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

[MattySnipes]

 

[Welsh Maple Leaf]

Dubas needs to be fired.

We are now a Wayne Simmonds injury away from having BY FAR the worst, slowest 3rd line in the league.

The state on some of our fans

Let’s just fire everyone.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

This solidifies to me that Dubas has no vision.

 

[ShaneFalco]

Hopefully it is cheap and works. Guy is slow and old. Past his prime and outside of leadership he doesnt bring a lot to the team. Would rather have a young player with a future get a chance.

I hear ya but from all reports, he's a great outspoken locker room guy. He's hungry too as this is probably it

 

[kb]

Dubas needs to be fired.

We are now a Wayne Simmonds injury away from having BY FAR the worst, slowest 3rd line in the league.

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

 

[Sniper99]

So are we supposed to get tough this off season or slower. Oy Dubas. Well at least he didnt overpay him buy his usual 3-4 million

 

[SHANNYPLAN]

Hyman - Matthews - Marner
Soup - Tavares - Nylander
Kerfoot - Thornton - Simmonds
Vesey - Engvall - Spezza

Gives us the option of:

Tavares - Matthews - Marner
Hyman - Thornton - Nylander
Mikheyev - Kerfoot - Simmonds

 

[GoodNewfieBoy]

I love life

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

Are Spezza and Thornton going to play on the same line? lmao

 

[hotpaws]

Jason Allison should dust off his skates. Everybody's gettin' a contract!

yup , we finally signed enough players slow enough for him to keep up with lol

 

[Mitchy]

Great deal. For 700k, can't complain one bit.

Also, yes, he wasn't great last season, but the whole Sharks team was trash. Before last season, he was still an extremely effective player. Last season might be age related, but I think the team factor was the much bigger deal.

I'd prefer him as the 4C, but I'd be ok if he splits 3C duties occasionally with Kerfoot. A line like Robertson-Jumbo Joe- Kerfoot has a whole lot of promise

 

[Dreakmur]

We could trade Matthews.

I can say random things that don't make sense too.

Assuming Simmonds is healthy, he does for Tavares what Hyman does for Matthews.

 

[TML Dynasty]

Hyman-Matthews-Marner
Nylander-Tavares-Mikheyev
Vesey-Kerfoot-Anderson
Engvall-Thornton-Spezza
Simmonds

Rotate Simmonds into the 4th line with Spezza/Thornton/Simmonds playing 2/3rds of the 82 game schedule.

no faith in Barbanov? Boyd or Anderson may make a case too.......gotta be a trade coming

 

[SoVi3t]

WE GOT HIM!

I've wanted Joe on the team since Jr's, and we picked him up for next to nothing!

 

[ShaneFalco]

Hyman-Matthews-Marner
Nylander-Tavares-Mikheyev
Vesey-Kerfoot-Anderson
Engvall-Thornton-Spezza
Simmonds

Rotate Simmonds into the 4th line with Spezza/Thornton/Simmonds playing 2/3rds of the 82 game schedule.

I don't think soup will be here but if he is I don't like him that high up

 

[Welsh Maple Leaf]

So are we supposed to get tough this off season or slower. Oy Dubas. Well at least he didnt overpay him buy his usual 3-4 million

 

[Morgs]

Assuming Simmonds is healthy, he does for Tavares what Hyman does for Matthews.

Is it 2012?

 

[Welsh Maple Leaf]

The mainboards are full of inbred humans. It's unbelievable the level of stupidity.

Not much better in here unfortunately

 

[fahad203]

to those who think it's a bad idea

would you rather have frederik gauthier over joe thornton?

nobody should answer yes to this question

I dont want to see GOAT anywhere near the city let alone this team

He's 6'5 and never gave a rats a@$ about this team. The game against the Islanders when Tavares did it for me. He played 10 minutes that game, he could have stood up, pushed back a bit and won the heart of this city.

Instead like everyone else he hid. Other guys weren't fighting for their life in NHL, they have skills. Yet he just didn't want this role. It came too easily for him because he just had size.

I'll take a piece of rock before I take him. Even if the rock does nothing people will avoid it. Nobody avoids GOAT.

 

[A1LeafNation]

Dubas needs to be fired.

We are now a Wayne Simmonds injury away from having BY FAR the worst, slowest 3rd line in the league.

Have you heard of Robertson Hallander Anderson Korshkov Barabanov?

 

[ShaneFalco]

The mainboards are full of inbred humans. It's unbelievable the level of stupidity.

45 followers

 

[Schenn]

I'll admit I'm still unsure on his spot in the lineup but having Joe around just to rub off a bit on Matthews could be incredibly beneficial. Not so much skill wise, but Joe is a guy who got grittier and much more of a leader as he got older. I think this will be huge for Matthews development into his final form.

 

[Welsh Maple Leaf]

Is it 2012?

2020

 

[Martin Skoula]

Based on Thornton signing for league minimum and the Leafs pushing hard for him, I wonder what the chances are that Thornton is later hired in an advisory role after he retires.

Him and Spezza both. If they can popularize the idea without being so blatant about it that the league cracks down (although after Pronger they have no ground to stand on in that regard), I think it can be a strong asset for future UFAs. Maybe not the 28 year old top pair RHD that's going to have 30 massive contract offers thrown at him, but the local 2nd/3rd tier UFAs that made some money in their career and would rather 7x5 + 10 years of coaching or advising instead of 7x7 and quiet retirement from someone else. I might be wrong but I remember reading that even Pietrangelo had post-playing career considerations as one of his priorities.

 

[phillipmike]

I hear ya but from all reports, he's a great outspoken locker room guy. He's hungry too as this is probably it

League minimum signing. No risk and no one can hate. Just hope it works and there is a fit.

If the locker room is bad and you need "leadership" then we need to do something more than a 700k 4th line 41 year old. If leadership was a problem under Babcock, Tavares, Marleau/Spezza, McBackup etc over the years then this team has much bigger problems.