Jumbo Joe Thornton: Can Fans Leave Him Alone?

Now that the Sharks are having all kinds of playoff success, you’d figure the “Joe Thornton sucks,” kind of talk would take a back seat. Not necessarily.

Instead of slamming Thornton directly, now people across the Internet and sports news are simply saying that Joe Pavelski is much better and Thornton still blows it in the playoffs. Give the guy a break already.

As a Shark, Jumbo Joe has 50 play-off games under his belt and over those 50 contests he has 43 points, almost a point per game.

However, he only has eight goals, what do you expect? Joe Thornton isn’t a goal scorer. He’s a distributor. The only two players in the league that rival him for the best pure passing center in the league are Henrik Sedin and Nicklas Backstrom.