Joe Thornton tested the free-agent market last summer before ending up back in San Jose on a one-year Chandler Catanzaro Jersey , $8 million deal.

If Thornton has his way this offseason, he’ll sign with the Sharks again before hitting the open market, even if it has to be on another short-term deal.

”It’s no secret I’m a Shark,” Thornton said Tuesday. ”I bleed teal and I want to come back and I know I’m going to be healthy when I come back. I’m sure we can figure something out, but I want to come back.”

Thornton spoke as the Sharks packed up for the summer following a second-round loss to Vegas. Thornton missed that series with a major right knee injury that had sidelined him since Jan. 23 but expects to be fully recovered by next season.

Thornton turns 39 in July but still was performing at a high level before tearing the ACL and MCL in his right knee in January. Thornton had a similar injury to his left knee late last season and played four playoff games before offseason surgery but wasn’t able to make it back this year.

”I don’t think there’s a player that I’ve met in 40 years in this business that I respect more than Joe Thornton,” general manager Doug Wilson said. ”He’s incredible. … I look forward to sitting down with Joe and his agent very quickly. He’s an inspiring man, what he’s done to this organization. He was playing really well prior to getting hurt, and even his leadership after, being around the guys and what he does. He’s a special, special guy.”

Thornton said he’s willing to sign a one-year deal again and would be willing to take less money if it helped the team acquire other players.

While Thornton started slowly this season as he worked his way back from surgery in April 2017 Kendall Wright Jersey , he was back to his usual form by late November. He had 11 goals and 15 assists in his final 28 games before the injury.

Thornton has been a leader ever since arriving in San Jose in 2005 and is the greatest player in franchise history. He ranks 12th in NHL history with 1,030 assists and is 16th with 1,427 points. With seven more games, Thornton will become the 19th player to reach the 1,500-game mark for a career.

”I think we’re all blessed to play with a guy like that on the ice, off the ice,” defenseman Brent Burns said. ”He’s one of the legends of the game, statistically, on-ice talent and what he does for everybody off the ice. He’s definitely the best teammate I’ve ever played with. We’d be lucky to have him.”

Thornton’s pending free agency is just one of the key decisions the Sharks will have to make this offseason. Midseason acquisition Evander Kane also can hit the market this summer. If he signs, they owe Buffalo a first-round pick in 2019. If he leaves Casey Hayward Jersey , that pick becomes a second-rounder.

Kane provided a major boost when he was acquired from Buffalo at the trade deadline in February. He had nine goals and five assists in 17 games, providing needed speed and physicality on San Jose’s top line.

That carried over to the first round when he had three goals and an assist in a sweep against Anaheim but Kane wasn’t nearly as effective against Vegas as he played through injuries to his knee and shoulder.

”I think he’s a difference-maker,” Wilson said. ”He came in here, and I talk about our leadership and our culture, I think he really appreciated that. We appreciated him. I think it was a good fit for him, it was a good fit for us.”

Eric Fehr is another potential free agent who could be back, while forwards Joel Ward and Jannik Hansen are expected to leave this summer. San Jose also must reach deals with restricted free agents Tomas Hertl and Chris Tierney, and can begin negotiating extensions with captain Joe Pavelski and center Logan Couture in July.

The Sharks have plenty of projected salary cap room to make those moves and also could look to add a big-ticket player like John Tavares of the New York Islanders if he hits the open market.

”I’m excited for this team,” Thornton said. ”A lot of guys made big leaps this year. I’m sure teams are always adding new things or trying at least to add new things. But if you’re a Shark fan, you’ve got to be excited for this team still.”

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It’s a drop in the bucket for Rams owner Stan Kroenke Cameron Jordan Jersey , but billionaires don’t become billionaires (or stay billionaires) by batting an eye at an eight-figure jury verdict.

But Kroenke ultimately may decide not to fight former 49ers running back Reggie Bush’s $12.5 million verdict for an ACL tear suffered when the Rams failed to rectify the obvious hazard arising from a slippery concrete ring around the perimeter of the field at the Edward Jones Dome.

Did Bush actually suffer nearly $5 million in compensatory losses for an injury that has become commonplace for NFL players? Are $7.5 million in punitive damages justified under Missouri law, or was the extra payment a belated “eff you” to the team that left St. Louis for Los Angeles? With the Missouri courts deciding the issue, it may not matter; the Rams are long gone, and even though the $12.5 million total verdict won’t help any citizens of Missouri, the fact that it hurts the Rams will make people feel better about the team that relocated to California. And it could make it less likely that the Rams will prevail at the next level.

The Rams obviously have appeal rights. But they’ll need to decide whether it makes sense to throw good money after bad, once their lawyers engage in a frank, objective assessment of whether the team has a snowball’s chance in La Brea of winning an appeal. Kroenke could end up spending another $100,000 or more in appellate legal fees to delay the inevitable.

Maybe the sensible (and right) thing to do would be to not fight it. The Rams carelessly allowed an open and obvious hazard to exist in a stadium the team would soon flee, consciously accepting the risk of a Rams player or a player from another team suffering an injury. The Rams rolled the dice, it came up craps (the bad kind) Kyle Wilber Jersey , and if Kroenke cares at all about NFL players (those on his team or any other team), he’d write the check and move on.

Then again, if Kroenke truly cares at all about NFL platers (those on his team or any other team), he would have offered a reasonable settlement amount and avoided what any lawyer worth his or her salt could have spotted coming a mile away — a bell-ringing verdict that serves as a middle finger to Kroenke and company.

Then again,聽 if Kroenke truly cares at all about NFL platers (those on his team or any other team), he would have rectified the hazard before Bush tore up his knee, not after.

At this point, the man building a $5 billion complex in Inglewood probably should regard the $12.5 million as a cost of doing business, and move on.
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