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Sharks Gameday: Thornton vs. Lecavalier

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Tampa Bay Lightning (13-19-10) at San Jose Sharks (31-5-5), 7:30 PST

On March 24, 1998, the Tampa Bay Lightning sent Bryan Marchment and David Shaw to San Jose for Andrei Nazarov and an upcoming 1st round pick. That pick was used for Vincent Lecavalier.That same draft, the Sharks picked Brad Stuart at #3 who was shipped off some years later for Joe Thornton.

So in theory, the Sharks could have had Lecavalier skating alongside Patrick Marleau instead of Joe Thornton. Lecavalier's more of a shooter than Thornton, though both are big guys with great reach and strong skating strides. And they both were in a weird commercial back in the early 2000s where they skated on a half pipe of ice.

Here are their career stats, along with their best season:

Lecavalier

752 games, 290 goals (80 PP, 12 SH), 350 assists (130 PP)

Best season: 2006-07 82 games, 52 goals, 56 assists


Thornton

795 games, 249 goals (89 PP, 3 SH), 556 assists (197 PP)

Best season: 2005-06 81 games, 29 goals, 96 assists


Which player would you rather have? I know there will be a San Jose bias because this is the Battle of California, not the Battle of Florida, but try to consider both players' skill sets as objectively as possible.