Few players in the NHL want to win a Stanley Cup more than Joe Thornton, so you can imagine his disappointment at not being dealt to a contender before Monday's trade deadline.
The San Jose Sharks made a couple moves Monday, including a trade that sent veteran forward Patrick Marleau to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a conditional third-round draft pick. Thornton and Marleau were taken first and second overall, respectively, in the 1997 NHL Draft, and they are two of the best players in league history who've never won a Stanley Cup.
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Marleau will now get a shot in Pittsburgh, but Thornton is staying put on a Sharks team that has no chance of making the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, let alone win a championship.
Thornton wasn't shy about expressing his disappointment about what happened at the trade deadline. Here's what he told Kevin Kurz of The Athletic on Tuesday:
So, why didn't Thornton get traded? The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun explained in his trade deadline notebook:
The problem when it came to Thornton is that the teams who did show interest — and there was interest from three or four teams — did not match the teams that Jumbo would have signed off for in his quest to win a Cup.
So no, as far as I can tell, Boston, Colorado and Vegas were not among the teams that phoned on Thornton. I think the teams that did just weren’t surefire Cup contenders, so it didn’t present the allure for Thornton. He was always going to be picky, as he should be.
Boston Bruins
This makes a lot of sense. It's one thing to want to play for a contender, but these teams actually need to have interest and a fit for Thornton for any deal to materialize.
Thornton going back to the Bruins, with whom he started his Hall of Fame career more than 20 years ago, would've been awesome and made for a fun story. The Bruins arguably are the favorite to win the Stanley Cup and enter Tuesday with the league's best record. It's hard to see a fit for Thornton on Boston's roster, though, so it's not terribly surprising they didn't make a trade for him.
Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Charlie Coyle are firmly cemented as the team's top three centers, and Sean Kuraly is able to be effective in that role on the fourth line. Does it make sense to play Thornton on the fourth line? No, not really.
Thornton will be an unrestricted free agent if unsigned July 1, so he doesn't have to wait too much longer for an opportunity to pick a Stanley Cup contender that will help him chase his first championship ring.