Joe Thornton collected two assists in Tuesday's 3-1 win over Nashville to give him 700 helpers in his career. The San Jose center has been piling up the milestones this season after he played in his 1,000 game last Friday. Thornton has one goal and six points in seven games so far this campaign.

Joe Thornton will play in his 1,000th regular season NHL game on Friday. It's quite an accomplishment for the former first overall selection in the 1997 Draft. 'If you asked me my first year would I ever get to 1,000 games, I would have thought just getting to 100 would be a miracle," Thornton, who had only seven points in his first year, said. "You look back and see how fast it goes. I remember the older guys saying cherish every day because it goes by so fast - and really, it flies right by." Congratulations go out to Joe on his accomplishment.

Joe Thornton failed to register a point in the teams 1-0 loss to the Ducks. Thornton has yet to register a point this season, and is once again off to a poor start for fantasy owners, which is a disturbing trend for any who have him. Especially since he just signed a rich extension with the Sharks.

The San Jose Sharks are looking to get off to a better start this season. The Sharks won only 21 of their first 45 games last season and were forced to play their top players like Joe Thornton a lot more down the stretch. While they were red-hot at the end of the season, the Sharks lost in the Conference final when they ran out of gas and lost to the Vancouver Canucks. The Sharks once again have a tough schedule in March as they play 17 times, so they want to be comfortably in a playoff spot so they do not have to give their veterans as much ice time as last season.

Joe Will has been promoted to the position of assistant GM within the San Jose Sharks organization. Will has been with the Sharks since their inception. He spent some time as the Sharks' scouting coordinator and had served as the director of hockey operations for the last six years.

The San Jose Sharks are not shaking up their coaching staff heading into the 2011-12 season. With the departure of former assistant Trent Yawney to the AHL in search of a head coaching job, the team could have re-organized their staff, but Todd McLellan feels comfortable with his existing team despite the Sharks' playoff struggles in years past. Current assistant Jay Woodcroft will assume larger responsibilities, but otherwise no major changes are expected. "We had the ability to bring someone else in, but at this time, it's Jay's opportunity to take more on and he's perfectly capable of doing it," McLellan said.