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Thornton Situation Can't End Well

August 30, 2014, 10:33 AM ET [240 Comments]
Eklund
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Has an NHL team's decision to strip a player of the captaincy EVER had a positive outcome for the team and player alike? I am among those who are mystified by the San Jose Sharks' decision to extend Joe Thornton for three seasons and also remove the C from his sweater. Ditto the decision to remove the A from Patrick Marleau.

I get the fact that the Sharks want to make it clear that they expect Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture to be the focal points of the team with Thornton and Marleau moving to supporting roles (assuming they don't waive their no-movement clauses, which is a whole other can of worms right now). Perhaps they are trying to motivate Thornton, although the Sharks history of postseason heartbreak can hardly be pinned on Thornton's shoulders.

Whatever the case, this whole "we want a clean slate, and the captain and alternates will be determined before the season" party line has major potential to backfire. In a fair competition, Thornton is still the most qualified candidate to be the Sharks' captain. He has the pedigree. He has the right personality for that market. He's obviously still an elite playmaker on the ice.

Being around Philadelphia, I will never forget when the Flyers abruptly stripped the captaincy from Eric Lindros and showed a pregame video of the C being sewn on the sweater of new captain Eric Desjardins. It made an already bad internal situation even worse. While the relationship between Thornton and the Sharks isn't nearly as icy as things got between Lindros and the Flyers, the Sharks' attempt to motivate Thornton through humiliation is very risky and more likely to have a negative effect than a positive one.

Just my two cents on this holiday weekend in the U.S. and Canada. Stay tuned.
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