There was the 82-point season resulting in a fourth-place finish in NHL scoring, a return to the playoffs and one epic beard, courtesy of 36-year-old Joe Thornton.
Long before they came together, new Sharks Coach Peter DeBoer had a feeling he would be on the same page with the long-tenured Thornton, who played his entire career in San Jose.
“He’s done it all for us, from training camp,” DeBoer said on Thursday morning, a few hours before Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs between the Kings and the Sharks at Staples Center.