Joseph Eric Thornton (born July 2, 1979) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre. He played for the Boston Bruins, San Jose Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected first overall by the Bruins in the 1997 NHL entry draft and went on to play seven seasons with the club, three as its captain. During the 2005–06 season, he was traded to the Sharks. Splitting the campaign between the two teams, he received the Art Ross and Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's leading point-scorer and most valuable player, respectively, becoming the only player in NHL history to win either award in a season played for multiple teams and the only player to date to win either award as a Shark. Thornton went on to play another 14 seasons with the Sharks, including four seasons as team captain and a run to the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals. Thornton was the last active NHL player and the last big 4 North American sports player to have played in the 1990s.
Thornton's on-ice vision, strength on the puck, deft passing ability and power forward style of play led to him becoming one of the league's premier centres and playmakers. He is widely regarded as one of the best passers of all time, and he is one of only 14 players with 1,000 NHL assists. His nickname "Jumbo Joe" is a nod to his large stature and to Jumbo the elephant, who died in St. Thomas, Ontario, where Thornton was raised. Thornton was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2025.
Playing career
Amateur career Thornton grew up playing minor hockey in his hometown of St. Thomas, Ontario, for the St. Thomas Travellers. He played "AA" hockey for the Travelers minors and in peewee won an Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) championship in 1992–93. His Bantam year was the first for the newly created "AAA" Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs organization, and Thornton joined the "AAA" Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs of the Minor Hockey Alliance of Ontario for the 1993–94 season. The creation of this organization led to the St. Thomas Minor Hockey Association to compete at the "A" level. During his bantam year, he appeared in six games for the Junior B St. Thomas Stars of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA), scoring eight points in six games as a 14-year-old. The following season, Thornton joined the Stars full-time and reeled off 104 points over 50 games as a 15-year-old, and was subsequently drafted second overall in the 1995 OHL draft to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds behind Daniel Tkaczuk, who was selected by the Barrie Colts.
Beginning in 1995–96, Thornton began a two-year career in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with the Greyhounds. He posted a 76-point season in his first year, earning both OHL and CHL Rookie of the Year honours. The following season, Thornton improved to 41 goals and 122 points, second overall in League scoring behind Marc Savard of the Oshawa Generals, and was named to the OHL second All-Star team.
Professional (1997–2022) Boston Bruins (1997–2005) After his second OHL season, Thornton was selected first overall in the 1997 NHL entry draft by the Boston Bruins. Thornton suffered a fractured arm in the Bruins' pre-season but made their roster for the 1997–98 campaign. He scored his first career NHL goal on December 3, 1997, in a 3–0 win against the Philadelphia Flyers. Bruins head coach Pat Burns was measured in his deployment of Thornton, using him almost exclusively on the fourth line and making him a regular healthy scratch. Averaging eight minutes and five seconds of ice time per game over the course of the season, he registered three goals and seven points in 55 games as a rookie. In the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs, Thornton went scoreless in six games.
In 1998–99, Thornton saw significantly more ice time, averaging 15 minutes and 20 seconds per game, and improved to 41 points in 81 games, as well as a 9-point effort in 11 playoff games.
Thornton continued to build into a key player in the Bruins' line-up, increasing his points total in each of the following two campaigns. Prior to the 2002–03 season, he was named team captain, succeeding Jason Allison, who was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in 2001; the captaincy position was vacant for a full season after Allison's departure. In his first season as team captain, Thornton recorded 68 points over 66 games. The following year, he notched his first career 100-point season with 36 goals, a career-high, and 65 assists. He ranked third in NHL point-scoring, behind Peter Forsberg of the Colorado Avalanche and Markus Näslund from the Vancouver Canucks.
Thornton's production declined to 73 points in 77 games in the 2003–04 campaign. He suffered a fractured right cheekbone in a fight with New York Rangers centre Eric Lindros during a game on January 19, 2004. The two power forwards fought after Lindros cross-checked Thornton in the head. The injury required surgery, keeping him out of the line-up for three games. The 2003–04 campaign also saw a drop in Thornton's goal-scoring production that has never since rebounded; his last 30-goal season came during the 2002–03 season.
During the 2004–05 NHL lock-out, Thornton went abroad to play for HC Davos of the Swiss National League A (NLA). He played on a line with fellow NHL players Rick Nash and Niklas Hagman, helping HC Davos to win the League championship and the Spengler Cup. Nash and Thornton have subsequently kept in contact with HC Davos and their longtime coach Arno del Curto; Thornton returned to train with the club for up to a month each summer.
Ahead of the NHL resumption in 2005–06, Thornton became a restricted free agent in summer 2005. Negotiations on a new contract were strained: Thornton was reportedly unhappy with the direction of the Bruins franchise, and upset with criticism of his play in the Bruins' early playoff exit in 2004. Boston's front office was apparently unhappy with Thornton's leadership style and for not raising his level of play during the playoffs. Nevertheless, Thornton re-signed with Boston on August 11, 2005, to a three-year, $20 million contract.
