Happy Sunday San Jose Sharks fans.

It's that time of the week again, where we look back at the week that was on the The Hockey News' Sharks site.

Enjoy. 

The San Jose Sharks have announced that they need more time to evaluate Jeff Skinner's injury before they can make a determination on how long he will be out of the lineup.

Skinner was hurt in last night's game against the Calgary Flames. He left the game with an lower-body injury that looked fairly bad.

The San Jose Sharks have had an interesting start to their season. They lost the first six games in a row. But since they have a record of 7-6-3, and played some very good hockey.

They've also been fairly lucky on the injury front. There has been a few injuries, but still a manageable amount that has allowed them to continue playing well. 

Tonight is the night for former San Jose Shark, Joe Thornton. 

Thornton has officially been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Tonight, the Toronto Maple Leafs hosted the Carolina Hurricanes in the Hall of Fame game, which had a special ceremony for the inductees before the game. 

After all, this franchise has a pattern of regular season success followed by playoff frustration. Didn’t they finish with 108 points a year ago, only to be bounced out of the playoffs in the second round? Again?

But top to bottom, those in the organization said what happened in the past has no bearing on the present.

LAST SUMMER, NHL TEAMS were chasing the biggest fish in the history of free agency while wearing hip waders. This summer, they’re going to have to rent a craft and hit the deeper waters. They’ll probably require a bigger net and a bigger boat.

The summer of 2018’s UFA market was all about John Tavares, and after that – not to disparage the likes of James van Riemsdyk and Paul Stastny – the pickings were relatively slim. The summer of 2019 will have plenty of star power to be sure – including winners of the Hart, Vezina, Norris, Calder and Conn Smythe Trophies – but it also has very good depth of talent. And part of what makes it so impressive is that, unlike in previous years, there are some seriously good players who will actually make it to the open market on July 1.

Jonathan Cheechoo knew his career was headed in a special direction the very first night he skated alongside Joe Thornton.

“Our first game was in Buffalo and I gave the puck to him wide,” Cheechoo says. “I didn’t realize how fast he is. He beat a guy wide, like the guy was standing still, and that kind of caught me by surprise. The other D-man laid his leg down and Joe tossed a backhand saucer pass over the guy’s leg that landed perfectly flat on my stick. All I had to do was find a hole and put it in.”

When the Boston Bruins unceremoniously ran Joe Thornton out of Beantown – a transaction that still mystifies many – it was on the basis he would never lead the Bruins to glory. The Bruins, who got fleeced in the deal that sent the huge center to San Jose, took years of frustration and mismanagement and placed it at the skates of their young star. Bad call.

Reason No. 8,571 why it’s so freakin’ sweet to be an NHL player: they get into the Hockey Hall of Fame for free. We know that because Joe Thornton dropped that nugget on us the day before the Stanley Cup final. You probably have to show some kind of card, but we’re thinking these days Thornton would be able to just show up and walk in. So that means ‘Jumbo’ saves a cool 48 bucks each time he visits with his wife and two kids. The savings will rocket up to $60 next year when his son, River, turns four and otherwise would be subject to the $12 youth entry fee. Thornton can take the hit, considering he will have made $96,675,000 in career earnings when his contract with the San Jose Sharks expires after this season. “I would pay,” Thornton said about his Hall visits, “but they give it to us for free.”

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