Confirmed with Link: Joe Thornton to Leafs [1yr/700k]

[hoglund]

My cat's breath smells like cat food.

What?

 

[ULF_55]

Next year, Getzlaf and Perry.

 

[Stephen]

Next year, Getzlaf and Perry.

I think Eric Staal?

Also, Joe Thornton is a former Soo Greyhound.

 

[eramosat]

Maybe during the regular season long haul, but when the playoffs start Jumbo will dominate. His big body will be a huge advantage.

You need to 2xcheck on how many forwards last into their 40s in the NHL. And maybe report back to us...I don't think the results will be very kind to Joe.

 

[likecheese]

When we're skating onto the ice, everybody gets to pull on his beard for luck?

 

[hotpaws]

So let's pretend that John T and AM and MM and WM all got paid $2M less than they do.
And on the other hand Kerfoot, Vessey, Jumbo, Wayne, ZH, Soup, Muzzin, and Brodie all made an extra $1M each.

It would be less doom and gloom?

My point being, how the salary is divided is not that important. It's the players on the ice that will determine success vs failure.

or we could have spent the 6m savings on Schmidt and made the team much better but hey as a Leaf fan it's not about trying to ice the best possible team , it's about protecting our incompetent GM

 

[axlrose87]

This signing speaks volumes to how badly Keefe and Dubas think our locker room, and specifically our younger players, need an outspoken veteran voice to call them out for lack of give a crap.

We'll see how this goes.......

Maybe he can convince marner to buy a new hat for his post game interviews after an embarrassing loss?

 

[Stephen]

or we could have spent the 6m savings on Schmidt and made the team much better but hey as a Leaf fan it's not about trying to ice the best possible team , it's about protecting our incompetent GM

Schmidt would have a great bargain buy on paper, but we literally just got Brodie for free as a free agent and he makes less money, and they are both 29-30 year old LHD playing RD.

 

[Mr Papagoergyo]

The Beard

 

[Cor]

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if this because I thought if he came here it would be for 1-1.5M, and we’d move Kerfoot to fit him in and stuff.

At 700K, we can keep Kerfoot still.

There’s zero downside to this. Zero

 

[Leafsfan74]

An important aspect of this signing that most on here have overlooked, Joe Thornton, of future Hall of Fame class, looked up and down this roster, listened to the players, looked at this other options and decided that the Leafs are his best chance to win a Stanley Cup. He chose us, we didn't choose him.

Would he have signed here two months ago if he could have before the pickups? Who knows. With the additions of some competitive, Team First veterans, he did. Leaving behind his home. The team that he defined for so many years.

Put the nostalgic Toronto franchise aside. We have guys in this lineup who are leaders who can produce and compliment the talented high paid core. We shouldn't expect any passengers this year. If there are, Dubas or his replacement have to send them to Siberia.

All you need is a year together and you catch lightning in a bottle with an intense, fully focused and committed group. It happens all the time in professional sports, especially with the constant movement of this era.

 

[Toronto makebeleifs]

Or what if we did this:

Matthews - 1st overall center
Tavares - 1st overall center
Thornton - 1st overall center
Spezza - 2nd overall center

Depth!

 

[hotpaws]

Schmidt would have a great bargain buy on paper, but we literally just got Brodie for free as a free agent and he makes less money, and they are both 29-30 year old LHD playing RD.

we could have had both if as the poster i replied too said what could have happened if the Mathews/Tavares/Marner took 2m each less

 

[Sypher04]

we could have had both if as the poster i replied too said what could have happened if the Mathews/Tavares/Marner took 2m each less

Pretty sure he said/meant 2m total, not each. You were never getting Tavares as a UFA for 9 or Matthews for 9.634. marner is the only one you could remotely argue is overpaid by any significant amount

 

[hotpaws]

Pretty sure he said/meant 2m total, not each. You were never getting Tavares as a UFA for 9 or Matthews for 9.634. marner is the only one you could remotely argue is overpaid by any significant amount

he said if each made 2m less and to be honest they all are worth 2m less at there term regardless if JT would have signed for that or not

 

[SprDaVE]

It's league minimum. I'm fine with it.

 

[Menzinger]

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if this because I thought if he came here it would be for 1-1.5M, and we’d move Kerfoot to fit him in and stuff.

At 700K, we can keep Kerfoot still.

There’s zero downside to this. Zero

Well exactly, if they signed John Smith 25 point 4th liner, nobdy would bat an eye at that for 700k.
The fi

 

[Pi]

I am extremely excited for this season. Dubas has done his job and more. He's shored up the D, he's shored up the center depth after Tavares/Matthews and gotten some really good players who can still play.

Thornton >>>>>>>>>>>> Gauthier.

Now it's up to the players.

 

[willmma]

or we could have spent the 6m savings on Schmidt and made the team much better but hey as a Leaf fan it's not about trying to ice the best possible team , it's about protecting our incompetent GM

Look, I understand. If we had more cap space we can afford better players.

But I think, especially in the Jumbo thread, the point of signing jumbo is not for his killer playing skills. But for the leadership that he will bring to the room. That is invaluable. His size and playing skills are nice too. But the leadership is something this team needs.

Not every transaction has to be seen from the cap perspective.

cheers

 

[shaner8989]

Another amazing addition

leadership was putrid. This takes a load off the kids and will learn from one of the best players and people in the game

Dubas strikes again

 

[Menzinger]

Well...could it be that a team with all of Spezza, Simmonds and now Thornton in it's bottom six is pretty damn strange? Not only bone fide top-tier 3rd line depth players like Kapanen and Johnnson been dumped because of the cap...even the min guys have little chance to advance in this Leafs org, due to the insane competition from these guys.

Toronto is just not a welcoming place, for a forward. Dubas has traded 1 promising forward in the past because he acknowledged Leafs weren't doing fair by them (that guy that went to the Canucks?). I wonder how big the line for that treatment is now.

All of this acknowledging that most of this matters little to the on-ice product, largely,,,it's the Big 4, Freddie and the Top4 D that dictates where the Leafs will end up. But if lower-tier player on the Leafs previousl felt apprehensive (and they should have)...now, it's like, what's the point of being here?

To quote South Park, "They took aour jooobbs!"

Kapanen and AJ underperformed this past season. I've got zero issue with this team not promising depth guys long term commitments if they can't live up to their end of the bargain

There's nobody on the Marlies being held back by this either.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Spezza in his last year with Dallas:
-14 5v5 points (8th among Dallas forwards) in 76 games
-49.2 cf% (9th)
-49.1 xgf% (14th)
-51.4 high danger% (13th)
-10:40 of 5v5 ice time per game (15th)

Thornton last year:
-22 5v5 points (2nd among Sharks forwards) in 70 games
-53 cf% (6th)
-50.7 xGF% (9th)
-51.9 high danger% (9th)
-12:43 minutes of 5v5 ice time per game (7th)

 

[mikeyz]

Back to bed, back to bed.....

You’re laughing now and you’ll cry later when you see the opposition skating circles around our 3rd and 4th lines.

 

[nuck]

Not a "tough guy" but nobody gives Joe a face wash An interesting thing I have heard about him is that he is always the loudest guy in the dressing room and does not have a great filter (since Nazim scored his beard). Vocal isn't a thing you hear about the Leaf's locker room. Maybe that's something they need.

 

[mikeyz]

this post is so confusing for me. are u aware how slow wayne simmonds is?

who do u think is on our 3rd line?

Yes I am, and out of Simmonds, Spezza and Thornton, Simmonds is arguably the fastest of the 3.