Joe Thornton Searches For His Storybook Ending in Toronto
The underdog story in sports comes in a variety of different incarnations. There is the classic version, that of the plucky upstart who no one expected, whether team or individual, overcoming obviously extreme odds in order to defeat a heavily favored rival in a championship matchup- the sports equivalent to David slaying Goliath. But there is a version of the underdog story that is slightly less apparent, but, for this writer at least, no less compelling.
The protagonist of this type of underdog story is a star athlete in their sport of choice, racking up numbers and individual accolades. However, something is missing, usually taking the form of said athlete continually failing to duplicate their regular season success in the playoffs. So every year when the playoffs roll around, these stars achieve an underdog status because the majority of observers expect them to fail in spite of their greatness. Peyton Manning fit into this category in the first half of his career, before he finally overcame it by winning his first of what would be two Super Bowls in 2007. So was Lebron James before his first NBA title in 2012. Clayton Kershaw may or may not overcome this status in the 2020 World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The sport of hockey has seen examples of this type of star underdog narrative as well. Legendary defenseman Ray Bourque fell short of the Stanley Cup for twenty years with the Boston Bruins before his moment finally arrived in 2001 with the Colorado Avalanche. And for much of the 1980s and 1990s, Detroit Red Wings center and future Hall of Famer Steve Yzerman was viewed as incapable of leading his team to the Stanley Cup before finally delivering one to Hockeytown in 1997.
That same year saw a young man from St. Thomas, Ontario selected first overall by the Boston Bruins in the NHL Entry Draft. Nicknamed “Jumbo” for his size and for the fact that his hometown was where the famous elephant “Jumbo” (to this day the mascot of Tufts University) died in 1885, Joe Thornton was pegged to be one of the future superstars of the league. Although he started off slowly with only seven points in his rookie season, Thornton would soon fulfill the colossal expectations placed on his shoulders, becoming one of the league’s top players.
Thornton’s ability to see his teammates on the ice and find them with uncannily accurate passes established him as one of the league’s top playmakers and indeed, one of the top playmakers in the history of the NHL. As of today, his 1,089 career assists puts him at seventh all time in the history of the league. In 2005–06, Thornton won the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player, putting up 96 assists and 125 total points to lead the league. However, one thing has eluded Thornton his entire career, and that is the Stanley Cup trophy.
Despite already putting up fantastic numbers in Boston, Thornton’s inability to lead the team to postseason success prompted the Bruins to move him to the San Jose Sharks in a shocking trade that remains controversial in the hockey world even today, fifteen years after the fact. For all of this time in San Jose, Thornton was the face of the Sharks franchise and cemented himself as a future Hall of Famer.
Yet his inability to deliver his team the ultimate prize persisted on the West Coast. With Thornton, the Sharks made the playoffs every year of his tenure save two. They won the Presidents Trophy for the league’s best regular season record in 2008–09, and in 2016, with Thornton leading the way, they made the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history. But in that finals they fell to Sidney Crosby’s Pittsburgh Penguins in six games, and the cup remained out of Thornton’s reach.
“Jumbo Joe” has achieved everything that an NHL player can in his career except for that elusive championship. He remains well aware of this failing, and seems to want to rectify it badly- expressing his disappointment that the Sharks, who were out of playoff contention at last year’s trade deadline, failed to move him to a contending team. However, the arrival of the offseason and unrestricted free agency gave Thornton the ability to write the next chapter of his career’s story.
Like Thornton himself, the Toronto Maple Leafs have a long history of playoff disappointment. They have not won the Stanley Cup since 1967, and have failed to even win a single playoff series since 2004. Nevertheless, they have assembled a very strong core of young players such as defenseman Morgan Rielly, wingers Mitch Marner and William Nylander, and goal-scoring center Auston Matthews, like Thornton a former first overall draft pick in 2016, seventeen years after Thornton entered the league.
Acquiring Thornton is part of Toronto’s strategy of bringing in proven veteran players to augment their young core players. Thornton is the ultimate veteran- at forty-one years old he is older than both Toronto’s head coach Sheldon Keefe and General Manager Kyle Dubas. While no longer the player he was in his prime, he can still be a positive contributor on the ice- he garnered thirty-one points in seventy games last season, more than adequate for what he will be asked to do in Toronto as their third or fourth line center.
But most importantly, Thornton will be asked to bring a winning combination to Toronto off the ice. The Leafs’ core playeres have all the talent in the world, but questions have been asked about their drive to win. No one can question how much Joe Thornton wants to win the elusive Stanley Cup, and the fact that he sees Toronto as being capable of that shows the faith he has in their young core and its potential. As a longtime fan of Joe Thornton, one cannot help but hope that both Toronto and Jumbo Joe’s story next year finds a storybook ending.
