Former Boston Bruin Shawn Thornon, via Zoom, and Dale Arnold talk about their book about Thornton's career at a local bookstore in Nashua on Wednesday. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Shawn Thornton knew what his job was throughout his 20-year National/American Hockey League career.

Even if he was, as the popular former Boston Bruin said Wednesday, “I was probably the worst player on every team I played on.”

Thornton, via Zoom, talked about his career in promoting his just-released book written with Dale Arnold, “Shawn Thornton: Fighting My Way To The Top”. Arnold, the current NESN pregame/postgame host, led the discussion with Thornon in person at The Toadstool Bookshop off Amherst Street. Despite his Thornton won two Stanley Cups, one with Anaheim and another with the Bruins, and was perceived as a valuable commodity. He retired after three seasons with the Florida Panthers and is now that organization’s Chief Commercial Officer.

Thornton said there was certainly a code among enforcers around the NHL. It was routine that players would simply approach each other and ask if they wanted to drop the gloves, something that has surprised the casual hockey fan.

“I’m surprised people are surprised,” Thornton said, adding sometimes “There was no asking, action spoke louder than words. … Sometimes you had to step up to the plate. … I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Thornton said the common misconception is that the enforcers around the NHL don’t know the ins and outs of hockey very well. Quite the contrary.

“We can’t just lace them up and go out and score goals with our natural ability,” he said. “We have to go out and put the extra work in. If we don’t understand something, we better learn how to understand it. … Study tape on xyz play to make sure we don’t do it again, otherwise we won’t get back on the ice.”

Thornton said he takes those same principles in his job in the business end of hockey.

“You can’t just walk into the office and think you’re going to do a great job,” he said. “(NHL Commissioner) Gary Bettman told me when I went over to the business side that ‘It’s like everything else, you get out of it what you put into it at the end of the day. … You may understand the hockey side, but on the business side you’re going to have to put in twice the work.’ And I try to.”

Thornton was famous when he was with the Panthers asking to sit in on various meetings. He would also, he said, go home and study other organizations, and their marketing slogans, and he would call others in sports business like Bruins president Cam Neely, former Red Sox head Larry Lucchino, etc., about all sorts of facets of the business side of sports.

He says he fills the competitive void of not playing by working to raise revenue.

“When you get a new revenue opportunity and close it, it’s very satisfying,” Thornton said.

Thornton said he was proud of his years in Boston, and was “happy I was able to make an impact in the community” and felt he contributed more to the Stanley Cup championship with the Bruins than he did with Anaheim.

Thornton was a dressing room presence when he was with the Bruins, a leader on the team. He said he thought about transitioning into a coaching career, but decided against it.

“One of the things that steered me away from it, to be completely honest, is the transient nature of it,” he said. “I just didn’t like the idea of when I retired my wife and I and family having to move every two years.”