J0e Th0rnton

http://capgeek.com/sharks

Joe gets most his points on the PP doesn't he?

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.

Jeez, Craig MacTavish was able to get a player AND a pick for Shawn Horcoff, and he didn't have to cover any salary. Two separate deals. of course, but Grabovski's in the prime of his career, and Horcoff has tons of miles on him.

JR

haha.

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

@Scorpion Scorps! Is that you? Long time no talky! <<Used to be Spasmatic Dan, we went to McDonald's that one time with Wingsnut back in the hockeyforum days...assuming you are the same Scorpion and not some imposter!

Welcome!

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

This is Link Gaetz and, oh man, this is going to be a long post.

DISCLAIMER - It's almost impossible to tell his full story, so I'm sure others here will have a story I either forgot to mentionr or didn't know about.

-Gaetz showed up for the 1988 draft with a pair of black eyes from a bar fight he'd had against four men the night before. Minnesota GM, Lou Nanne, later said that he should drafted a lawyer with his third pick. Legend has it that Gaetz brough two cases of beer to the draft, but nobody knows for sure.

-One of his favorite things to do was intercept team mail in the management office. He would open any letter addressed to a rookie, and if there was cash in it from back home, he'd steal it.

-Once stole his roommate's TV, then trashed the room and took a whizz on the other guy's bed. Arrested and spent three days in jail.

-While playing in the ECHL in 1993, Gaetz decided to take the opposing team's net during warmups. According to Wheeling Thunderbirds head coach Jim Bermingham “This guy Link Gaetz was a monster man, and crazy. I remember him skating down into our end during warm-up while we were taking shots on goal and just taking our net and pushing it down the ice back down to his end!!” Nobody retrieved the net and Bermingham had his goalie take shots in the crease.

-While playing for the Nashville Knights, he was driving to a party one night. The car in front of him tried to go through the gate slowly so Gaetz couldn't follow him, and this caused Gaetz to seriously lose it. Rammed the car from behind, beat the holy hell out of the other driver and casually walked into the party. The cops ended up being called, and he had to spend the night in jail after coach Nick Fotiu refused to bail him out. Gaetz was apparently still hot, because when he was released the next morning, he went straight over to the Knights practice facility and sucker punched Fotiu. The team cut Gaetz immediately.

-By 1994, Gaetz went too far for the Sharks liking, and he was traded to Edmonton. Dean Lombardi just didn't know what to do with him anymore. Gaetz had held a group of his teammates hostage at a party, terrorizing anybody that attempted to leave. Fotiu was called again, and he came to break it up. "I said, 'C'mon, Link, let's call it a night,' " Fotiu says. "So I grabbed the bottle out of his hand, and Link blew. We went toe-to-toe in the living room. Tumbling over couches, the whole bit. Finally, the cops showed and took him away. Five in the morning, he comes over to my house and wants to fight. I say no. Eight o'clock, he comes back. He wants to go to breakfast."

-Later that year, he moved on to that hockey hotbed of Mexico City, playing for the Toreros of the NAL. Instigated a full brawl which finally ended with the opposing goalie spearing Gaetz in the forehead. The first shift of the next game, Gaetz was thrown out after pulling another guy's hair, and decdied that getting loaded was the right thing to do. The night ended with him and some teammates going to Denny's, where he terrified the waitress and ran into the kitchen and began flipping burgers. The police were called and he spent the night in jail. The team cut him the next day.

-Also in 1994, Gaetz played 8 games for the Sacremento River Rats in Roller Hockey International. He was thrown off the team after he beat the snot out of a team trainer.

-In 1995, Gaetz was cooling his heel after fighting Sasha Lakovic, and decided he wasn't done yet. He climbed the glass and fought Lakovic some more in the other penalty box. Suspended. Later that year, Gaetz broke Frank LaScala's arm with a viscous two-hander. He was suspended for the remainder of the year.

