Joe Thornton enters the top 20

[end]

We are going to have to stop requiring Cup success in order to call players truly great.

When Gordie Howe played there were 120 jobs in the league and 20 guys could possibly win a Cup each
year.

When Bobby Orr played there were 240 jobs in the league and 20 guys could possibly win each year.

When Wayne Gretzky played there were 420 jobs in the league and 20 guys could possibly win each year.

When Sidney Crosby played there were 600 jobs in the league and 20 guys could possibly win each year.


Crosby winning 3 Cups in a 30 team league is actually a bigger achievement than Wayne winning 4 in a 21 team league.

 

[Barrie22]

If you want another still theoretically active older guy, Iginla is 0.837 -> 0.840.

81 games in a 22 year career. Just amazing.

 

[Mattb124]

[QUOTE="JoeThorntonsRooster, post: 137491477, member: 162591Watch game 7 of the Sharks against Predators and try to tell me with a straight face that Weber wills his team to victory while Thornton does nothing.[/QUOTE]

Weber's contribution in that game was embarrassing. I think he was overworked coming up to it and was playing on an empty tank, but he had the will but not the ability to do anything remotely relevant when it mattered most.

These hyperbolic statements about player's will are innane.

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

Playoff PPG after age 30

Joe Thornton .83
Jarome Iginla .80
Pavel Datsyuk .79
Pierre Turgeon .78
Adam Oates .75

You know he won't respond to anything that makes his terrible points look bad.

 

[Alwalys]

The Sharks ran into a stacked team that had not one, but two of the greatest defensemen of all time on one team and one that should have been higher in the standings if Selanne had not taken half the year off.

As for the Sharks, they had guys like Thomas Plihal and Lukas Kaspar who were regulars in their lineup that year. So yeah.

people dont realize those teams did that well solely because of thornton. they carried this kind of dead weight because thornton killed EVERYONE they faced.