“The ability to use your hands is a bit of an indicator to me,” Coyotes goaltending development coach Charlie McTavish said. “There’s very few guys that have a natural ability to catch and use their hands because the play is so fast and shots come so quickly. From a certain distance at a certain speed, it’s physically impossible to just simply react and catch a puck. Sometimes you just try to get hit; to get in the way as best you can, but Thornton is really strong at using his hands.
“We saw it in the rookie camp. Guys were point blank in the hash marks, taking really hard shots, some one-timers and he was just catching them like he was playing catch with his buddy. He can actually identify the shot early enough to move his body, control himself and catch a puck. It looks like nothing but it’s a big deal when 90 percent of goalies actually can’t do that.”