PHILADELPHIA -- There’s been a lot of speculation about Joe Thornton's future with the San Jose Sharks and exactly what that looks like. If it’s not a trade -- which would require a dramatic shift in plans from the Thornton camp -- it could be a new role in the leadership group.

Right now, Thornton is the captain of the Sharks. But Sharks head coach Todd McLellan proposed another idea for next season.

“What would happen if nobody wore a letter on our team this year? Not a single guy?” McLellan said during a conversation early Saturday. “What if nobody wore a letter? We’d still be the San Jose Sharks and we’d be a leadership group. What would happen?”

Is that something the Sharks would consider?

“I don’t know,” McLellan answered.

McLellan said the captaincy is an organizational decision and one that the coaching staff will participate in, but it certainly sounds as though the Sharks are open to a leadership change in San Jose.

“Jumbo’s our captain right now and we’ll make some decisions as we go forward,” McLellan said. “We’ve got to get it right.”