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Thornton to All-Star captain Chara: Don’t pick any Canucks

Winnipeg Jets v Boston Bruins

BOSTON, MA - JANUARY 10: Shawn Thornton #22 of the Boston Bruins celebrates after he scored a penalty shot in the second period against the Winnipeg Jets on January 10, 2012 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

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Boston Bruins tough guy Shawn Thorton has offered up some advice to teammate Zdeno Chara as the gargantuan blueliner preps for All-Star captaincy duties.

When it comes time to draft teams, don’t draft any Canucks.

“If it was me,” Thornton said on The Toucher and Rich Show (98.5 The Sports Hub, Boston) this morning. “I probably wouldn’t pick somebody from Vancouver.”

Thornton’s comments are hardly surprising given what’s transpired recently. The ongoing debate over his non-fight with Vancouver’s Dale Weise (yes, Weise ducked out of it) spilled over to the media, resulting in a televised confrontation with a Vancouver-based sportswriter who questioned Thornton’s enforcer ethics.

Also, the Bruins dislike the Canucks and Thornton’s a Bruin. So there’s that.

Thornton also had some drafting advice with regards to his and Chara’s former Bruins teammate, Phil Kessel. Kessel was Mr. Irrelevant a year ago -- taken last overall, a somewhat humiliating moment -- and Thornton thinks it’d be funny for Kessel to get it again.

“Absolutely, and for no other reason then I would think it was funny that he got picked last for a couple years in a row,” he said. “I would try to keep it going for as long as possible.”