Before the season began, I posted this piece about Joe Thornton and how he remains effective despite his age. The part I didn’t foresee was Thornton riding shotgun with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner from the hop both at 5v5 and on PP1. Thornton’s only played in 12 of 24 games due to injury, but he’s been put in a good position when he’s been in the lineup and he’s been very effective in those minutes.
Eleven points in twelve games is a pretty good pace for a 41-year-old in a sport seemingly skewing younger by the day, but he’s also helped the team suppress scoring chances against them at an elite rate.
No doubt it helps that Thornton is playing almost exclusively with elite players like Matthews, Marner (and recently John Tavares), but to my eye Thornton has been the perfect complement in all three zones.
Just like I had seen in watching Thornton shifts from last season with the San Jose Sharks, I’ve noticed Thornton is still very disruptive on the forecheck on a consistent basis. Sometimes it results in the Leafs recovering the puck and gaining possession of the puck in the offensive zone.
He’s played a couple games alongside Tavares recently and those two together down low in the offensive zone are a lot to handle. They’re both very strong and protect the puck using their bodies and like to cycle it back and forth along the boards until a passing lane opens up. When a lane does open up, Thornton is going to find it and exploit it.
That second clip occurs at the tail end of a shift for Thornton-Tavares-Marner, but after Tavares wraps it to Thornton and he sets up Marner for a good chance in the slot, Thornton is still able to recover the rebound in the corner with a stick lift on Adam Larsson before quickly wrapping it to Zach Bogosian and going for a change. Thornton ensuring the Leafs maintain possession in the offensive zone while he changes is obviously the best way for the next line to start their shift and it’s just another subtly efficient play for him.
Thornton’s strong forechecking doesn’t always result in a direct takeaway, though, and it doesn’t have to in order for it to be effective. In the clip below, Thornton is right on top of Ethan Bear trying to break the puck out and he forces Bear to make an ill-advised pass up the middle where Marner has cut off the lane. The pass deflects off of Marner and to the Oilers’ net where Mike Smith covers it and the Leafs get an offensive zone draw.
Thornton is effective at pressuring opposing puck carriers in the other zones as well, which is also a huge help in his team having the puck so often when he’s out there.
In the clip below, Thornton uses his reach to completely cut off Tyler Ennis’ entry, giving him no lane except the one TJ Brodie is occupying, forcing Ennis to dump it in. The Leafs end up retrieving the puck and breaking out of the zone.
When the Leafs gain possession of the puck and look to break out, Thornton likes to go up into the neutral zone, stretching out the defence and creating space for his teammates coming up ice. He likes to make himself available along the wall where he can make a simple little bump pass into space for his linemates to skate into.
Thornton’s vision and passing ability enable him to make himself useful in transition despite his lack of agility and speed. You’re not going to see him dancing the puck through the neutral zone on his own, but he’s able to create space and then find his teammates with speed, making it easier for them to enter the zone with control of the puck.
This is the furthest thing from new information, but Thornton thrives when his team has possession in the offensive zone. He uses his body to box out defenders down low on the cycle and he’s able to spot passing lanes like nobody else. Thornton also has a lot of reach and is able to extend offensive zone shifts by tying up sticks and winning battles along the boards. These skills translate well to the powerplay as well as Thornton gets to work down low. On the William Nylander powerplay goal below, Thornton ties up the defender’s stick while Tavares knocks the puck off it and then wins the battle in the corner. Nylander gets the loose puck and gets it to Marner and the rest is history. Thornton doesn’t get a point on the play, but without his contribution the Oilers easily clear the puck out and the Leafs are forced to regroup and start again.
On this Morgan Rielly powerplay goal, Thornton again plays a big role in the goal he doesn’t get a point on. Thornton begins the play by wrapping it around the boards, as he does a lot, to Nylander on the far wall. He then makes himself available below the goal line where Nylander finds him. Thornton standing beside the net on the powerplay with Tavares in front of the net is an imminent threat as Thornton has accrued countless assists from below the goal line over his career. Thornton holds onto it until Darnell Nurse is right on top of him, when he gives it back to Nylander. This ensures there are only three Oiler defenders above the goal line and Nylander finds the cross seam lane to Marner, who finds Rielly for a one-timer that ends up in the back of the net. When it does, Thornton is standing right on top of the goaltender, which helps since he’s 6’4 and probably a bit difficult to see around.
Thornton created another powerplay goal on Wednesday night from the net front spot. Marner gives Tavares the shot-pass for a deflection in the middle of the slot like they’ve done a thousand times, but this time Thornton has Nurse boxed out. The deflection goes off Thornton and sits in front of him and Nurse has no chance to get through Thornton. Thornton simply pushes the puck a few inches back to Tavares and it’s on a tee for him for an easy goal.
Thornton has been an absolute pleasure to watch throughout his career and it still feels surreal that we get to watch him do this with the Leafs at a point where they have this amount of elite talent surrounding him. It’s a lot more fun watching him play with players like Tavares, Marner and Matthews who can actually make use of his abilities unlike the last couple seasons when Thornton was strapped to Marcus Sorensen and other random depth players in San Jose. Thornton is such a smart, efficient player and it makes him an entirely unique experience to iso on each game. You learn a lot about the game when you watch him closely and, if he can stay healthy, he’s a huge part of this Leafs team looking to finally get beyond the first round this year in the playoffs.