However, he hasn’t had much playoff success. The word “choker” has been tossed around once or twice… per minute. Most of that comes from his time in Boston, when he was a rookie/playing with broken ribs, but that really doesn’t matter to a populace who bases their entire opinion on a single (post) season (see: Datsyuk, Pavel). He’s averaged almost a PPG pace since coming to SJ in the playoffs despite the team never going past the second round, but that doesn’t matter, apparently.

Anyways, for some reason, the slightly crazy good folks over at HF Boards posted a few threads on Thornton, largely because he’s been dominating this year and pretty much a lock for Team Canada, to some posters’ chagrin. And then the three or so threads dedicated to him exploded, until we were left with this sight:

Is Joe Thornton the new Rich Peverley? Doubt it, if only because the denizens at HF Boards need their whipping boy, but still.

Note: Most of these threads have been deleted already, and any poster who creates another pointless Joe Thornton thread will be banned for at least 30 days, maybe even permanently. Just the man trying to keep Joe Thornton down, but I’d do as they say. Because really, where else can you propose Kaberle, Hagman, and Toskala for Bobby Ryan, Giguere, a 1st and a prospect and be completely serious?

I have no pictures, because going around campus taking pictures of random people would make me look crazy, so allow me to use half-assed photoshops to make my point.

The first look-alike I came across was a dead ringer for Giants pitcher Matt Cain, only shorter, thinner, and more flamboyant.

to

Second is this guy I saw walking around campus once at night. Looked exactly like Patrick Marleau, only with lots of beer. Well, it’s mainly the monster eyebrows that make him look like Marleau, but still.

to

The last one I saw isn’t exactly a doppelganger, it’s more of an unholy union. You know Conan’s whole “If they had kids” segment? Yeah, it’s like that.

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…

 

There is a man out there that looks like this. Be afraid. Be very afraid.*

*Note: Okay, so that’s not exactly what the guy looks like, but it is an uncanny resemblance. A bit of Matt Barkley in there as well.

Hmmm… Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, and Rob Blake as the only three Sharks featured, all with the A on their respective chests. Joe Thornton featured isn’t surprising, since he’s pretty much the only guy besides Dan Boyle that the Eastern Conference knows. But Blake and Pavelski? While they might be heard of, Blake especially, they aren’t the “big names” on the team like guys like Boyle, Marleau, and Nabokov.

Now, its not so much a surprise to see Thornton with the A, since he’s never not had it, but Pavelski and Blake are surprising. I mean, they didn’t have the As outside of a few games during the season when the regular/replacement As were out, so picking those two pictures out of the hundreds and maybe even thousands of other, similar pictures without any letters is interesting.

Is this an indication of who will be the leadership group for this season? It really doesn’t make sense otherwise. Sure, Wilson and McLellan said that the letters will be determined during training camp, but all three of these guys have been tabbed as likely captains/alternates by Sharks fans. Blake because of the whole veteran thing, Thornton because he’s the best player on the team, and Pavelski because he’s an all-around awesome player (see my post on why he deserves to make the Olympic team). Hell, most people believe that Pavelski will be the captain sometime in the next few years, why not now?

Perhaps its even an indication that instead of having a captain, the Sharks will go into the season with three alternates, like shown in the picture.

Of course, I am just bullshitting this entire analysis, as I found it on a picture in a tucked-away part of the site that really isn’t technically part of the whole “sharks.nhl.com” site (it directs to a third party site that I assume is for ticket selling). This could just be some wild coincidence or the graphic designer having fun with hockey-starved fans like me who hope to find anything hockey-related to analyze. I don’t know. But this is interesting, and I am putting way too much thought into this.