Joe Thornton and His Minus-9 Rating

by Adam Gretz

Filed under: Sharks, NHL Videos

Heading into Wednesday's game against the New Jersey Devils, San Jose Sharks captain Joe Thornton is near the bottom of the NHL's stat sheet with a minus-nine rating, despite recording seven points in seven games.

Plus/minus, of course, is a severely flawed measurement, and it's not one I'm fond of using to evaluate individual players. But Thornton's early season mark has been a topic of discussion lately, mainly because he's typically north of plus-15 in a given season, and because all that ails the Sharks is usually considered Thornton's doing (Panic! Choker! Not clutch!) whether it's justified or not.

So what's behind the minus-nine mark so far?

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Scott Gomez Boyd Gordon Mikhail Grabovski Evgeny Grachev