J0e Th0rnton

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=679090&navid=nhl:topheads That's great news to me as i love Little Joe. We currently have a cap hit of 4 mill for Pavs, and a 2 mill jump is not too bad. Coutures cap hit is currently around 2.9 million, jumping up 3 mill more. that's 5 million more than current to extend our 2 great young centers. We GOTTA find a way to buy out Havlat now. Grrr on him being ineligible for buyout(Please god let this change). Boyle 's contract comes off the books next season too and Demers is RFA. Havlat's contract makes up the difference in their extentions and he is borderline useless and made of glass. 6 million for our two younger centers with Thornton and Marleau still not signed is a sign that things will be changing next season. We can't keep both unless they agree to smaller contracts. The Salary cap is reported to stay this way for the next 2 years. they both currently have cap its of 6.9 and 7 million. Would they agree to dropping to equal? Joe T would as he has in the past and said "I am already rich, I just want us to be able to put the pieces together for a cup". Not sure about Marleau, who took more than expected to resign last time.

I am going to have this discussion in the Sharks section lol.

In fairness, he also got more goals just because the Penguins allow players a bit more offensive freedom than the stars and gave Neal a bit more PP time, but for the most part, I agree.

Pavelski is definitely important to our future, but as a Sharks fan, I have to wonder how you take Marleau over Thornton. They are the same age, and Marleau's production declines drastically when facing top checkers. Thornton is not on that much of a decline and always draws the opposing teams top checkers. His numbers have dropped because he has adopted the team philosophy and is playing a more complete game, but he is still the most dangerous shark on the ice. The season before last he was still tied for 3rd in Assists and 12th overall in points(The difference between 12th in points and 5th was 6 points), and last season everything was tight. The difference between his 12th in assists and 7th was 1 point. Marleau, while he has good wheels and a decent shot, just cannot carry a line like Joe can, nor can he tilt the ice in the direction of the opposing team. Thornton, no matter who is on his line, can make it dangerous. Always has. I am not big on +/-, but In this past playoff, Thornton was +5 when all other forwards were anywhere from 0 to -6 for a reason. The season before that when the Sharks got mopped by the blues, Thornton was the one forward you could not blame. The season before that, he was the best forward on any team up to the point they were eliminated by the Nucks. That and, unlike Marleau, Thornton actually took a discount. In no universe should Marleau be making the same money. at the time, everyone was all worried that the Market for a player like Joe was in the 8 million + range and that we were going to have to lose other key players who had contracts coming up(The Clowe's, Pavelski's, Vlasic's, etc), but he took the 7 million. most sharks fans were angry Marleau wanted the same money.

Thornton is still a great player and the ice tilts when he is on it into the offensive zone. Drawing the best defensive coverage. I have always felt Marleau is riding his coattails. I could stand losing Marleau. Thornton and the Sedins would not be on the same line Thornton can produce no matter who is on his line, and he often does. Losing Boyle is more problematic since we will need a new Offensive Dman if Demers has not developped more

The Sedin twins create quite a pickle for people who want to sign them. They go as a pair, or not at all according to the grapevine. You need 13+ million just to have a shot at 2 players....

Little Joe gets about a third of his points on the PP, usually less. He is a great player who works hard and is our top PK guy. Excellent in shootouts incidentally. I hate the thought of losing him.

Doug Wilson recently did a radio interview which hinted at a Torres/Pavelski/Havlat third line. I cannot say for sure if they will try to keep Hertl at center, or move him to wing(Assuming he has a good camp). He apparently plays all 3 forward positions very well. They love to spread the scoring out and I do not like the idea of kennedy on the first line soooo. Kennedy-Thornton-Burns (Interested to see how well Burns scores) Marleau-Couture-Havlat/Hertl? Kennedy-Pavelski-Torres Desjardsins - Sheppard - Wingels Burish? Burns is the guy who has me wondering. he was playing as a power forward, with a very unorthodox style and great skating as always. He scored 9 goals and 11 assists in 23 games at forward(17pts at ES). Not bad considering he is not used to the position.

Definitely. I missed Torres and since it came down to 1 goals in game 7, I think we could have pulled it off

Hmmm. With burns playing wing permanently now and Boyle looking older every year, i would be lying if I did not say i defense worried me. Patrecki is a bust prospect good sir I was high on him for years and watched his developpment, or lack thereof. Konrad Abeltshauser I saw play all year for the Moose. I liked what i saw but it seems others do not agree with me

Which joe? Jumbo Joe T or Little Joe P? Jumbo Depends on the year. Maybe around a bit less than half. Joe's strength tends to be his ES play keeping the ice titled the other way, but he is not as much of a PP threat anymore since he rarely shoots. Granted this past half season, half of his points came from the PP. But the season before that, Only 23 of his 77 points were PP points. The year before that, 33 of his 70 points were power play. The year before that, 29 of his 89 points were PP. If it is Little Joe you mean, Then no, not usually.

