The thing about Joe Thornton not being on the sharks anymore, is that he was the last connection to a ton of fans days when they cheered for the Sharks as a kid/teenager. I was 16 when he got traded to SJ in 05, so Thornton has been in my life for a little less than half of it /1

That’s a long time to watch someone who had such massive appeal in the sport. He won the Hart as the single best player in the NHL, and he was a Shark. He put up mind bending passes, and he was a Shark. He dropped unreal quotes and looked like the ultimate guy for a hang /2

And he did it while he was a Shark. Thornton was our superstar, someone other fan bases would respect. As many Marleaus, and Pavelskis, and Nolan’s came around, no one could touch what Thornton meant to Sharks as a player and superstar. That was our dude, not yours /3

And that feeling of, wow we are lucky to be able to cheer for this guy on our favourite team, started for a lot of us when we were young. Nolan is my noted fav player ever, but Thornton is an incredibly close second. He bridged the gap after Nolan left /4

Which extended my ability to cheer for the Sharks like I was still my 11 year old self. He was the connection to what it was like to be a kid watching hockey again. It’s 2020 now, and all of us have grown up, but Thornton remained, and our childhood hockey fan /5

Inside of us never died so long as he was here. So long as Joe kept coming back, we got another year of watching a real life living legend, one that stretched back as far as a lot of us were fans. And now it’s over, Thornton is gone and it didn’t feel like 15 years. /6

Our last piece of childhood Sharks hockey has finally left. What a ride.

Long live Joe Thornton.