Toronto Maple Leafs: Joe Thornton Deserves First Line Minutes

The Toronto Maple Leafs season hasn’t even started and there’s already controversy brewing about the team’s line combinations.

It’s hard to believe that the Toronto Maple Leafs will be playing meaningful hockey games in less than 10 days and ‘Jumbo’ Joe Thornton will be in the line-up. Not only will he be in the starting line-up, but he’ll be on the first line.

Many people reading this weren’t even alive when Thornton entered the league. Drafted first overall in the 1997 NHL Draft, ‘Jumbo’ will be a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer as soon as he’s eligible. The only thing that’s missing within his illustrious career is a Stanley Cup championship.

During the off-season, many fans wanted the team to address leadership and that’s exactly what they did with the Thornton signing. His wealth of experience and professionalism will not go unnoticed in the dressing room. Speaking of experience, Thornton (179 playoff games) has played more playoff games than Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, William Nylander, Zach Hyman and Morgan Rielly combined. There’s no moment that ‘Jumbo’ hasn’t been apart of and his desire to win will be a huge inspiration for the team this year.

Every team a narrative when it comes to winning a Stanley Cup. Rallying around the “old guy who’s never won before,” never gets old and that’s what the team can do for Thornton, and Jason Spezza this season.

However, is he too old to be playing meaningful minutes? I don’t think so.

Thornton Deserves a Start on the First Line

Sheldon Keefe showed his hand during the first Press Conference of the 2020-21 season, saying that Thornton will start on the left-wing beside Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. What better way to enhance the depth of the roster than to put ‘Jumbo’ on the top line.

This season is going to be weird. It’s going to be a 56-game sprint, where every game matters more than every before. Thornton may be 41-years-old, but that doesn’t mean he can’t play anymore. Besides a rough 31-point season last year, ‘Jumbo’ has continued to rack up points, well into his late 30s. He’s not the fastest player in the world, but that doesn’t matter. His Hockey IQ and vision should be a perfect with Matthews and Marner.

Everyone knows how great Matthews is at goal-scoring, but can you imagine his opportunities every night when he’s paired up with ‘Jumbo?’ Not only will the opposition find it hard to defend Marner from setting up Matthews every night, but now they’ll have to deal with Thornton on the same line. Although he should have been the favourite to win the Maurice “Rocket” Richard trophy already, he should have an even better chance paired beside two playmakers.

I’m not saying that Thornton is going to rack up 80 points beside these two superstars, but I do think it’ll bring out a youthfulness that was missing with San Jose. Matthews and Marner could arguably be the best two players ‘Jumbo’ has ever played with, so I’m interested to see how they mesh.

Worst case Thornton is too slow to keep up with the youth and then moves down the line-up to a third or fourth-line role, but best case, this could be one of the best lines in hockey. Either way, I think ‘Jumbo’ deserves the opportunity to see what he has left in the tank and if he can bring out the best in Matthews and Marner, as well.