Sharks ride that Cheechoo train
To date, Jonathan Cheechoo has notched 51 goals and 34 assists for 85 points.

The Sharks will have to fend off an attack from the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers to enter the second season and if they fail to do so, it won't be due to the efforts of two players, the aforementioned Thornton and third year player Jonathan Cheechoo. 

The Sharks' PR department started a late season campaign for Thornton as the candidate for the Hart Trophy, the award that symbolizes the league MVP. Given Thornton's notoriety and production since his arrival from Boston, we're not surprised that he'd get some votes, but we think that if the New York Rangers win the Atlantic Division, the nod will go to Jaromir Jagr. 

What we are surprised about is how fast Cheechoo has come of age by the Bay. After a 2002-03 rookie season, where he struggled to score nine goals in 63 games, the native of Moose Factory (not exactly a hockey factory, about 500 miles north of Toronto), Ontario rebounded to pot 28 markers in his sophomore season before the lockout. He spent 20 games in a forgettable tenure for the HV 71 team in the Swedish Elite league last year before coming home to prepare for NHL hockey again. 

The Sharks' second round pick (29th overall) in the 1998 Entry Draft started off cold this season, but so did every Shark in the school. Through twenty-four games, he had seven goals and a minus-8 rating. 

And then on November 30, San Jose GM Doug Wilson picked up the phone and stole Thornton, who was accused of not being a fiery enough leader in Boston. 

Don't get me wrong, Marco Sturm, Bead Stuart and Wayne Primeau are nice players but they're not setting Boston on fire, are they? 

The Thornton deal was the nail in the coffin for Bruins' GM Mike O'Connell as he wound up getting whacked. Thornton may not be Mark Messier in the dressing room but he sure set Cheechoo on fire. Sharks' Coach Ron Wilson presented Thornton with Cheechoo and Nils Ekman as his wings and they've proceeded to terrorize opponents. 

Jonathan has scored 43 goals in 53 games, a production level that would produce 67 goals over an 82 game season and in the process has shattered Owen Nolan's single season goal scoring record. After Monday night's two-goal performance in a victory at Phoenix, his goal total stands at 51. 

Even scarier is the fact that with Thornton only 26-years old and his running mate a year younger, they could give nightmare to goalies for the next decade. Even before this unexpected shower of goals, Cheechoo was a fan favorite at the Shark Tank, with the signature train sound effects blaring whenever he pots a goal at home.

After the Sharks trounced the Kings last week, the affable winger reflected on his career year. 

"If you had told me I'd score 50 goals at the beginning of the season, I wouldn't have believed you," Cheechoo said. "Joe and I just seem to connect better than other centers I've played with; we've jelled as a combo. We know where each other will be on the ice and Joe's one of the best passers in the game. With his game, you just have to find the openings on the ice and he'll put in on your stick. Sometimes they put a double team on him and when he beats the first guy, the second one has to cover him and it leaves me open."

Cheechoo's scoring prowess has been especially robust against the Kings, as he's scored a whopping nine-goals in seven games against them. 

As for a salient reason why the Kings are a favorite target, he deadpans: "Umm, we play them a lot?" 

After the laughter subsided, he remarked: "When you play a team eight times in a season, you know their tendencies, where they're going to leave you open." 

Coach Wilson will take the production but he didn't think the winger would be his top goal scorer. 

"I am surprised, not that I didn't think he'd score a lot of goals," Wilson said. "To be honest, I am surprised he's over 50. I thought he'd have 35 to 40 with the new rules. I changed my projections as soon as we picked up Joe and saw the magic that he brought to this team." 

As for Thornton's influence on his winger, Wilson observes: "I don't know if he creates more space for him because Cheechoo can find holes in the defense anywhere. If Joe wasn't on the team, he'd score 40; with him here he's going to be a 60 goal scorer every year. It's gotta be nice for him and his accountants."

The final word will go to Thornton, who made Sergei Samsonov a star and revived Glen Murray's sagging career. Even though he didn't see his linemate much while playing in Boston, the seven-year veteran isn't surprised about Cheechoo's natural talent and the duo's chemistry. 