-In 1997, Gaetz was playing for Madison in the United League, and his coach, Dave Schultz, couldn't stand him. Gaetz constantly showed up at the rink drunk and in no condition to play. Was thrown out of the league after initiating a stick swinging incident from his own bench. Schultz must have been glad to be rid of him.

-In 1998, the Anchorage Aces, over in the WCHL, wanted him to play, but the league made them pay a $40,000 bond before he could join up, payable if he caused any problems... Didn't take long. Eleven games into the season, he beat the crap out of another guy and then wouldn't stop, even while the player was laying on the ice. The ref and the linesmen had to tear him off and when they did that, Gaetz bit the ref on the league. Gaetz was gone and so was Anchorage's $40,000.

-He moved on to the Toledo Storm in the ECHL. He showed completely out of shape physically and mentally, and got rid of him after only 1 game.

-In 1999, while playing for Huntsville, Gaetz was arrested for public intoxication and resisting arrest, after brawling with the cops. His bail was set at $10,000 but bumped up after he said "Why don't you make it $100,000, bitch?" to Judge Barbara Hale. She reduced it $5,000 after the weekend was over.

-Later in '99, Gaetz moved on the bustling metropolis of Eston (population: 1,031) to play for the Ramblers in the (get this) Saskatchewan Wild Goose League. In his first shift he recorded 68 PIM, a record in that league and probably just about any other. He was later thrown off the team, and legend has it that no bar owner in the area will allow him back in their business. In his time in Eston, he played 11 games, with no points and 112 PIM.

-After playing a handful games in the fighters' paradise of the Quebec Senior League, Gaetz was signed in 2005 to his final pro contract, with the Thetford Mines. He dressed for one final time , wasn't getting any ice time, so Gaetz said "To hell with it" and left during the second intermission to eat a hamburger from the concession stand. He was suspended for the rest of the season, and that ended his pro career.

-Summer 2005: "Battle of the Hockey Enforcers". Promoter Darryl Wolski put together a show which would feature nothing but goons going at it, and he was able to get Gaetz to sign on. He had one fight and then withdrew due to concussion-like symptoms.

JR

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

This is the list of players invited to summer Olympic camp for team Canada.

Goalies: Corey Crawford, Braden Holtby, Roberto Luongo, Carey Price, Mike Smith

Defensemen: Karl Alzer, Jay Bouwmeester, Dan Boyle, Drew Doughty, Mike Green, Dan Hamhuis, Travis Hamonic, Duncan Keith, Kris Letang, Marc Methot, Dion Phaneuf, Alex Pietrangelo, Brent Seabrook, Marc Staal, P.K. Subban, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Shea Weber

Forwards: Patrice Bergeron, Jeff Carter, Logan Couture, Sidney Crosby, Matt Duchene, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Getzlaf, Claude Giroux, Taylor Hall, Chris Kunitz, Andrew Ladd, Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand, Rick Nash, James Neal, Corey Perry, Mike Richards, Patrick Sharp, Eric Staal, Jordan Staal,Martin St. Louis, Steven Stamkos, John Tavares, Joe Thornton, Jonathan Toews

If you were organizing the team which 12 forwards, 6 d-men and 2 goalies would you choose? Who would play together on lines?

If you think others not invited to camp should be on the team, add them and explain why.

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.

@flyercanuck Man, those gum sticks were brutal, lost their flavour in 4-5 chews!

kinda like the gum from "Wacky cards"

I'd still take him in a heartbeat

I agree fc, it was kinda groundbreaking at the time when Tikhonov heaped all the praise on Gainey. Don't agree he was the best in the world at the time, but he was certainly not appreciated by North Americans as to what he brought to each and every game. It was special to see one of the great minds of hockey bestowing some much deserved recognition on the best 2 way player in the league, maybe ever. Best 2 way player ever IMHO was Stevie Y under Bowman, after the lightbulb went on and he gave up some offense (which was still outstanding) to be a all round ace. He was still potting 50 goals and 100 pt seasons, but backchecked like a man possessed. That's when the Wings finally started to win the Cups, and it was not a coincidence.

