By Canadian Press

Veteran Joe Thornton could be representing Canada for the last time

Sep 13, 2016 | 9:15 AM

Mario Lemieux was the unofficial greybeard of Team Canada when the last World Cup of Hockey was played a dozen years ago.

This time around, the role falls to Joe Thornton, the 37-year-old who played alongside Lemieux in 2004 and actually has an outsized grey beard. The Canadians didn’t bring Thornton to Toronto just for his wisdom though, but for talents that have withstood the test of time.

Despite being one of the oldest players in the NHL last season, Thornton finished fourth in league scoring, compiling 82 points in 82 games for the San Jose Sharks. He added another 21 points in 24 playoff games, reaching his first-ever Stanley Cup final.   

“Joe Thornton, when you look at his season last year, he’s playing great hockey,” Team Canada general manager Doug Armstrong said in a recent interview.

Armstrong says Thornton is still one of the best passers in hockey, and indeed his 63 assists last season were only topped by Ottawa Senators captain Erik Karlsson. Thornton, for that matter, is the runaway leader in assists since he entered the league in 1997. Second-place Jaromir Jagr has 212 fewer helpers.

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Thornton also has the most points (1,341) of any player in that span, more than 100 points up on Jagr. 

Canadian head coach Mike Babcock said Thornton’s inclusion on Canada’s roster, which came at the initial exclusion of much younger players like Logan Couture, Corey Perry, Ryan O’Reilly and Taylor Hall, was based on merit. The five coaches and five managers made the assessment that Thornton deserved to be there, Babcock said.

His offensive gifts, which have already been apparent in exhibition play, were too much to ignore.  

“He obviously was a guy that played well enough and played good enough and was important enough on his team,” Babcock said.

Armstrong was intrigued by how San Jose employed Thornton last season, mostly on the wing alongside captain Joe Pavelski. That freed the long-time centre from having to labour at both ends of the ice and exposed Canada, brimming with natural centres, to how it could use Thornton at the World Cup.

A plodding skater who didn’t crack the 2014 Olympic squad in Sochi, Thornton also seemed a better fit for the NHL-sized rink in Toronto, though Armstrong said his inclusion was based on performance, not the ice surface. 

Thornton, who last represented Canada at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, hadn’t given much thought to cracking the World Cup roster before getting the invitation from Armstrong this past summer.

“It was just one of those things where you just kind of play, don’t think about it and then you get chosen,” said Thornton, still oozing energy even after more than 1,500 NHL games.

It could be the last time the St. Thomas, Ont., native wears red and white on the international stage, though he’s hinted at playing a good while longer. He’s already won Olympic (2010) and world junior gold (1997) as well as the crown at that 2004 World Cup, one of two players returning for Team Canada. Jay Bouwmeester is the other World Cup veteran.

Thornton recalls that ’04 squad fondly. The group went undefeated (6-0-0) and included Lemieux as well as other future Hall of Famers Scott Niedermayer, Martin Brodeur and Joe Sakic. Thornton, 25 at the time, was at the peak of his hockey existence, a soon-to-be Hart Trophy winner (2005-06) who set up two of three goals in Canada’s 3-2 win over Finland in the final.

The Canadians hope he’s still got that magic.

“I’ve still got another 10 years (left),” said a grinning Thornton, “so maybe the next World Cup, I’ll play in it, too.”

Jonas Siegel, The Canadian Press