"He has such a great shot and always knows where to go on the ice, so I'm not surprised at our success," Thornton said. "I don't think you can learn what he has. From the beginning of a player's NHL career you either you have those instincts or you don't. From the first day I joined this team, we knew where each other were going to be on the ice. He's just a great goal scorer."

KING OF KINGS SAYS GOODBYE

Today, Luc Robitaille officially ends a 20-year Hall of Fame career. He leaves the game as the highest scoring left wing in the history of the NHL, the highest scorer in Los Angeles Kings' history and the proud owner of a Stanley Cup ring, courtesy of the Detroit Red Wings. 

Luc contemplated retirement after the lockout season, but the year off gave him rest, both physically and mentally, so he got on the horse one more time. With the Kings adding talent and payroll to their roster over the summer, Robitaille thought it was reasonable to pursue his only unfulfilled goal, to win a championship in his adopted home of Los Angeles. 

Fast-forward eight months and the season has been both regrettable and forgettable. He had a dust up with former coach Andy Murray early in the season because he felt his exclusion from the lineup was handled improperly for a player of his stature. 

Things got better as the Kings competed for the playoffs for much of the season, but as the team faded down the stretch, Luc was scratched often by interim coach John Torchetti for non-production. 

So while Luc won't ride off triumphantly in to the sunset, his story was a rags-to-riches one. He arrived in Los Angeles as an unheralded ninth round draft pick with limited English skills; he was slow of skate but made up with for it with lightning wrists. He found a home, career and family in Los Angeles and his number will be raised to the rafters of StaplesCenter next year, hopefully on opening night. His class and passion for the game will be missed. 

STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES

This week the lukewarm Ducks-Kings rivalry finally turned up the heat. Even more intriguing is that fact that it may be the first time in NHL history that a broadcaster was responsible for increasing vitriol between two neighboring franchises. 

No doubt you've heard that Anaheim TV analyst Brian Heyward and Kings' pest Sean Avery went at it on Friday while Heyward was gather content for his NBC gig the next day. 

The name-calling was classic eighth-grade, schoolyard stuff and we're not surprised. I've covered the NHL in Southern California for almost a decade and it's interesting to see how Heyward has changed as an analyst. He used to be a straight shooter, calling it as he saw it. 

During Disney's ownership of the Ducks, they consistently wanted the former NHL goaltender to be more of a cheerleader and he flatly refused. The irony is that now new ownership is in place, Heyward has become exactly what he resisted all those years, a homer. While it's a little hard detect a rooting interest with the Ducks playing at a dizzying winning pace, those nights when there's not a victory, you can be sure Heyward will site one of two reasons: bad breaks or referees. Maybe he's just being true to his nickname; Hazy.

The Avery confrontation was not a random act. Heyward went after Avery on the air a few weeks back as he instigated a scuffle in a Kings-Ducks match. The analyst flamed the player for ducking a fight with Anaheim top pugilist Todd Fedoruk. While we are not an Avery defender (more on that later), Avery isn't the Kings' heavyweight, that's George Parros and Heyward knows it. 

Parros wound up scrapping with Fedoruk as he should and Fedoruk got the better of him. Avery's role of instigator is to stir the pot, not always to be swinging fists and although he leads the Kings in penalty minutes, it's more for bad hockey decision making than fisticuffs. Prior to the next time to the two teams played, Avery and Heyward jousted verbally in the hallway outside the Kings' dressing room before the player was sent back into the room. 

The Friday locker room spat was just a culmination of past bad acts and was bound to happen. Heyward violated one of the unspoken rules of reporting; a reporter is not to become the story. And for a guy who goes lengths to tell everyone he attended Cornell, it's not Ivy League behavior.

Avery, for his part, continues the immature, unprofessional act that has worn out teammates, management and yes, even the fans. We can't imagine that the new Kings' regime next year (it would be a shocker if GM Dave Taylor would survive) keeping Avery around. 

Perhaps both men can take a lesson in class from the aforementioned Robitaille; shame on both of them.
 

Dennis Bernstein, the man behind SCORE! Media, is a columnist for TheFourthPeriod.com and the Los Angeles Correspondent for The Fourth Period Magazine.