This is the last thing the struggling San Jose Sharks wanted to see.

Joe Thornton needed to be helped to the dressing room and was clearly in distress after sustaining an apparent left leg injury in the first period Sunday against the Vancouver Canucks.

There are early concerns that his knee took the brunt of the collision. Thornton missed the second period and the Sharks announced after 40 minutes that he wouldn't return.

Thornton's started each of San Jose's 79 games this season, and his remarkable durability into his late thirties is something that isn't talked about enough. Since 2006-07, he's missed only nine regular-season games.

While it's been an offensively down season for Thornton, the Sharks will certainly trade his 0.64 points per game - his lowest since 1998-99, when he was 19 - for another deep playoff run, and ideally two more wins this time around. But make no mistake, for the Sharks to win 16 games and the Stanley Cup, they're going to need "Jumbo Joe" every bit of the way.

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