Joe Thornton Needs To Lawyer Up And Sue The Maple Leafs After Toronto Blew A 3-1 Series Lead
Icon Sportswire. Getty Images.Previously on "NHL stars who should sue their shit head organizations"….
I mean….what the fuck.
You knew as soon as Toronto couldn't close out the series in game 5 that there was a chance of this happening. It's the Leafs, afterall. One of the most cursed organizations in all of sports. But to lose in the fashion that these losers lost in? Good grief.
When Jumbo signed in Toronto back in October, it seemed like maybe the tide was turning. It seemed like the Leafs were finally putting together a team that should be able to play deep in the playoffs. They have a filthy young core and then added some real solid veteran pieces like Thornton, Spezza, Simmonds, and Bogosian. All the type of players you want in your locker room for a long postseason run. But the type of players you want on the ice for a long postseason run? The superstars you pay 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 million dollars to produce?
I mean holy shit, boys. Just like that, the 2021 Art Ross trophy winner and the 2021 Rocket Richard winner are both out of the playoffs after round 1. Just goes to show you that the regular season production in the NHL doesn't mean shit. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are an entirely different beast. And the Toronto Maple Leafs are paying $22-23 million for these two to not be able to figure it out. And most importantly, they may have just wasted the final year of Joe Thornton's career because they emptied their gas tank in the regular season and completely forgot how to produce when it actually matters.
Jumbo could have had a kick ass time just chilling in Switzerland with his tarp off all year. But he chose to head back home to Toronto and try to finally get his hands on Lord Stanley's Cup with the Leafs. They had the team to do it and they blew it. They blew it so hard. This team was one goal away from closing out the series in overtime of game 5, and instead they managed to lose 3 straight to get bounced in the 1st round of the playoffs for the 5th straight year (and technically they lost in the qualifying round last year so that makes it even worse).
So now the Leafs have a ton of tough decisions to make this offseason. It's clearly not working with Matthews and Marner for whatever reason. They have way too much money tied up in guys who play so incredibly small when they're needed the most. But before Kyle Dubas makes any decision this offseason, he should be awaiting a call from Joe Thornton's lawyer. Because reparations are in order.
Sidenote: The Habs are such a pain in the ass to play against in the playoffs. They're speedy, they're gritty, they're pesky, and they've got a ton of skill with Caufield, Suzuki, Danault and Gallagher. They may not win the Cup but when you've got a team that drains the shit out of you for 60 minutes every night plus an elite goalie in Carey Price, there's no reason to think they're even close to done yet.