From the Sharks perspective. This year is certainly the last chance for this Corps. The following are UFA Thornton has always resigned at a discount. In the days when second rate players like Drury and Gomez were rawing 7 million dollar contracts, and top talent like Ovechkin, Crosby and Malkin were drawing closer to 9 million, Thornton was still in Hart Discussions and in the top 10 in scoring. And he signed an extension for less than Gomez to stay with the team. A lot of Shark fans were surprised at how low he signed for because talk was we could not keep him and Marleau. But he told the media he signed so low so that they could keep other members of the team and put together a winner. Hope SJ keeps him for his loyalty, and that he resigns for around 6 million a year. his contracts have always been short, 3 year affairs. He never cared for length of contracts like others did. But he does want no movement clauses and i suspect he still has a few more top seasons left in him. Patrick Marleau: Not quite the same scenario. He signed for more than I thought he was worth in his last contract, and he is a, well, point leach. He has skills, but overall he is not the game breaker Joe is. If he stays, it better be at a bigger discount. Plays wing or Center Joe Pavelski: Yikes. He is up already. If 20-50 nets you 4 Million+ a year, what do you give to a 30/60 who plays with nobody on the 3rd line and is exceptional defensively? Definitely up for a raise. And with Couture deservingly extended...... Dan Boyle: Stick a fork in him. He is done. Just kidding However, his mobility is definitely not what it used to be and his age is showing more and more every season. He will not be getting that kind of contract again. He is average defensively and was one of the best offensively, but that time has passed.

Figured we could use a thread to track people on the last year of their contracts this season. We can remove them as players resign contracts, discuss if they are likely to resign with their current teams at a discount or test the Market, if they are due for a raise or have dropped in value, etc Ill cut and paste it from Capgeek Edit: I stopped it at guys who make less than 2 million. Heatley, Dany » Gaborik, Marian » Vanek, Thomas » Thornton, Joe » Marleau, Patrick » Lundqvist, Henrik » Bouwmeester, Jay » Boyle, Dan » Stastny, Paul » Phaneuf, Dion » Miller, Ryan » Sedin, Henrik » Sedin, Daniel » Timonen, Kimmo » Cammalleri, Mike » Iginla, Jarome » Kiprusoff, Miikka » Markov, Andrei » Alfredsson, Daniel » Kessel, Phil » Pominville, Jason » Gionta, Brian » Hemsky, Ales » Legwand, David » Pitkanen, Joni » Jokinen, Olli » Whitney, Ray » Brodeur, Martin » Hiller, Jonas » Michalek, Milan » Callahan, Ryan » Pavelski, Joe » Roy, Derek » Meszaros, Andrej » Zidlicky, Marek » Jagr, Jaromir » Quincey, Kyle » Halak, Jaroslav » Salo, Sami » Orpik, Brooks » Koivu, Saku » Hjalmarsson, Niklas » Dubnyk, Devan » Stajan, Matt » Schultz, Nick » Mitchell, Willie » Tallinder, Henrik » Bolland, Dave » Steen, Alexander » Girardi, Dan » Robidas, Stephane » Nabokov, Evgeni » Seidenberg, Dennis » Ericsson, Jonathan » Moulson, Matt » Phillips, Chris » Jokinen, Jussi » Setoguchi, Devin » Vrbata, Radim » Samuelsson, Mikael » Klesla, Rostislav » Ott, Steve » Greene, Matt » Kulemin, Nikolai » Morris, Derek » Crawford, Corey » Downie, Steve » Stempniak, Lee » Cogliano, Andrew » Niskanen, Matt » Smyth, Ryan » Nikitin, Nikita » Moss, David » Bertuzzi, Todd » Bouchard, Pierre-Marc » Khabibulin, Nikolai » Vokoun, Tomas » Penner, Dustin » Sarich, Cory » Emelin, Alexei » Elliott, Brian »

Does anyone else think the preds would be a good fit for him? They have the cap space. Legwand's contract is up at the end of this season. And they need a boost at forward.

haha. Well, I would take Grabs on the Sharks. Underrated and badly misused by coach

Holy crap. I did not know you were spasmic Dan. WASSAP!

Probablt the same sports Phych he went to see after he scored the winning goal for team US in the world juniors. To be honest, i thought he would never recover from that

Damnit!I had a section of my first blog dedicated to his antics

ill throw in some reasoning tomorrow after work. However, there is some merit into keeping players familiar with each other on the same lines. JT and Couture play on different lines because the coach likes to roll 4 lines and spread things out evenly. hurts their individual stats but lets them keep the pressure on. but when they hook up for a PP, they are deadly. I also razz Nash a bit because he is often Lazy and unmotivated, but he always seems to get motivated for Team Canada and when he is putting in the effort...... That and Him and Thornton have proven to have very good chemistry.

kinda like the gum from "Wacky cards"

I'd still take him in a heartbeat

I dunno. Sergei Fedorov defensively, was better and when he actually put in the effort in the regular season, could put up the points(Fedorov was a bit lazy in the RS though). Bryan Trottier did not have to give up his higher end offense to be one of the top defensive centers in the league. And, well, Bobby Clarke often gets mentioned as the best two way forward as well. Yzerman is definitely up there. His 95-96 season under Bowman was amazing. 36 goals and 95 points and terrific two way hockey. 3rd for the Selke. Fedorov won it lol. Hell, that was a great season for all the red wings. Konstantinov, Lidstrom and Coffey all were 4th, 5th and 6th for the Norris. The team had friggin 131 points and the 2nd best PP in the league, #1 PK in the league

If only Ulf Samuelsson had not ruined Cam Neely's career with that knee on knee. Hell, the bruins might have even won the cup that year if not for that hit making Neely so useless for the rest of the series.

I thought the same, although i did not think he got knocked off the puck quite so easily. musta caught different games than you I am hoping the sharks sic Larry Robinson on him at training camp. He is our new defenseman coach and has a lot of similarities. Big Bird also was a pretty timid big guy until he was taught to get himself mean and throw that big body around