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.

@Haliax With proper and strict coaching/management (See Dominic Ducharme - Halifax's Coach) Frk's temper will be kept in check. When it wasn't, he was benched, and he got the message quickly. His backchecking isn't the greatest, but that was mostly due to his lack of speed. It's much better then what it was and his skating has greatly improved. Playing with MacKinnon and Drouin really helped develop that aspect of the game for Frk.

@J0e Th0rnton KA is a great teammate who will be loved by his teammates and fans wherever he goes. He doesn't play physical at all which is a bit disappointing considering his size. He isn't the strongest on the puck/does get knocked off of it frequently. He can also drive you crazy on the PP with his fake winding and passing it off, only to retrieve the puck again to fake wind and pass it off. However he does rack up the PP points when he actually shoots off/passes it to Drouin/Frk/MacKinnon. His strengths are his puck moving ability and positioning. He's an above average skater who likes to rush the puck, but will have to work on his skating more if he wants to make it to the NHL. He's more of a project player but a guy who will give 110% to be the best he can be.

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

Good to hear positive comments about the guy from someone with first hand viewing experience. From what I've heard he might have to work on controlling his temper a bit better and that he isn't all that persistent on the back check. That is something that can be worked on though, and Detroit seems to be pretty good at helping prospects get better defensively.

Yeah, Frk had a pretty darn good season I must say. The guy has a hell of a shot.

@Dgill

Forgot to ask you, what did you think of Konrad Abeltshauser this season with the Moose?

I forgot he was in the Sharks system and was given a contract this season. I kinda want to see how he does at training camp

General Manager Craig MacTavish announces the #Oilers have agreed to terms with Sam Gagner (@89SGagner) on a 3-year contract.

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers)

July 22, 2013

Hmmm, not sure if I consider him worth that much. your thoughts Oil fans?

Two breakout years in a row... I like the sound of that.

JR

you know, I never noticed how many points he scored this season? I guess it is because it was not a full season, but damn.

@Polaris922

And done!

I actually voted for him in earnest.

Taylor Hall wins 2014! Breakout tear for him in year another non playoff year for the Oil!

Nice one JR.

@Polaris922@JR Ewing

McSorely knew Brashear's unique fighting style would keep him from really landing bombs on him

Brashear's fighting style, while difficult to explain, is fortunately, easy to illustrate

Nathan MacKinnon wasn't a brave pick, he was the right pick and the best pick. MacKinnon has proven when given the proper opportunity his game elevates beyond others. Their defense was and still is terrible, but Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay and Calgary were just as equally bad, if not worse. Tampa Bay and Florida each passed on Jones as well, two teams with more goals against then Colorado. You think one of those teams would have selected Jones for the "immediate" help he would provide, no?

Roy has already stated that MacKinnon will be centering the third line with Jamie McGinn and Steve Downie. MacKinnon playing anywheres but center is a complete waste of his skill and speed that he provides. O'Reilly will likely be centering the second line as Stastny will be shipped/has lost centering duties due to more talented players in the system.

Figured you were stoked to have him. great run for the moose

I liked Drouin a bit more, but Mack was solid and skates like the wind.

The Wings seem to have an obsession with clearing a roster spot to resign Cleary, I have been hoping we sign Murray instead because we need another Swede....

If you need a PK specialist. At ES, Murray's Skating is league worst and guys use him for Pylon practice.

He is a recipe for swedish meatballs and pain meds in front of the net and in the corners though.

Ahhh Doug Murray. I have to say I loved the guy. he could throw monsterous hits and nobody ever wanted to fight him because he killed anyone. Even heavyweights. The guy is a physical tank. He murders people in front of the net and in the corners.

Unfortunately, that tank has some terrible speed and maneuverability. Pk Specialist, or bottom 6/7

Speaking of Dirty, this is for you

RIP Floormaster. But it was a fun time!