Safe Bet of the Day #3

None other than, Joe Thornton. The Boston Bruin's centre is quickly becoming a favourite amongst hockey poolies everywhere. Even with the lockout last season, he still made the headlines across the pond playing with Rick Nash in Switzerland and again with Nash and Simon Gagne for Canada.

Even with an injury here and there, he still remained in the Top 50 in pool points in the last 3 seasons, which puts him within the first couple rounds of safe picking. In '02/'03, he was 5th in pool scoring and really made a name for himself. I wouldn't be afraid to take him anywhere in the first round, even first overall, if I was a bigger Thornton fan.

With his possible linemates of Glen Murray and Patrice Bergeron, the Bruins have a potent front line and they also have some depth in behind them, so teams can't necessarily focus on the big line. For these reasons today, Thornton is a top guy to have in your pool team and one who should be considered at all times if you are in the first 5 to 10 picks.

If you possibly have an Olympic pool for the games in Turin in February... he would also be there in the top picks, because of that line that made headlines last summer for Canada. Nash-Thornton-Gagne should re-unite barring injury for the Olympics, which makes for a deadly point-producing tandem for the race to gold.