I NOW Consider Joe Thornton A Hall Of Famer

I like to try to pinpoint the time in a player’s career when he cements himself as Hall of Fame player.  This is the point where his Hall of Fame credentials are strong enough that anything that does or does not happen in the remainder of his career cannot threaten his value as a Hall of Famer.  Today, I believe that Joe Thornton has made it to this level. With the year 2010 less than two months away, it is natural to start looking at the results over the decade 2000-2009 (some might chose decades as 2001-2010 or to correspond with the start and end of NHL seasons but the results remain about the same).  It is clear that Joe Thornton will be the highest scorer in the NHL over the 2000-2009 decade.  He has 783 regular season points so far.  This puts him ahead of a Jarome Iginla and Daniel Alfredsson tie for second place with 712 points.  Jaromir Jagr is fourth with 671 points and is no longer playing in the NHL.  It is clear that Thornton will be the top scorer in this (2000-2009) decade and extremely likely that he will be the top scorer in the 2001-2010 decade (he currently has an 80 point lead).