What do the Toronto Maple Leafs Really Have in Joe Thornton?

The Toronto Maple Leafs have added yet another sure-fire Hall of Famer to their team.

The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Joe Thornton to a league minimum deal on Friday afternoon.

This is the type of rare deal in which there is no criticism, and no complaints.  As far as I can tell, there isn’t a single person in the entire world who doesn’t like this signing.

I mean, what is not to like?  It’s the league minimum, so there is no risk.  Thornton is a universally beloved figure who, at the very least, will be able to offer the wisdom of his experience to an extremely young team.

At best, he’ll find some gas in the tank and make what is now for sure the NHL’s deepest team (and probably already was) even deeper.

But what can expect here?  Let’s take a dive into the last few years of Thornton’s career to find out.

Toronto Maple Leafs and Joe Thornton

First of all, Joe Thornton is 41 years old and has an absolutely disgusting beard.  As gross as it is, it doesn’t hurt his ability to play hockey, so whatever.  The age thing is a factor, but here is the thing: Thornton has always been slow, so age hasn’t really affected him in the way it affects most players.

According to @jfresh and Evolving-hockey.com, Thornton was worth just 0.3 WAR this past season, but that was suppressed due to an unusually low shooting percentage of the skaters he played with.

In the season before last, at age 39, Thornton was worth almost 3 wins, making him more effective than 90% of NHL players.  That’s right, while the Leafs were suffering through a season in which they paid Patrick Marleau nearly $7 million to a sub-replacement player who shouldn’t even have been in the NHL, Joe Thornton was still elite.

Now, on a deep Leafs team in which he should get the easiest and most sheltered minutes of career, Thornton will be looking to rebound.

Thornton most likely is the Leafs 4th line centre, although I highly doubt the Leafs will have a lineup set in stone at all this year.  The season will likely be condensed in some way and may even feature expanded rosters.

Regardless, the Leafs have about five or six players who the can stash in the AHL occasionally to gain cap space, and most of their non-star players will likely cycle in and out of the lineup on a regular basis to stay fresh.

Thornton played every game last year, but I’d expect him to get in much fewer games this season while providing offense for the bottom of the lineup.

This is a great move for the Leafs and Thornton will most likely win the first Stanley Cup of his career now that he is on the team with the NHL’s best roster.