Editor In Leaf
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Joe Thornton Might be a Good Fit for the Toronto Maple Leafs

By James Tanner

Apr 16, 2017; San Jose, CA, USA; San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton (19) shoots against the in the first period of game three in the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 16, 2017; San Jose, CA, USA; San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton (19) shoots against the in the first period of game three in the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports /
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Joe Thornton is an unrestricted free agent.  The Toronto Maple Leafs are a team with lots of Cap Space.

The Toronto Maple Leafs could also (depending on how you view Nylander and/or Bozak) be in  need of a centre.  This is easily the most popular suggestion in my Twitter feed.

I don’t hate it.  Joe Thornton is an amazing player. It would be awesome to have him on the Leafs.  I am just not sure if it’s the right move.

For a 37 years old guy who has been in the NHL for almost 20 years, Joe Thornton is amazingly productive. He had 50 points last year.  Yeah, that’s a bit of a drop-off from his previous production (32 points and almost 2/3s less goals) but he remains excellent defensively and 50 points from your 3C  is nothing to sneeze at.

A head-to-head Hero Chart comparison between Bozak and Thornton shows that Thornton is a massive, no, wait, MASSIVE upgrade on Bozak.   Bozak’s shot-prevention is a 2/10 whereas Thornton’s is an 8.   Thornton produces more offense too.

So if the Toronto Maple Leafs want to replace Tyler Bozak with Joe Thornton, I’m all for it.  On a short-term deal, the veteran leadership, the presence of a legend and a still-elite defensive forward is nothing but positive.

The only possible downside is that Thornton apparently played through torn ACL and MCL’s this past playoffs –  so how does he come back?

Still Not the Best Option

Then again, while I think any reasonable person would be on board replacing Bozak, the obvious choice for that role is Nylander, not Thornton. If the idea of signing Thornton is to take away the spot Nylander should be getting, then I say don’t do it.

For the life of me, I can’t understand why the Toronto Maple Leafs are so hesitant to put William Nylander at centre. As a rookie (first 20 or so games, the year before last) he was a playing centre in the NHL and posting positive possession numbers on a last place team.   53% is good for anyone. For a rookie playing on a last place team, it’s down-right amazing.

That doesn’t scream “Use him at a less important position.”

Furthermore, with Matthews-Nylander-Kadri down the middle, no other team (except possibly the Oilers) could match that centre depth.

And Tyler Bozak?  He played an entire season with Marner and van Riemsdyk – his point totals were decent, and his possession took a stage dive when not propped up by his star wingers.  He is also unbelievably bad at defense (note the link to the chart above where his shot-suppression rating is a two out of ten). Winning every damn faceoff isn’t going to make Bozak’s shoddy defense acceptable.  In fact, what being good at faceoffs does is get Bozak on the ice in situations he can’t handle and shouldn’t be in.  The Cycle of the Bozak is a terrifying Stephen King novella, and everyone knows it.

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Thornton, Bozak, Nylander and the Toronto Maple Leafs

Bozak can and should be exposed in the expansion draft, or traded before-hand to avoid protecting what is, essentially, an average player the Leafs don’t need.

The point here is that getting Joe Thornton is a good idea, but he’s 37  though and coming off an injury, so what we didn’t sign him to be the third-line centre. What if the Toronto Maple Leafs signed him to play the role of fourth line centre? I know it sounds crazy to ask Thornton to do that, but maybe he’d be into it if it gave him a decent shot at a Stanley Cup, which it would.

Thornton could play 4C at 5v5 and then play on the power-play.  The Leafs would have – potentially – the best four centre collection in the history of the NHL.

I don’t care who is on defense, a team that lines up Matthers-Nylander-Kadri-Thornton down the middle is going to crush it. I think it’d make them the best team in the NHL.

How could they not be?

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