Joe Thornton

Thornton is currently active so this page may not reflect his current statistics.

Joe Thornton’s Career

• NHL: 1997-present; 22 seasons, 20 quality
• Totals:
  • 420G,
  • 11089A (7th All Time) for
  • 1509P (14th),
  • +186 in
  • 1636 games (9th);
  • 19:26 ATOI (all but his first season);
  • 161.3 PS;
  • Thornton is 22nd All Time in Offensive Point Shares;
• Draft: Thornton, drafted 1st overall in 1997 is,
  • 3rd in Goals
  • 1st in Assists (by 463)
  • 1st in Points (by 321)
  • 2nd in Plus/Minus
  • 2nd in Point Shares (1st Skater)
  • 2nd in Games
• Era: Of the 7 players to play in 1,312 games (16 seasons) between 1997 and 2020, Thornton is
  • 3rd in Goals
  • 4th in GPG
  • 1st in Assists (by 266)
  • 1st in APG (by 0.05)
  • 1st in Points (by 259)
  • 1st in PPG (by 0.07)
  • 2nd in Plus/Minus
  • 2nd in Offensive Point Shares
  • 2nd in Defensive Point Shares (1st Forward)
  • 1st in Point Shares
• 82-game average: 21G, 55A for 75P, +9; 8.1 PS
• 3-year peak (2005-08): 82-game average of 27G, 86A for 112P, +24; 21:07 ATOI
• Possession (2007-08):
  • 55.6 CF% (3rd All Time among players to player 820 games)
  • 4.7 CF%Rel (5th)
  • 55.5 FF% (3rd)
  • 3.9 FF%Rel (8th)
• Playoffs:
  • 31G,
  • 102A (24th All Time)
  • for
  • 133P,
  • -32 in
  • 179 games
• Adjusted:
  • Hockey-Reference:
    • Totals:
      • 464G,
      • 1188A (5th All Time) for
      • 1652P (7th)
    • Adjusted 82-game average: 23G, 60A for 83P
    • Per Game:
      • 14th All Time in Adjusted APG;
      • If the qualifier is set to 1,230 games (15 seasons), Thornton is
        • 4th All Time in Adjusted APG
        • 15th All Time in Adjusted PPG
  • VsX:
    • 453G
    • 1,243A (5th All Time)
    • 1,522P (11th All Time)
    • Per Game: Thornton is not in the Top but, if the qualifier is set to 820 games (10 seasons), Thornton is
      • 24th All Time in VsX Adjusted APG
      • If the qualifier is set to 1,230 games, Thornton is
        • 11th All Time in VsX Adjusted APG
        • 19th All Time in VsX Adjusted PPG
• Trades:
  • Traded at 26 for Brad Stuart (26), Marco Sturm (27) and Wyane Primeau (29)

Joe Thornton’s Accomplishments:

• Hart (’06)
• Top 5 in Hart voting a further three times
• Top 5 in Selke voting once
• Art Ross (’06)
• Back Check Best Player (’06)
• Top Player:
  • Top 10 Player (by Point Shares) once (’06)
  • Top 5 Offensive Player (by Offensive Point Shares) twice (’03, ’06),
  • Top 10 three times (’07)
• Goals:
  • GPG leader-boards:
    • Top 10 in GPG once
  • Single-season totals:
    • 35 goals twice
    • 25 goals five times
    • 20 goals eleven times
• Assists:
  • Leader-boards:
    • Led the league in Assists three times,
    • Top 5 eight times (1 of only 9 players ever)
    • Top 10 twelve times (1 of only 5 players ever – Howe, Gretzky, Oates, Francis
  • APG-leader-boards:
    • Led the league in APG twice,
    • Top 5 nine times (1 of only 8 players ever)
    • Top 10 twelve times (1 of only 5 players ever – Howe, Gretzky, Oates, Francis)
  • Single-season totals:
    • 90 assists twice (1 of only 5 players ever – Gretzky, Lemieux, Oates, Orr)
    • 60 assists eight times (1 of only 10 players ever)
    • 50 assists ten times (1 of only 16 players ever)
    • 40 assists fourteen times (1 of only 17 players ever)
• Points:
  • Leader-boards:
    • Led the league in Points once,
    • Top 5 five times,
    • Top 10 six times
  • PPG leader-boards:
    • Led the league in PPG once,
    • Top 5 three times,
    • Top 10 six times
  • Single season totals:
    • 120 points once,
    • 110 points twice,
    • 100 points three times,
    • 90 points four times,
    • 80 points seven times,
    • 70 points twelve times (1 of only 21 players ever)
    • 60 points fifteen times (1 of only 13 players ever)
    • 50 points seventeen times (1 of only 18 players ever)
• Top 10 in Plus Minus once
• All Star:
  • 1st Team All Star once,
  • 2nd Team All Star three times
  • 6 All Star Games
  • Three Stars:
    • Monthly 2nd Star twice
    • Weekly 1st Star thee times,
    • Weekly 2nd Star once
    • Weekly 3rd Star twice.

Joe Thornton’s Great Teams

• NHL:
  • Best Forward on one Final Four (’11 Sharks),
  • Top 3 Forward on one Runner up (’16 Sharks) and one Final Four (’10 Sharks)
  • Top 6 Forward on one Final Four (’19 Sharks)
• Olympics:
  • Role Player (by points) on one Olympic Champion (’10 Canada)
• World Cup:
  • Top 6 Forward (by points) on one World Cup Champion (’04 Canada),
  • Role Player (by points) on one World Cup Champion (’16 Canada)
• World Championships:
  • Best Player (by points) on one World Championship Runner Up (’05 Canada)
• WJCs:
  • Best Forward? (by points) on one World Junior Champion (’97 Canada)
• Spengler Cup:
  • Best Player? (by points) on one Spengler Cup Champion (’05 Davos)

I guess we can criticize Thornton’s potential inclusion because his most dominant period was so short lived, but I don’t know that we can ignore brief dominance plus longevity with consistency.