Thornton Heads to the IR

The undisclosed upper-body injury that has knocked out Joe Thornton from the San Jose lineup, will do so for at least until the middle of Week Fourteen, as the Sharks have placed their top line centre on the Injured Reserve.  There really wasn't much more for details on the injury, but the way that Thornton came off the ice against the Ducks on Thursday night suggests that it would be a little bit more serious than a day-to-day issue.

My best guess would be a sprained shoulder, but the Sharks are not likely to release that information any time soon.  At worst, my best guess would keep Thornton out for a couple weeks, so it's wait and see from here on in.

Thornton has been good this year, currently ranked 44th in pool scoring, at the time of this post.  The veteran pivot has 9 goals and 24 assists in 38 games for the Sharks, which would make him into a 2nd round pick, by virtue of the participants of the draft and his rank.

+Stuart picked Thornton in the 4th round this year, so he was getting some bargain play from the former 1st overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft.  The placing of Thornton on the IR will remove his projected games from the upcoming schedule for Stuart, which has the potential to hurt, as Stuart now ranks 14th in the standings, only 14 points out of the top 10 and the money conversation.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.