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By Al Muir While the hockey world reels in shock following last night’s announcement that the Boston Bruins had dealt franchise center Joe Thornton to the San Jose Sharks for Brad Stuart, Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau, the hobby has to be wondering what impact this move will have on the values of Thornton’s collectibles. Let’s take a look at the key factors: Thornton is a hobby superstar in the truest sense. His cards are solid pulls from any product. His RCs are highly coveted, with one of them, the 1996-97 Black Diamond, ranking among the most desirable rookies of the past decade. His memorabilia and autograph singles enjoy similarly strong demand, both from player collectors and fans of the Bruins, perhaps the third-most heavily collected team in the league. So what happens now? There will not be a blowout of his RCs. I’m not suggesting a few disgusted fans won’t dump to display their anger, but their values should stay level for the time being. I wouldn’t even rule out a slight increase for the Black Diamond over the next couple months, especially if the move lights a fire under him and results in increased offensive production-a strong possibility considering the level of effort he’d expended thus far this season. The fact that his RCs show him with Team Canada, rather than the Bruins, certainly weighs in here. Cards showing players with former teams tend to sag after a deal, but the “non-denominational” nature of the Team Canada cards typically allows them to bypass this. While his RCs should remain steady, don’t expect similarly smooth sailing for his memorabilia and autograph cards. Again, I don’t see his legion of followers suddenly dumping his stuff, but demand for his back catalogue should slow considerably at shops, shows and online. Material from new and upcoming sets such as Black Diamond and SPx showing Thornton as a Bruin likely will be DOA. Of course, once the new stuff starts showing up with him as a Shark, we could well see a bump similar to what we witnessed when his former teammate, Ray Bourque, had his first cards appear showing him with the Avalanche. And here’s one of those cases where sticker autographs will prove to be a winning option. UD has Thornton stickers on hand, so they’ll be able to produce autographed Sharks cards in short order. We’ll get details from them on when we might expect such cards as soon as possible. As for Stuart, Sturm and Primeau, the move to a popular Original Six team certainly won’t hurt their hobby standings, but it’s unlikely to make much of an impact either. None of these players is likely to turn into an offensive dynamo and dazzle the hobby at large, but Sturm’s game is likely to appeal to fans in Boston and could garner him some regional love. His 1997-98 Zenith and Black Diamond RCs are worth watching. More to come... How did you feel about the NHL trade that sent former Boston Captain Joe Thornton to San Jose? Vote Here! (Note: Look for the Beckett Poll in the righthand bar of our online News page.)