TORONTO — It is a 53-year-old club, with 54 members. It only admits one new person per year. Its members are overwhelmingly of Canadian heritage, but there are a few Americans in there, with some Russians, Czechs and one Swede too.
Its most senior active member is a 37-year-old man who, paradoxically, looks a little older than that thanks to a graying, Moses-style beard but who still puts up better numbers than almost everyone younger. Joe Thornton is the elder statesman of hockey's most exclusive society—the No. 1 Pick Club—and while the San Jose Sharks center says there is no secret handshake among its members, there is an unspoken bond.