San Jose Sharks GM Doug Wilson has had talks with Joe Thornton, Dan Boyle and Patrick Marleau, who are all in the last year of their contracts. Of course, Wilson wouldn't disclose the nature of those talks or whether they've been positive or negative. Wilson said the team will continue to talk with the reps for all three players moving forward, but we would be surprised if anything got done before the season. More likely the veteran trio will have to play out their deals before revisiting talks either during or after the season.

Joe Thornton had a strong 2013 playoffs despite San Jose's second-round elimination at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings. He notched two goals and 10 points in 10 contests, but the Sharks couldn't muster much of anything against Jonathan Quick in Tuesday's 2-1 defeat. San Jose didn't a get a goal in the playoffs from their bottom-six forward group and Patrick Marleau was the team's only forward who found the back of the net in the four games in Los Angeles during the series. Thornton will shoulder some of the blame as the team's leader, but the bottom line is collectively the Sharks just weren't productive enough.

Joe Thornton scored a power play goal for the Sharks in a 2-1 win over the Kings in Game Six of their Western Conference playoff series. Thronton has seemed rejuvenated this postseason with 10 points in as many games, however a road victory will be needed if the Sharks are going to be victorious in Game Seven of the series. T.J. Galiardi also added his first goal of the postseason in San Jose's win.

San Jose leader Joe Thornton has come up with a theory that he thinks will enable the Sharks to bounce back and defeat the Los Angeles Kings in their playoff series tonight. Specifically, Thornton thinks he has emerged with a way to beat LA goalie Jonathan Quick. "When you get within 10 feet of him, you've got to find the opening, find the hole," Thornton said. "You hope to use his aggressiveness against him, use the back door." The Sharks hope to even up their series against LA tonight. They trail 3-2.

Joe Thornton earned a lot of praise for his efforts in Game 4 on Tuesday. Thornton had an assist in San Jose's 2-1 victory. "That was vintage Joe Thornton right there," Logan Couture said. "Unbelievable. Creating turnovers, making passes, skating like a young guy. He was flying, and I know me personally, it got me going. We need Joe to play like that for the rest of the playoffs."

Joe Thornton has dominated the Los Angeles Kings in the faceoff circle three games into San Jose's second-round series. He has won 62.7 percent (32 of 51) of his draws against the Kings going into Tuesday night's Game 4 match-up. Thornton won just 39 of his 83 faceoffs in San Jose's four-game sweep versus Vancouver in Round 1. "The last couple games, it's been working out for me. Hopefully I can continue that," Thornton said. "Puck possession is everything, so as much as you can have the puck, it's better to get on offense. It's a competitive situation. You just try to win as many as you can." Thornton has collected an assist in each of the Sharks' past two games to give him eight points in seven playoff outings.

After sweeping the Vancouver Canucks, the San Jose Sharks have some light days ahead of them. Joe Thornton said the next few days would be about resting and getting healthy. It's a great opportunity for the Sharks to stay fresh, especially given how rough this year's condensed schedule was, but it could also make them rusty going into the second round. They will likely go a little over a week between games.

Captain Joe Thornton acknowledged Saturday that the team was concerned about sustaining injuries in its regular season finale against the Kings. Once it became clear the Sharks weren't in a position to gain home-ice advantage for the playoffs, the team's greatest concern was ensuring none of their key players sustained injuries. "You want to win every game we play, but you don't want to get hurt," Thornton said. "We tried our best. They were better than us." The Sharks will square off against Vancouver in the opening round of the playoffs.

Coach Todd McLellan moved Joe Thornton between Andrew Desjardins and Adam Burish at the start of the third period Sunday. Thornton had been playing between T.J. Galiardi and Brent Burns earlier in the game but with the Sharks not playing well, McLellan made the switch and put Scott Gomez at center for Galiardi and Burns. Thornton was a plus-one when Desjardins scored a beautiful goal in the third so these line combinations may stay intact when the Sharks take on Dallas Tuesday.

Joe Thornton had an assist on Tuesday. Thornton is in a four-way tie for fourth place in the NHL with 31 assists. He logged a season-low 10:30 minutes on April 9, but he has three points in four games since then.