Can Joe Thornton Return To Form and Become The Albert Pujols Of The NHL?

If anyone were to compare a NHL player to baseball's No. 1 star, Joe Thornton wouldn't be amongst the group that fans would choose when trying to find Albert Pujols' equal.

Fans around the league would probably come up with the standard names of Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterbergand perhaps Jarome Iginla.

But you will be hard pressed to find a fan outside of San Jose to compare Thornton to the great Pujols.

However, it shouldn't be to far-fetched of an idea. Thornton is just three years removed from winning the Art Ross Trophy (for most points) and Hart Trophy (MVP) and yet his standing amongst the great players in the league seems to have fallen and fallen hard.

Whenever a team comes to play San Jose, its ...

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