NHL Over/Under: 70 assists for Joe Thornton?

Let’s play a few games of NHL Over/Under. Next up: Can San Jose Sharks forward Joe Thornton finish with 70 assists for the third time in his career?

by Adam Gretz

Nov 28, 2013, 3:00 PM UTC

Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Joe Thornton has always been, for me, the type of player that will be appreciated far more after he's retired than he was during his playing days. Because of his team's perceived postseason shortcomings over the years (especially in San Jose) and his status as his team's best player, that has always resulted in some heavy criticism for being "unclutch" or not being able to get his team over the hump and take it to a championship level.

All of that noise makes it easy to overlook the fact that Thornton is one of the best players of his era and one of the best playmakers to ever play in the NHL.

Following their 3-2 shootout win over the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night, the Sharks are off to a 16-3-5 start over their first 24 games and Thornton, as usual, is one of the driving forces behind their success as he continues to play at an elite level at the age of 34. He's only scored two goals so far this season, but he is currently second in the league with 22 assists and is on a pace for nearly 75 on the season.

Thornton has already reached the 70-assist mark twice in his career (96 in 2005-06 and 92 in 2006-07) and if he can do it again this season he would become just the 17th player in NHL history to do it three times. It's a pretty exclusive club, with 15 of the members already taking up residence in the Hockey Hall of Fame. The only one that isn't currently in the Hall is Henrik Sedin, who is still active.

Working in his favor is that the Sharks are a high-powered offense and have no shortage of great finishers for him to set up. He gets plenty of power play time and he’s still a physical force that few teams in the league can match up with.

Not even when they try to put three players on him at once.