• Moderators, please send me a PM if you are unable to access mod permissions. Thanks, Habsy.

Leafs sign Joe Thornton: 1 year/$700K, NMC

No risk there. Great to see him sign for the minimum. Let's hope for a bounceback season but keep your expectations low, as he's 41 years old.
 
I was against this idea when it first started floating around, but I can't deny that it'll be fun to see Thornton in a Leaf uniform. And it's pretty hilarious that we're going to have Spezza & Thornton in our bottom-6 each making the NHL minimum salary.

I'm also more convinced after seeing some of the data that Thornton might still have something left in the tank.

And as far as roster-building goes, this is exactly what a lot of us talked about when they decided to keep all the big guns and sign them to big contracts. Get those guys locked up, and then try and fill out the roster with hidden gems from overseas (Mikheyev, Barabanov, Lehtonen), young kids on ELC's or cheap contracts (Robertson, Anderson, Sandin), value buys in free agency (Vesey, Boyd) and Cup-chasing vets (Simmonds, Spezza, Thornton).
 
Their second pp unit is going to be not entirely useless!

Oh and maybe he can give them third line minutes in case of injury or if they need a shakeup. But for me, my idea of the fourth line is him Spezza and Simmonds. I don't think any of those players can play regular third line minutes anymore but that should be one god damn interesting fourth line.
 
So kerf is the only lock on the third line and they have two open spots.

Robertson, Engvall, Anderson, Boyd, Vesey and Barby will have to battle it out I guess.
 
Last edited:
Hearing a question to Marleau about Hertl and whether he was showboating, Thornton said:
"Shut up, have you ever played the game?"
When the press turned his way, he then added:
"I'd have my cock out if I scored four goals. I'd have my cock out, stroking it."
Click to expand...

Man, I wonder what he would do if he won the Cup?
 
I think having an old codger like Joe will give the kids in the room a greater sense of urgency.
Tavares is captain by default but I can see Joe taking a more vocal role
 
Beauty.

Tbh i would be on him being a 3rd liner for us not a 4th liner - but a winger not a center. Even last year's down year had solid 3rd line production. And if that was a team related decline then it was just the year before that be was a 60ish pt pace player which if he can bounce back anywhere near to makes him obviously a great 3rd liner.

I'd bet on a moderate bounce back from last year and able to be an effective 40-odd point type guy for us on the third line.

Other good things is that this gives us 4 guys in the bottom 6 that can play center if need be, and this add kinda completes us turning into a pretty huge team overall.
 
LeafGm said:
I was against this idea when it first started floating around, but I can't deny that it'll be fun to see Thornton in a Leaf uniform. And it's pretty hilarious that we're going to have Spezza & Thornton in our bottom-6 each making the NHL minimum salary.

I'm also more convinced after seeing some of the data that Thornton might still have something left in the tank.

And as far as roster-building goes, this is exactly what a lot of us talked about when they decided to keep all the big guns and sign them to big contracts. Get those guys locked up, and then try and fill out the roster with hidden gems from overseas (Mikheyev, Barabanov, Lehtonen), young kids on ELC's or cheap contracts (Robertson, Anderson, Sandin), value buys in free agency (Vesey, Boyd) and Cup-chasing vets (Simmonds, Spezza, Thornton).
Click to expand...

Cup chasing vets? Really?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top