San Jose Sharks to retire Joe Thornton’s number 19 in 2024-25

Thornton will become the second player in franchise history to receive the honor, joining longtime teammate Patrick Marleau, whose No. 12 was retired in February 2023.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to play in the National Hockey League for 24 seasons,” Thornton said. “But when I came to San Jose, it felt like I was truly home. I fell in love with the area and the people, and I had the best years of my career wearing the Sharks crest.”

Drafted first overall by the Boston Bruins in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, Thornton spent seven seasons in Beantown, three as captain. However, after the first quarter of the 2005-06 regular season, in which Thornton had 33 points in 24 games, he was traded to the Sharks in exchange for Marco Sturm, Wayne Primeau and Brad Stuart.

He would go on to rack up 92 points in 58 games with the Sharks after the trade, finishing with 96 assists and 125 points to win the Art Ross Trophy and the Hart Trophy. He is the only player in league history to win both awards while playing for two different teams during the season.

Thornton would have nine 70+ point seasons with the Sharks and help them be one of the best teams in the Western Conference through the 2010s, consistently making it to four Western Conference Finals (2010, 2011, 2016 and 2019) and making a Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 2015-16, losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games. It was the first time in franchise history they had ever made it to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Thornton went on to have one of the most productive careers in NHL history, retiring with 1,539 points, 13th on the NHL’s all-time list. His 1,109 assists rank seventh on the NHL’s all-time list and his 1,714 career games played, with the Bruins, Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers, are the sixth-most in league history.