Before Joe Thornton heads into an uncertain offseason where he could be a free agent and leave San Jose after nearly 12 years, he had more pressing business.
Thornton underwent surgery on a torn anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in his left knee Monday to repair an injury that sidelined him less than two weeks before he returned to play the final four games of a first-round series loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
"I've been in this business a long time," Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson said. "You see a player play with that type of injury tells you all you need to know about him."
Thornton, 37, downplayed the injury before the team announced the severity of what he played through and the surgery, calling it simply "the normal stuff that hockey players deal with" at this time of the season.
But his willingness to play four playoff games on basically one leg was just another example of why the team wants him back.
"I'd like to come back," he said. "But we'll have to see."
Etc.
• Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said injured winger Carl Hagelin has skated the past two days, adding he was "hopeful" Hagelin could return soon. Hagelin has been out since suffering a lower-body injury March 10.
• Chicago fired assistant coach Mike Kitchen, who joined coach Joel Quenneville's staff in July 2010 and helped the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in 2013 and '15.