Thornton began the 2005–06 season strongly (33 points in 24 games), making him the team's leading scorer by a substantial margin, but the Bruins were struggling in the standings.
San Jose Sharks (2005–2020) On November 30, 2005, Thornton was traded to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for forwards Marco Sturm, Wayne Primeau and defenceman Brad Stuart. Mike O'Connell, the Bruins general manager who traded Thornton, stated in June 2011 that he "would still make the trade", and that it was "satisfying" that Boston had won the Stanley Cup before Thornton's new team had. Despite O'Connell's stance, the trade is widely considered to be a lopsided deal in favor of the Sharks. Upon arriving in San Jose, Thornton improved the Sharks' fortunes and found instant chemistry with winger Jonathan Cheechoo. During the absence of usual alternate captain Alyn McCauley from the San Jose line-up, Thornton donned the "A" for the first time as a Shark in a game against the Phoenix Coyotes on March 30, 2006, and wore the "A" whenever McCauley was out of the line-up for the remainder of the season. Tallying 92 points in 58 games with the Sharks after the trade, Thornton finished the season with 29 goals, a league-leading 96 assists and 125 points total to earn the Art Ross Trophy as the league's top scorer. He became the first player to win the award while splitting the season between two teams. Due to Thornton's success, Cheechoo also enjoyed a career-season, winning the Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL's top goal-scorer with 56 goals. However, in the 2006 playoffs, Thornton was once again criticized for his play, as his production decreased to two goals and seven assists for nine points in 11 games as the Sharks were ousted in the second round by the eighth seeded Edmonton Oilers. In the off-season, Thornton was honoured for his regular season play and was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league' regular season MVP to go with his Art Ross Trophy. He is the only player in NHL history to win the Hart Trophy while playing for two different teams in the same season.
Thornton began the 2006–07 season being awarded a permanent alternate captaincy, but struggled in the first half of the season while suffering from a toe injury that did not heal until January 2007. After recovering, Thornton enjoyed a productive second half, battling Pittsburgh Penguins centre Sidney Crosby for a second-consecutive scoring title late in the year, eventually finishing six points behind Crosby with 114. With a league-leading 92 assists, Thornton became only the third player in NHL history to record back-to-back 90-assist seasons, joining Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. Thornton began the 2007 playoffs by recording six assists in the Sharks' first-round series against the fourth-seeded Nashville Predators, who the Sharks upset in five games. Advancing to the second round against the top-seeded Detroit Red Wings, he recorded a goal and three assists in the first three games of the series. However, Thornton was effectively neutralized by Red Wings defenceman Nicklas Lidström, for the remainder of the series as the Sharks were eliminated in six games. Thornton ended the playoffs with a goal and 10 assists for 11 points in all 11 games.
In the 2007 off-season, Thornton signed a three-year contract extension worth US$21.6 million. In the 2007–08 season, the Sharks finished as the second seed in the West and Thornton finished with 96 points (29 goals and 67 assists) all 82 games to finish fifth in NHL scoring and first on the Sharks. He also recorded two goals and eight assists for 10 points in all 13 playoff games in the 2008 playoffs, which saw the Sharks defeat the seventh-seeded Calgary Flames in seven games before falling in six games against the fifth-seeded Dallas Stars.
In 2008–09, Thornton was named captain of the Western Conference for the 2009 NHL All-Star Game in Montreal. He completed the season with 86 points (25 goals, 61 assists) to help the Sharks win the Presidents' Trophy as the regular season champions. In the 2009 playoffs, he recorded a goal and four assists in six games as the Sharks were upset in six games in the first round by the eighth-seeded Anaheim Ducks.
In September 2009, before the start of the 2009–10 season, the Sharks acquired Dany Heatley in a three-player trade with the Ottawa Senators that sent Thornton's struggling former linemate Jonathan Cheechoo, along with left-winger Milan Michálek and a second-round draft pick to the Ottawa Senators. Thornton, Heatley, and Patrick Marleau were joined on the Sharks' top line and enjoyed immediate offensive success together. The trio helped the Sharks to one of their best-ever regular seasons in franchise history. Although the line's production slowed down in the second half of the season, all three Sharks players finished in the League's top 15 in point-scoring. Thornton's 89 points ranked eighth, while Marleau and Heatley finished 14th and 15th in League scoring with 83 and 82 points, respectively. The Sharks entered the 2010 playoffs as the top seed in the Western Conference for the second-consecutive year and the Presidents' Trophy runner-up behind the Washington Capitals. After advancing past the eighth-seeded Colorado Avalanche in six games and fifth-seeded Detroit Red Wings in five games in the first two rounds, the Sharks were eliminated by the second-seeded and eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Finals in a four game sweep. Thornton finished the playoffs with a career-high 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in all 15 games.