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

[Superstar]

Not a fan of this, hope it works out.

Thornton is much better than Gauthier though, even at 40 years old.

 

[MattySnipes]

Thornton mic'd up, droppin' wisdom.

 

[Heritage]

Thornton mic'd up, droppin' wisdom.

That was fun to watch, thanks for putting it up.

Great to have that positive attitude and chatter on the ice and bench.

 

[leburn98]

It's funny to see other fan bases coming in here to talk shit. Who would have thought that signing a 41 year old Jumbo Joe for 700K would have some so shook.

 

[WestCoastLeafs]

Generational team

Ok the weird thing about that picture is that already Matthews looks really young in it.

 

[leburn98]

Yeah ,waisted money on guys you don't need..Still no bona-fide #1 defenseman, and #1 Goaltender..just silly spending if ya ask me..

You lost? You might want to concentrate on your tire fire over in Van city. Lost the link, don't worry I'll help ya out: Vancouver Canucks

 

[Notsince67]

Thornton is much better than Gauthier though, even at 40 years old.

Werent you clamoring against greed time and time again? Thorton once took 17.09% of his teams cap. Thats over 13.9mm in todays money. Isnt greed really really bad? Will he infect everyone to be someone worse than your obvious high standards?

 

[Leaf Fans]

Yeah ,waisted money on guys you don't need..Still no bona-fide #1 defenseman, and #1 Goaltender..just silly spending if ya ask me..

No one asked you, you still gave a poorly thought out answer.

 

[sittler rules!!!]

Our team is gonna be one ornery team to play against

No it's not. You still have the "Pansy Patrol" in the top 6

 

[Alwalys]

I look forward to seeing if jumbo can work his magic with the depth the leafs have, rather than having to drag around the sharks dregs.

 

[Leaftors]

This is about as win/win as you can get.

 

[Mentat]

Welcome to the Leafs, GrandDad Thornton.
Glad to have his veteran presence and voice in our roster. Our younger players will be better because of him, and even at his ripe age, he still has a bit of gas left in the tank to help us become a better team, probably by being a 4th line tandem with Spezza and moving up every now and then, when the need arises.
His passing acumen will be a very handy tool in our roster.

 

[LeafsOHLRangers98]

Still a 99th percentile passer according to this post.

 

[Notsince67]

I look forward to seeing if jumbo can work his magic with the depth the leafs have, rather than having to drag around the sharks dregs.

He is a playmaker. Among many in this crowd, absolutely worthless unless he scores goals.

 

[The Podium]

Crazy idea, but has Thornton ever played LW?

Thornton - Tavares - Nylander

gives Joe 2 good passing options. His legs may not be there anymore but he is still one of the best passers in the game.

 

[ACC1224]

Thornton is much better than Gauthier though, even at 40 years old.

I doubt it was either/or.

 

[Mess]

Leafs really should have tried to go for it the moment they signed tavares. This is Freddy's last season in net then he is a UFA (so is Hyman i think); Leafs have gotta take their chances.

Whatever happens happens; but they gotta give themselves a shot; also given that D seems to be a little more stable than last season I think Leafs are a lot better positioned

There is no question when you sign a bunch of aging vets at the end of their careers that you're going All-in on Win-Now, and based on this management team knowing they need positive playoffs results we will have to see if this strategy pays off. Patience is not on the menu when you're signing 41 year olds!!!

They traded a lot of speed in Kapanaen and AJ for cap space to rebuild the bottom 6 with players like Thornton, Simmonds and bringing back Spezza that are not exactly fleet of foot. None of those players scoring double digit goals last year with all less than < 10 goals on the year. So if support scoring from your bottom 6 was a concern last year this doesn't fix that here either, to help offset your top heavy top 4 cap players.

I try to picture the Leafs Columbus series over this time with the new players here and trying to get through that neutral zone trap and hard to picture players like Thornton skating the puck through a clogged up centre ice or be effective at dump and chase without the skating ability to win puck battles. In fact Leafs are more exposed to the speed themselves now in the bottom 6 after the reconstruction in their own Dzone.

Cross our fingers and hope it works out for our Leafs but I have my doubts as forward thinking is generally preferred rather than dwelling and living in the past. IMO

 

[DarkKnight]

I guess I’ll now take a positive view and think of it as Thornton in for Gauthier, who was pretty much useless at everything, so this is an upgrade apples for apples.

 

[Alwalys]

He is a playmaker. Among many in this crowd, absolutely worthless unless he scores goals.

