one that definitely sticks with me.”

In officially proclaiming Saturday as Joe Thornton Day in San Jose, Mayor Matt Mahan on Thursday specifically mentioned Thornton’s work with the Make-a-Wish program.

In March 2020, Thornton helped make a dream come true for 16-year-old Sharks fan Selena Urban, a kidney transplant patient. He included her in the team photo during the day, drove her to the Sharks game as his guest and had socks made with her photo on them to wear on game night.

Thornton finished his career with 1,539 points, 14th-most in NHL history. Of that total, 1,109 were assists, which ranks seventh on the league’s all-time list.

That’s not an accident, Holy said.

“All he wants to do is show up for people and help. That’s why you saw him play the way he did on the ice, to help people,” Holy said.

“Seeing somebody score was bigger to him than him scoring. He lived it.”

During Thursday’s proclamation at City Hall, Thornton talked to dozens of people, including old acquaintances and others he had never met. Despite being one of the greatest hockey players of his generation, Thornton never had an air about him, blessed with the rare ability to make people around him feel at ease.

“Every day is a Saturday for Joe,” former San Jose Mayor Tom McEnery said at the City Hall ceremony. “He made so many people feel great, (those) who watched him play, but also people he’d run into in the supermarket.

“He made every day a Saturday for millions of people in this valley.”

That’s especially true for Sharks players, many of whom had their best statistical years while playing alongside Thornton.

Jonathan Cheechoo still holds the Sharks’ single-season team record for goals, with 56 in 2005-06 — 39 of which were assisted by Thornton. Marleau scored a career-high 44 goals in 2009-10, with Thornton assisting on 22 of them. Of Pavelski’s 41 goals in 2013-14, 17 were off Thornton helpers.

“I think he’s one of the greatest players that ever played the game,” Wilson said. “The great players make everybody around them better. You go back and you look at every single player that ever played with Jumbo; their numbers just went way up, and that’s because of Jumbo.”

Thornton’s final season with the Sharks came in 2019-20, a year cut short by COVID-19. He then played the next season with the Toronto Maple Leafs — three hours from his hometown of St. Thomas, Ontario — before joining the Florida Panthers in 2021-22. Both years ended with playoff disappointment as Thornton’s lengthy playing career ended without a Stanley Cup.

Done playing, Thornton and his family moved back to San Jose, where he had his greatest impact, both on the ice and off.

“I think I persuaded the family to come back, because I love it so much,” Thornton said of the city. “I always had a good idea we’d be coming back. I don’t know if you’d ask my wife or my kids that. But I think I always knew I was going to come back, because I just I love the people. I love the area so much.”

The feeling is mutual in a relationship that began 19 years ago with that trade from the Bruins.

“He makes everybody feel like they’re his best friend, that they’re important,” Wilson said.

“He’s one of one.”