If the Sharks Lose in the first two rounds, is Thornton Traded?

[Money99]

Thoughts?

[mkharsh33]

Need a maybe button LOL!!

If they have another collapse you'd have to think they'll really consider all options. They have enough talent that they could move him for the pieces they need.

As a Blue Jackets fan, I'd love to see him play next to Nash, but that's just a pipedream. I still like Joe and think he's a phenomenal player. But sometimes things just don't work out in certain locales...

[DrJones]

Probably not. The salary cap makes it very difficult to get decent return on high-priced star players. Since Jumbo Joe has only one year left at 7.2M, he'd only appeal to win-now teams looking for a top flight passing centre. Who qualifies?

If Darryl Sutter wasn't such a bonehead and had received prospects/picks for Phaneuf instead of dead end cap cloggers, Calgary would make a lot of sense to me. In the East, I only see Jersey as a potential fit. Philly or Ottawa would jump at the chance to flip 5 years of Briere or Spezza for one year of Joe, but it'd be ridiculous of the Sharks to do so.

My guess is that San Jose rides it out with Joe through 2011. If he doesn't re-sign with the Sharks, I see St. Louis, Dallas, and Toronto as the front-runners, with Anaheim or even Detroit as dark horses.

[tyler289]

I could see a team like the Panthers taking on a guy like Thornton. Need offensive output, have cap space.

[SPTO]

It depends on what ownership does. I could definitely see a shakeup to the point that the GM is gone and at least one mainstay star player gets traded.

[DrJones]

Quote: Originally Posted by tyler289

I could see a team like the Panthers taking on a guy like Thornton. Need offensive output, have cap space.

They have cap space because they don't want to spend money. Trading for him would make no sense unless they signed him to a long-term deal, and even then, I can't see Florida giving away young/cheap assets. I suppose Thornton might take a boatload of cash to lie low on a non-contending team in a non-traditional hockey market, but few star players do that deliberately (Paul Kariya is the only one I can think of).

[Psyblast]

Quote: Originally Posted by DrJones

My guess is that San Jose rides it out with Joe through 2011. If he doesn't re-sign with the Sharks, I see St. Louis, Dallas, and Toronto as the front-runners, with Anaheim or even Detroit as dark horses.

Where's the cap space going to come from for Detroit to reel in someone like Thornton?

[Psyblast]

As for the original question, hard to say. If Thornton's face is popping up on milk cartons as the Sharks bow out early again, I'd say it's a real possibility. But if he actually carries his weight, but say, Nabokov pees down his leg and they get knocked out early, will they keep Thornton or (stupidly) scapegoat him?