Sharks' Joe Thornton: Makes preseason debut

Thornton went scoreless with a minus-2 rating in his first preseason contest of the year Saturday -- a 4-0 loss to Arizona.

Analysis:

Coming off an ACL injury that he played through last season, Thornton had been skating with the team since training camp began Sep. 15, so the team holding him out of preseason contests probably had a lot more to do with keeping the 38-year-old fresh for the beginning of the campaign than for health reasons. Despite seeing a dip in production from 19 goals and 82 points in 2015-16 to seven goals and 50 points in 2016-17, Thornton remains one of the elite passers in all of hockey and will likely continue to rack up points on the power play until he hangs up his skates.