I had no idea he was a playmaker.

 

[Dayjobdave]

As a player, Jumbo gives us more size and grit and another ridiculous playmaker. As an influence, he amongst the others brought in represents a pretty big room reset.

This team looks better equipped to find options to score against a trapping team as well as to stop other teams from killing us on the cycle. Those were the dirty games we kept losing. If we can be 50/50 in those and continue to dominate when our skill is lose, this should be fun to watch.

 

[The Podium]

There is no question when you sign a bunch of aging vets at the end of their careers that you're going All-in on Win-Now, and based on this management team knowing they need positive playoffs results we will have to see if this strategy pays off. Patience is not on the menu when you're signing 41 year olds!!!

They traded a lot of speed in Kapanaen and AJ for cap space to rebuild the bottom 6 with players like Thornton, Simmonds and bringing back Spezza that are not exactly fleet of foot. None of those players scoring double digit goals last year with all less than < 10 goals on the year. So if support scoring from your bottom 6 was a concern last year this doesn't fix that here either, to help offset your top heavy top 4 cap players.

I try to picture the Leafs Columbus series over this time with the new players here and trying to get through that neutral zone trap and hard to picture players like Thornton skating the puck through a clogged up centre ice or be effective at dump and chase without the skating ability to win puck battles. In fact Leafs are more exposed to the speed themselves now in the bottom 6 after the reconstruction in their own Dzone.

Cross our fingers and hope it works out for our Leafs but I have my doubts as forward thinking is generally preferred rather than dwelling and living in the past. IMO

They moved those players for cap space to sign Brodie.

A bunch of league minimum vets isn’t a shift to win now.

Your paranoia is getting worse

 

[Nineteen67]

The team's entire gameplan has been based on speed and you're saying "They were never an exceptionally fast team"?



The biggest criticism teamwide has been a lack of grit due to this overemphasis on speed and quick playmaking. They've now sacrificed some of this speed in the bottom 6 to help make the team tougher and more grizzled.

It will always be a very fast team. Too many of the Leafs top players are great skaters.

Nylander, Marner, Matthews, Rielly, Brodie, Dermott, Mikheyev, Lehtonen, Barabanov, and Robertson are all quick, fluid skaters that can fly down the ice.

You actually forgot Hyman, the fast guy, that consistently out skates the defender.

Yes they can skate well, but they were never considered faster than the opposition. In the play in games they showed spurts where they were quicker than CBJ and they great to watch and then other times they looked like they were in mud.

 

[Gallagbi]

They moved those players for cap space to sign Brodie.

A bunch of league minimum vets isn’t a shift to win now.

Your paranoia is getting worse

Looks pretty obvious to me, but this is the same poster who complained our 4th line would have Malgin and Rodrigues on it to start the year.

I don't think there's a question the Leafs are trying to win now, I'm just not sure why that's a concern or a surprise. We have a bunch of talented players and are dissappointed losing our first series the past 4 years. Shouldn't we want to win?

 

[namttebih]

It's possible that our C at some point this season will consist if 1st OA 2016, 1st OA 2009, 1st OA 1997, 2nd OA 2001. Neat

 

[Leafsfan74]

Not a Dubas fan by any means (which isn’t exactly a secret), but I’m liking his offseason this year.
I’ve long asked “What exactly can he do with the shit storm he created?”

Well... apparently a lot more than I thought he could. I’ll give him that.

It's not the approach I would have taken. I would have tried to trade a big contract and replace it with A.P and piecemeal the bottom six. That would be "Plan A" if I were GM (clearly I'm not).

The market is very light for big contracts so even if planning a particular way, there is no guarantee that during a pandemic with no buyers for large cap hits that it was possible. Who knows what Dubas tried?

He is pursuing what I would call my "Plan B" if I were GM. He has been formidable in this objective. Picking up Simmonds, I loved this signing because he brings some protection for a young linemate to grow. Brodie, very good. Bogosian, an underestimated signing, Leaf fans will see, and now, Big Joe.

The assets he had to directly give up for these four was exactly zero. He picked up three of these four for a combined $3.2M. It wouldn't have been possible a year ago. In addition to the many depth, younger players he has picked up, he's going with selective quantity, ensuring young players compete for jobs.

Time will tell if it works, but, at the very least he is making drastic moves to shift the identity of this team. Maybe not as far as I would have gone, but, I can understand different perspectives. especially in a tough market for large contracts.

He may not be done yet, we will see.