Joe Thornton, the Toronto Maple Leafs most recent free-agent signing,f has been in the NHL since 1997
If you play a sport professionally for a long time, you ought to break some records and have some interesting facts surrounding your career. As recently signed Toronto Maple Leafs player Joe Thornton as been in the NHL since the 1997-98 season, there are some interesting facts that can be taken away from Joe’s 22 year career.
Before we get into the facts, let’s quickly take a look at Jumbo Joe’s prestigious career that could result him being enshrined with a plaque in the Hockey Hall-Of-Fame just minutes away from the Scotiabank Arena. (All stats via hockeyreference.com).
Games played: 1,636
Goals: 420
Assists: 1,089
Points: 1,509
Powerplay points: 396
Shots: 1,892
Shooting percentage: 13.3%
All-star appearances: Six (2002-2004, 2007-2009)
Art Ross Trophy: One (2006)
Hart Memorial Trophy: One (2006)
World Junior Championship Goal Medal (1997)
Olympic Gold Medal (2010)
World Cup of Hockey Championships: 2 (2004 and 2016)
Interesting fact #1
The Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs are bitter rivals. Their history dates back all the way to the Original Six days where both teams were battling for Stanley Cup supremacy.
Nowadays, the Leafs are the better team with more star power. Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitch Marner and William Nylander outweigh what the Canadiens have in regards to talent.
Like the Leafs, the Canadiens are a fairly young team but don’t have as bright as a future as the Leafs do. With a young team comes a lack of experience and as Thornton has been in the league for a while, he has more points than the Habs first two forward lines combined do.
First line: Tomas Tatar (347)-Phillip Danault (175)-Brendan Gallagher (334)
Second line: Tyler Toffoli (300)-Nick Suzuki (41)-Josh Anderson (143)
Add the Habs two lines all up and that equates to 1,340 points. Thornton has totaled 1,509 points in his career.
This shows how by just one player, the Leafs are the more experienced team than their longtime rivals.
Interesting fact #2
Long before the Leafs called Scotiabank Arena home (formerly Air Canada Centre), they played at the Maple Leaf Gardens for 68 years (1931-1999).
With Joe Thornton being one of the oldest players around, he had the opportunity to play at the Maple Leaf Gardens as he was drafted in 1997.
According to Sportsnet, Joe Thornton is the is the last active player to have scored a goal at the prestigious arena. He scored a goal there on January 9th, 1999 as a member of the Boston Bruins.
It was a powerplay goal assisted by Rob DiMaio and Darren Van Impe with Curtis Joseph in net for the Leafs. That was Thornton’s seventh goal of the season.
Thornton is now 41 years old entering his 23rd season in the NHL.