Has Joe Thornton played his last game with the San Jose Sharks?

Joe Thornton is one of the most iconic players in San Jose Sharks history, but has he played his final game as a member of Teal Teal?

After a miraculous playoff run complete with unexpected triumph and unlikely conquest, the San Jose Sharks 2018-19 season ultimately ended in disappointing failure. But the Sharks will retool this offseason, looking to rebound and make another deep playoff run next season.

They may be down now, but if the Sharks have shown us one thing over the years it’s that they always find a way back into the limelight come the spring. That said, the team will have plenty of major decisions to make this offseason when it comes to their roster.

While much of the attention will be on the likes of Joe Pavelski and Erik Karlsson who will enter the summer as unrestricted free agents, another player who may be just as important to the organization is also set to hit the open market.

This is a player whose name has been synonymous with the San Jose Sharks franchise for well over a decade now. A player who ranks first among skaters not named Patrick Marleau in seemingly every conceivable statistical category in the Sharks record books.

This man is Joe Thornton.

The legendary Sharks center has seen better days but at the ripe age of 39 is still going strong. After missing the final few months of the 2017-18 season due to a knee injury, Thornton rallied back for a healthy 2018-19 campaign where he posted three-year highs in goals and total points scored.

Despite being relegated to the role of third-line center behind the likes of Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl, Thornton still played a major role in San Jose’s playoff success. The bearded one tied for fifth on the team with four postseason goals and was tied for fourth with six assists.

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Thornton’s two-goal performance — the first of his lengthy playoff career — helped ignite a Game 1 victory over the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference Finals. Of course, his performance would be for naught, but his individual success remains nonetheless.

Even as the game has seemingly tried to pass him by, he’s remained a steady and everpresent part of the Sharks organization. Younger and more agile players have entered the league in years since. Injuries have taken their toll on the man they call “Jumbo.”

But nothing has been able to halt his will to compete.

Thornton is as young at heart as he’s ever been, even if his legs no longer feel that way. The Sharks resident elder

statesman

skatesman — I’ll see myself out — has maintained his competitive spirit and his love for the Sharks has remained perpetual.

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So that begs the question, what does the future hold for Thornton? Will he ride off into the hockey sunset having completed a historic career chock full of awards and recognition? Or will he return to try and secure the one piece of hardware that has eluded him thus far in his legendary career?

A Stanely Cup.

It would be fitting for Thornton to end his NHL career hoisting the holy grail of hockey achievement in the air. Surrounded by his teammates who haven’t been a part of a Sharks team without him. In the city that has made him a larger-than-life icon because of 12 years of dedication.

But ultimately, Thornton could simply decide that he’s had enough. With the Sharks Stanley Cup window closing each season, there’s no guarantee that next year will be the year that the team finally wins the big one. It just might not be worth the physical toll on his body.

Regardless, Thornton has already made it clear that he has no intentions of playing again elsewhere. He will be a member of the Sharks until he finally decides to hang up his skates for the final time.

Could that final time have already happened or will Jumbo Joe return for yet another season with Team Teal? Nobody knows the answer to that question yet — likely not even Thornton himself.

But one thing’s for sure. There’s an empty slot on Thornton’s shelf of accomplishments waiting for the one trophy that he just hasn’t been able to capture in his illustrious 17-year career.

And it would be a darn shame if that slot was left forever vacant.