Thornton answers the call
Old Man Joe might give Leafs what they need — and core has failed to deliver
The halo of golden curls is gone. For those of us who remember Joe Thornton in his NHL salad days, from the moment he pulled on a Bruins jersey at the Igloo in Pittsburgh as the No. 1 pick in the 1997 entry draft.
Gone too is the ZZ Top beard almost down to (slight exaggeration) his belly, which he started growing during San Jose’s 2016 playoff run.
It made him look like an old man. And now, in hockey years, he is. Old Man Joe.
Or Jumbo Joe, familiarly, less a descriptor of his six-footfour, 230-pound heft than a tribute to Jumbo the Elephant who ended up as road kill in Thornton’s home town of St. Thomas, Ont. — the circus star struck by a freight train.
These days, as evidenced by the Zoom session Thornton did with reporters on Sunday from Switzerland — as a newly minted Toronto Maple Leaf — the 41-year-old is clean-shaven, his ratty hair sticking out at all angles, with deep age lines around the eyes.
He is, in many ways, a relic from another era, second only in tree rings to Zdeno Chara — who became a Boston blue-line fixture not long after the blockbuster trade that sent Thornton from the Bruins to the Sharks in November 2005, where he would toil and mostly star for the next 15 seasons.
Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas has a different early memory of the enduring Thornton, from back when Thornton was a junior stud with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Dubas was apparently an 11-year-old employee of the organization. (One can picture Dubas as precocious mini-nerd, with a briefcase and a tie and a metrics slide rule in his handkerchief pocket.)
“I remember watching him. I was 9, 10, 11 years old … He was just a dominant player even as a16-year-old. As dominant as he was, skill-wise and with his size, he was also one of the tougher players that had come into the program and the combination of all those things, certainly in Sault Ste. Marie, makes you revered forever.”
Among a Soo panoply that included Wayne Gretzky, for one season, and Ron Francis.
But, geez — or geezer — more than half a lifetime ago. What does Dubas see in the vintage Thornton, circa 2020 — probably 2021 when the NHL gets cranking again — that made the prototypical Canadian hockey player a career twilight asset for a Leafs squad that the GM has spent the past week aggressively reconfiguring?
“On the ice, he’s a good fit in terms of the skill set that has made him into one of the best players of his generation, and that still allows him to be successful and an effective player at a time when many that entered the league in his time have retired. That is, his playmaking. When we’re looking to construct our team, we know that we have guys … that can really benefit from a high-end playmaker up and down the lineup, on the power play and at even strength.”
However coach Sheldon Keefe chooses to utilize him, more likely as a third-liner, 15 minutes a night.
“His minutes haven’t diminished all too much over the last couple of years, even at this stage of his career,” Dubas continues. “He’s still very capable of being a good player for us.
“Just as important is the off-the-ice portion of it.” A projection, explains Dubas, reinforced in discussions with the current crop. “What he’s going to bring to the locker room in terms of his attitude and his mindset each day, especially as we’re continuing to grow as a group. I think that’ll be a very, very important addition to us.”
We’ll return to that character injection shortly. First, some commentary from Thornton himself, from Davos, where he’s been playing off-season hockey for some 15 years.
“It was probably the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make,” says Thornton, of signing with Toronto on Friday for the NHL minimum of $700,000 (U.S.) when there were allegedly other suitors, including the Sharks that he’d remade in his own image during a prolonged tenure. “But I truly believe Toronto, with the roster they have, the guys they’ve picked up this off-season, is a team ready to win now. I’m ready to win.”
Which, personal achievements including a Hart Trophy aside, Thornton has never managed. No Stanley Cup ring.
In fact, the Leafs tried to obtain Thornton three years ago, which came to naught. This time ’round, Thornton — displeased when he wasn’t traded to a contender by the sagging Sharks at the February deadline — talked it out earnestly, FaceTiming with friends around the league, even dipping into a conversation with quarterback Joe Montana, recalling his shift from San Francisco to Kansas City.
Also on the FaceTime agenda was Jason Spezza, who offered Thornton back his signature jersey number. “He said: Man, you want No. 19? I said, nope, I’m not taking anything from you. It was a real nice gesture from him, but I’m going to wear No. 97.”
Thornton then ticks off what he likes about the Leafs.
“I love their goalie.” Which might put him in a minority. “That was a big part of my decision. I think (Frederik
Andersen is) a great goalie. Up the middle they’re very, very strong. Adding T.J. Brodie on the back end really solidifies their defence. Zach Bogosian coming in, Wayne Simmonds. The Auston Matthews, the Mitch Marners, the John Tavareses, the list goes on and on. Zach Hyman, Morgan Rielly. This is a really, really good team. I think it’s going to be a great team at the end of this.”
A team, however, that hasn’t been able to get over the playoff opening-round hump. Enter Thornton, et al. Though, honestly, it’s a serious indictment of Dubas that a team of such dazzling talent is still looking for leadership and impetus a la Jumbo. Doesn’t say much for the core character.
Dubas described it as boosting experience and “personality.”
“A different personality, and he’s got a great spirit to him, just his love for hockey. At his age, to still have that love in the day-in and day-out grind of being a professional athlete, what it takes to get yourself up every day. Having people like that, whether it’s Joe or Wayne Simmonds or Bogosian, or the guys on our team that have always been there, it can add a lot to the spirit and energy of the group.
“That’s something we were keying in on. It’s important to have that in spades.”
Spades and hearts, Old Man Joe.