Joe Thornton signs with the Leafs

Long time San Jose Sharks veteran Joe Thornton has finally made his decision to leave them and sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

He will earn the minimum wage of $700,000.

The veteran is following in the footsteps of his (former) teammate Patrick Marleau, who also left the Sharks for the Leafs a few years ago.

Jumbo Joe will be earning minimum wage and will have no bonuses. This will help the Leafs, who are struggling with salary cap issues.

He also has a no-movement clause.

The Leafs’ interest in the center had been known for a long time and Elliotte Friedman reported in the last few minutes that Jumbo Joe had a good chance of making it to the Leafs.

The Sportsnet informant had been the first to cite the interest a long time ago, but he reminded us not to underestimate Joe’s loyalty to the Sharks, with whom he’s been with for the past 15 years.

Thornton will complete an interesting center line behind Tavares, Matthews and Kerfoot.

The excellent passer will be a perfect addition not only in terms of production, but also leadership. After all, even though he doesn’t have a Stanley Cup, he has been through many playoffs battles.

So a great signing from the Leafs considering they have very little cap space. And since there’s no risk, they can’t really regret it.

Joe Thornton’s contract with the #leafs includes no 35-plus performance bonuses. He signed just for the league minimum salary: $700,000.

Big help for Toronto’s cap situation.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) October 16, 2020

Speaking of winning the Cup, his chances are better in Toronto than in San Jose whwere a rebuilt has taken place. Thornton is one of those players like Ray Bourque a few years back who is looking at winning the holy grail before hanging them up. At 41, Thornton has 1636 NHL games played with 420 goals and 1089 assists for 1509 points.

Just a reminder that Thornton is currently playing in Switzerland (on a volunteer basis). He will return to Toronto when the Leafs training camp starts.