Jumbo Joe signs in the Sunshine State

Some interesting news coming out of the Sunshine State on Friday as the Florida Panthers have announced a 1-year deal for 42-year-old "Jumbo" Joe Thornton.

Panthers GM Bill Zito also released a statement on bringing Thornton into the fold in South Florida, leaning on Thornton's accumulated expertise as a key contributing factor in the decision to bring the veteran forward in.

"With more than 1,600 games played in the NHL, Joe will bring a wealth of experience to our locker room and lineup," said Zito in his statement. "His drive to succeed is unmistakable and we are thrilled that he chose to sign with our club and that he believes in what we are building here in South Florida."

Thornton spent last season in Toronto as a member of the Maple Leafs, seeing some ice time on the team's top line with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner prior to suffering a rib injury against the Edmonton Oilers, following a stiff body check from Oilers winger Josh Archibald early on in the season. What followed when Thornton returned was a gradual descent down the depth chart, playing mostly 4th line minutes down the stretch and in the playoffs.

Despite his advanced age, Thornton fared quite well in Toronto on the score sheet, tallying 5 goals and 20 points in 44 games.

In Thornton, the Panthers are getting a 23-year NHL veteran with 1,680 regular season games played over that span, and 1,529 career points to show for his efforts. Thornton is also a guy who has been in the deep water in the postseason, boasting 186 games of playoff experience, with an additional 134 points coming in the postseason.

If Thornton's goal was to sign with a team that gave him the best chance to win a Stanley Cup before riding off into the sunset, he picked a team that will give him a pretty good shot at accomplishing that goal, with the Panthers having improved year over year and making some significant moves in recent years - including the Sam Reinhart deal and subsequent signing earlier this week to a 3-year, $19.5M deal.

Thornton's new deal will pay him a league minimum of $750,000.

MUST READ

2 minutes ago  |  By Jonathan Ouimet Larkin asked Yzerman for help. The answer: time to move on

35 minutes ago  |  By Jonathan Ouimet For once everyone agrees and the NHL will finally do something about it

1 hour ago  |  By Vincent Carbonneau New details are emerging about Quinn Hughes and Detroit's missed opportunity

2 hours ago  |  By Vincent Carbonneau More details surfaced as former NHL enforcer Link Gaetz is wanted by police and hockey fans are stunned

3 hours ago  |  By Vincent Carbonneau The hockey world is buzzing after details of an Andrei Vasilevskiy police incident emerged

4 hours ago  |  By Vincent Carbonneau Toronto has finally responded to Gavin McKenna's controversial incident

4 hours ago  |  By Vincent Carbonneau The Dylan Larkin rumors just reached another level after latest Oilers development

5 hours ago  |  By Vincent Carbonneau John Tortorella finally broke his silence on Brayden McNabb's status ahead of Game 3

MORE STORIES