Is Joe Thornton the greatest player never to win a Stanley Cup?

The timing felt random, but the farewell was…fitting. Joe Thornton last played an NHL game on May 5, 2023, logging a forgettable 6:18 of ice time on eight shifts in his Florida Panthers’ series-clinching loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Then, 17 months passed without an official change to his playing status. He practically felt forgotten by the time he released a brief, cheerful retirement video this past Saturday at the age of 44. So Thornton rides off in a manner epitomizing his career in many ways: undeniably excellent but also understated and not often enough acknowledged for how excellent it was.

That’s an ironic description for Thornton’s hockey career tombstone considering the fanfare he carried when he arrived in the NHL as the 1997 Draft’s No. 1 overall pick, billed as a future superstar when the Boston Bruins nabbed him. He infamously struggled in his rookie year but was playing at an elite level by the time he reached his early 20s. Because he shared a prime with superstars such as Peter Forsberg and, later, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, Thornton was rarely if ever billed as the top player on the planet, with the exception being 2005-06, when he exploded for a league-high 125 points and became the first player to win the Hart Trophy as MVP after being traded mid-season, poached by the San Jose Sharks in one of the most lopsided swaps in hockey history. But if you put the entire body of work together, sheesh, Thornton absolutely stands out as one of the greatest players ever.

– 1,109 assists (7^th all-time)
– 1,539 points (12^th all-time)
– One of five players ever with multiple 90-assist seasons (Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr, Oates)

The great hockey historian Paul Pidutti sums up Thornton’s brilliance even more succinctly, explaining that, because the early part of his prime came in the Dead Puck era, Thornton played in the third-lowest scoring era of any player with more than 1,300 career points, trailing only Gordie Howe and Jarome Iginla. Adjusted for era, Thornton’s points jump to seventh all-time, and he’s fourth in assists. Whoa.

Thornton, however, captured just the one Hart and was a named a first-team all-star only once in his career. So if we categorize his greatness by how he was perceived relative to his peers, he falls short of God-tier Mount Rushmore status. He’s unquestionably a first-ballot Hall of Famer though. Not even a question.

What feels like a more interesting question: is Thornton the greatest player not to win a Stanley Cup?

Jarome Iginla might have something to say about that. Henrik Lundqvist, too. Same goes for the likes of Marcel Dionne, Peter Stastny, Mike Gartner, Dale Hawerchuk and Roberto Luongo, among others. But Thornton might be the grandaddy of all Cupless NHL stars.

Thornton’s career rankings among players without a Stanley Cup:

Games: 2^nd
Goals: 28^th
Assists: 1^st
Points: 2^nd

One could argue Iginla’s star burned the brightest of any player who never earned a ring. He was a three-time first-team all-star, led the league in goals twice and probably should’ve won the Hart Trophy in 2001-02. Eric Lindros’ peak was the shortest among the contenders but arguably the best. The late Hawerchuk might have been heralded as an era-defining superstar had he not had the misfortune of playing at the same time as Gretzky and Lemieux. And, hey, if we expand the category to non-retirees, the answer is Connor McDavid. Has to be. But among players whose careers are completed, Thornton lords above the non-Cup pack in his combination of longevity and stat-accumulating dominance. He finished top-10 in league scoring six times and top 10 in assists 12 times. He played in the playoffs in 19 of his 24 seasons. He landed in the top five of the MVP vote four times to boot.

So when ‘Jumbo’ gets his Hall call in a few years, he’ll do so as one of the best of all-time and will carry a strong case as the best ever to do it without lifting Lord Stanley’s Mug.

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