Thornton kept looking forward, all the way to Hall of Fame, Marleau says

Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton first became pals as teenagers while playing for a Canadian rep team in the mid-1990s, a relationship, both on and off the ice, that has flourished for the subsequent three-plus decades. The two were picked No. 1 and No. 2 in the 1997 NHL Draft, Thornton going first to the Boston Bruins, Marleau second to the San Jose Sharks. For 13 seasons -- from 2005-17 and then again in the 2019-20 season -- they were teammates with the Sharks after Thornton was acquired from the Bruins in one of the NHL’s biggest all-time blockbuster trades. These days, they live about five miles away from each other in the Bay Area and continue their lasting friendship in retirement. As such, who better than Marleau, who will be on hand for Thornton’s induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday, to give NHL.com readers an inside peek behind the scenes at what Jumbo Joe, one of the sport’s biggest personalities, is really like.

First off, this is a very emotional subject for me.

It’s a challenge for me not to well up a bit when the discussion of Joe Thornton going into the Hockey Hall of Fame comes up. That’s how great a teammate he was. That’s how great a friend and role model he was.

Still is.

Here’s an example.

When I found out about his induction back in June, I called Joe right away to congratulate him. Typical Joe. He was more interested in pumping my tires more than pumping his own. It was like: “Ya, you know, it’s good. Hey, you’ll be there in the Hall one day like me.” This was his special day and he was more focused on wanting to make me feel good about myself.

That’s Joe.

When I think about him going into the Hall, I think back to all the days of working, of grinding, of staying the course no matter what kind of mental and physical grind he was going through.

There’s an image of Joe being this happy-go-lucky figure, someone who can put a smile on the face of anyone who meets him. And trust me, he’s all that. What people don’t see is that he never took a day off. It wasn’t easy. But no matter how bad things would get, he’d be there the next morning getting his work in.

And a lot of times, he’d be doing it with a smile on his face.

That’s one of the things I learned from Joe.

If I had a crappy game or if things weren’t going our way, I would carry that with me sometimes. Not Joe. His philosophy always was: “Nothing you can do about it now. What we can do is attack the next challenge. So let’s go!” He’d often be chuckling when he said it. Laugh about it, work to be better for the next time, and move on.

His attitude certainly helped change mine over the course of our careers. He helped teach me to concentrate on what’s ahead, not what just happened, and not to get down on myself as much as I used to.

Then again, it’s hard to get down on yourself when you’re around Joe.

He brightens up a room the moment he walks into it. He’s been that way since I first met him. I think we played against him in Moncton, New Brunswick when I was 15, turning 16. I didn’t know him then. Two years later we played together on a national rep team in Nelson, B.C.

He was this big, lanky playmaker, even as a kid. The biggest thing I noticed about him at the time was how calm he was with the puck and how he could hang on to it, hang on to it, then make the perfect play.

It was the same way when he first got to Boston. It’s interesting how he was drafted No. 1 by the Boston Bruins in 1997 and I was picked right after him at No. 2 by the San Jose Sharks. Neither of us could have dreamed at the time we’d be teammates -- for almost two decades -- later in our careers, not to mention great friends to this day.

I always thought Joe had the ability to score more. He had 37 for the Bruins in 2000-01, 36 two years later. But he loved playmaking more than goals. When he got to San Jose, I kept trying to get him to score more goals. But he just loved passing.

I remember the day he got traded from the Bruins to the Sharks. It was Nov. 30, 2005. We were in Dallas when we heard about the trade. We were getting him in exchange for forwards Marco Sturm, Wayne Primeau and defenseman Brad Stuart. It was a weird game, to be honest. It’s hard to have three guys traded after warmup. Of course, once you got over the fact that we were losing them, it kind of sunk in that we were getting a player of Joe’s calibre.

Simply put, it was amazing.

Suddenly, it made us contenders right away. I mean, it started a long run of contention for us. Joe was such a great player and so easy to deal with. I’m pretty sure he was blindsided by the trade. Things had been going well for him there. He’d go on to win the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP that season, even though he’d played for two teams. I think the trade made him want to prove himself that much more to people around the League and say “Hey, it wasn’t me. I’m still doing my thing.”

We had a great run in San Jose. We had a lot of success. Every year we seemed to be right there, knocking on the door. But we could never get over the hump. Our goal had always been to win a Stanley Cup together and bring it to San Jose. We just could never navigate that last hurdle, though it never came from a lack of effort.

Or caring.

We both did. So much.

That’s one of the reasons why winning the Olympic gold medal together in 2010 for Canada in Vancouver was so special. We’d always wanted to win something together. In this case, it was mission accomplished.

My wife Christina and I will be in Toronto for Hall of Fame weekend. It’s going to be such a wonderful deserving weekend for Joe and his family, and we want to be there for him.

Just like he’s always been for us.

Congratulations, Jumbo.