It’s strangely fitting that a Kentucky Derby odds favorite, Quality Road, went down to injury and pulled out of the race today just after the San Jose Sharks, a top Stanley Cup odds favorite, bowed out of the NHL betting playoffs with a whimper last night.

Watching the Sharks fade into the ocean of eliminated teams, I was at a loss last night. If you’re the Sharks, you just won the Presidents’ Trophy with a team-record 117 wins. There’s no carrot, no motivation to be better in the regular season when NHL betting starts up again next fall. It’s just one more loooonnnng wait until the hockey betting playoffs start again. And it begs the question: how can you improve a team that’s perfect in the regular season? What pieces do you add to it?

The only thing that comes to mind is to cut out a losing attitude — one that reminds me of the mentality constantly stymieing the Ottawa Senators in the early 2000s as team after team failed to win it all after dominant regular seasons. And to me, no one on the Sharks embodies that mentality more than Joe Thornton.

There’s no denying Thornton is an elite player — in the regular season. He’s a perennial 90-plus point guy with great vision who can guide a last-place team to the top of the standings. But he consistently disappears from sportsbook success when the playoffs arrive, shying away from contact and playing on the perimeter despite being 6’4″ and 230 pounds. Little Pavel Datsyuk shows more courage than this guy.

Why not move Thornton for a really nice return? Some people might call it foolish to dismantle a first-place team, but it’s clear this team is incapable of winning the Stanley Cup as is. Trading Joe could net multiple valuable players. Another idea is to swap him for a guy who has similar big-game struggles — Dany Heatley. Just something to talk about the next time you and your hockey buddies are betting online.