A Toronto Maple Leafs' leadership group that already contained captain John Tavares, long-tenured defenseman Morgan Rielly, seasoned veteran Jason Spezza, elite sniper Auston Matthews, hard-hitting Jake Muzzin and 2018-19 Maple Leafs points leader Mitch Marner grew exponentially during the offseason, with the signings of Wayne Simmonds, T.J. Brodie, Zach Bogosian and Joe Thornton and the added experience they bring with them - especially when it comes to the 1636-game NHL veteran Thornton.
Thornton, 41, is beloved among teammates past and present for his leadership qualities and also for the amount he demands of himself and of those surrounding him both on and off the ice. He has never been one to shy away from being vocal in the locker room and providing guidance and support to his teammates - and even lighting a fire under someone on his team who might need it.
The most important thing about Thornton is that he leads by example and leaves it all out on the ice. Though he's served as a captain for both the Boston Bruins and the San Jose Sharks, he doesn't need a letter on his jersey to be a leader in the locker room. That is precisely the message that he wished to send on Friday when he offered his voice up to Leafs captain John Tavares if and when he ever needs some support.
"He [Tavares] can lean on me as much as he wants," said Jumbo. "I can be vocal within the locker room. For me, all I want to do is help guys," he continued.
Though Tavares has worn the "C" with pride in Toronto, and is a prime example of how you want a player to handle himself both on and off the ice, he is certainly not the loudest voice in the room. Though he may still command a similar level of respect to what other NHL captains do, at times, you just need that grizzled veteran to grab the attention of every guy in the room - and Joe Thornton is that grizzled veteran.
Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe seems to see the value in Thornton's huge presence and personality as well, as is evidenced by the fact that not only has he placed Thornton on the top line alongside young superstars Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, but he has also split up his big PP1 group to spread the talent across two units to create some space for Thornton on PP1.
The Maple Leafs will be looking at rolling out two much more balanced groups with the man-advantage, distributing ice-time more evenly amongst each group, as opposed to loading up with one unit and then having a secondary unit to use as needed. These are the new units, per Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.
Matthews/Marner/Thornton/ Simmonds/Rielly
Tavares/Nylander/Hyman/ Spezza/Lehtonen
Lehtonen is an interesting name to see for some, however, his elite-level performance in Europe combined with his impressive showing early on in training camp has earned the 2020-21 KHL defensive scoring leader a look on a very strong-looking Leafs' second powerplay unit.
Buckle up, ladies and gentlemen. This season looks like it's going to be a fun one if you're a Leafs fan.
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