Judging by the fact he still has it, the guessing is that wife, Tabea, has since warmed up to it.
But the beard, like its owner, has had some adventures of its own.
On Jan. 4, 2018, Nazem Kadri, then with the Toronto Maple Leafs, ripped off a chunk of it during a fight with Thornton. The Maple Leafs forward would later quip: “I thought I was a hockey player, not a barber.”
“That was messy,” then-Sharks coach Pete DeBoer chuckled. “I’ve seen a lot of things over 25 years of coaching. I’ve never seen a clump of beard on the ice before.”
The fluffy furball was quickly stuffed into a Ziplock bag with the label “For the boys.”
In the process, it may have started a trend.
According to Marleau, the Sharks one year started taking clumps of hair and putting them in baggies each time they won a playoff game in their quest for the Cup. It was a way of keeping track as they got closer to their goal. And, as Marleau said, the idea had Thornton’s signature all over it.
Just like the year at the Sharks Christmas party, where players were exchanging individual gifts. “I forget who the defenseman was,” Marleau said, “but I do remember Joe gave the guy a pylon.”
The memory caused Marleau to break into laughter. It’s a trait shared by many of his former coaches and teammates when asked to recall Thornton’s colorful Hall of Fame career.
“I remember coaching Joe and Patrick Marleau for Canada at the 1995-96 U-18 tournament,” DeBoer recalled. “We had an off day, and the team went canoeing at a local lake. The next day we got a call saying the canoe Joe had been using was all mangled up. Who knows how it happened?
“With Joe, it’s never boring. I mean, for example, I’ve never met anyone who liked being naked more than him.”
Say what?
“Here’s an example,” DeBoer said. “I remember during the Stanley Cup Final in 2016, he and Brent Burns were walking around Pittsburgh shirtless like they didn’t have a care in the world. And look at all the interviews he did without a shirt.”
These days William Nylander often goes shirtless when meeting with the media. The Maple Leafs forward admitted last week it’s a habit he got from Thornton, who started the trend years earlier.
“That’s because when you’re sexy like us, you flaunt it,” Thornton said when informed he was the inspiration for Nylander to go tarpless.
“He showed me,” Nylander said with a chuckle when told of Thornton’s comments. “He led the way so I might as well follow.
“He’s 1 of 1. So many good memories, playing with him and getting to know him. So great he’s going into the Hall. So many great memories.”
Detroit Red Wings coach Todd McLellan, who coached Thornton with San Jose from 2008-15, echoed those sentiments, although he remained relatively tight-lipped when queried about some of Jumbo’s more, ah, offside escapes.
“There were multiple instances,” McLellan said. “But if I told you, I’d have to die tomorrow. And I can tell you this: the players can take their tarps off, but the coaches can’t. We’re keeping the tarps on.
“Seriously, what I can say about Joe is that his passion for the game was jumbo-sized. His ability to affect a game was jumbo-sized. His personality around the game was jumbo-sized. And his effect on hockey in San Jose was jumbo-sized.”
So much so the city of San Jose declared Nov. 23, 2024, to be “Joe Thornton Day,” the day on which the Sharks retired his No. 19. During a press conference to announce the occasion, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said some of Thornton’s former teammates had been asked to use one word to describe him. Three of the most popular answers? “Legend,” “icon,” and, of course, “beard.”
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