Joe Thornton is a Maple Leaf. Where does he fit and how much does he have left? - The Athletic

Things didn’t exactly go as planned the last time the Maple Leafs lured an aging veteran out of San Jose to come and chase a Stanley Cup in Toronto.

The problem with the Patrick Marleau signing though was twofold: 1) The Leafs paid him too much and for too long — a $6.25 million cap hit on a three-year deal. And 2) The Leafs overexposed him in the twilight of his NHL career.

The Joe Thornton acquisition looks to be different on both fronts.

For one thing, the Leafs gave the 41-year-old Thornton only one year on a contract at the NHL minimum of $700,000. There is no risk here in that regard, not like the first-round pick the Leafs eventually had to pay Carolina to rid themselves of the third year of Marleau’s contract. Thornton is likely a one-and-done, neat and easy.

More crucially: The Leafs don’t have to overplay Thornton like they did Marleau. He won’t be logging the nearly 17 minutes Marleau averaged in his two Leafs...

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2020-10-17 03:00:37Z
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