One spot that could work out for both sides is the Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche lost depth center Nico Sturm to the San Jose Sharks this offseason, and Thornton could be a possible replacement for the team. Along with this, the Avs won the Stanley Cup last season, so there wouldn't be a better place for Jumbo Joe to chase a Stanley Cup.
Another team that he could look at playing for would be returning to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs could always use another veteran forward for their bottom-six, and Thornton fit in quite well during his first stint with the team. He is good friends with Auston Matthews, so there could be a reunion in the future.
One last team that could be an intriguing option for the 43-year-old would be to join Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers in a Stanley Cup run. The Oilers made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals, but ran out of gas versus the Colorado Avalanche. Thornton could help solve their problems of lack of depth scoring by bringing in some veteran leadership to the young bottom-six forwards.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 18, 2026
| ||||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Zachary Bolduc | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Dahlin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Phillip Danault | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Greenway | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alex Newhook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Kaiden Guhle | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Beck Malenstyn | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ryan McLeod | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Owen Power | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mattias Samuelsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nick Suzuki | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Alexandre Texier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Zach Benson | - | - | - | |
| Bowen Byram | - | - | - | |
| Cole Caufield | - | - | - | |
| Kirby Dach | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Demidov | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||