“I Will Always Be Retired”: Maple Leafs Reflecting on His Time Spent Skating With Joe Thornton, Who Joked That He Would Never Give Up Joe Thornton announced his retirement after a protracted period of inaction. Auston Matthews, a forward for the Toronto Maple Leafs, thought back on his one season playing with the great player.
Boston —Like many of his Toronto Maple Leafs teammates, Auston Matthews laughed heartily upon seeing Joe Thornton’s social media retirement announcement.
Matthews said of his chat with Thornton, “We joked about it because I remember asking him when he was kind of done playing and he said, ‘I’m never retiring.'”
Although Thornton played his final NHL game with the Florida Panthers during the 2022 NHL Playoffs, he did not formally declare his retirement until this past weekend.
In 2021, the 44-year-old played with the Maple Leafs for a single season. The Canadian clubs played in the temporarily established “North Division,” which consisted solely of Canadian teams, during the COVID-19 season.
But that didn’t stop ‘Jumbo’ from being the crazy guy he always was.
Mitch Marner and Matthews became great friends for Thornton.
“It was awesome to spend even one year with him and we got a great relationship,” Matthews stated. “We keep in touch and talk a lot.”Matthews and Thornton remained friends even after they became teammates, going on a couple trips to Vegas together, including to see UFC 264.Thornton, who was with the Leafs for 41 years, 303 days, became the team’s oldest goal scorer during that time. With Mark Giordano, the oldest player in the league, having recently turned 40, the record might stand for a while given the way things are going in the NHL.
Matthews claimed that despite his advanced age, Thornton behaved like a young man around Toronto.
“He’s always such high energy.”
Throughout the past few years, a number of veterans have made appearances for the Maple Leafs, including Thornton. Along with Jason Spezza and Patrick Marleau, he assisted Toronto’s younger core of players in their early years in acclimating to the rigors of an NHL schedule, including Matthews.”He loves going to the rink every day, no matter what’s going on. The Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said of Thornton, “The NHL is a daunting league whether it’s a schedule or your opponent, or the expectations, or whatever it might be.” Joe consistently makes the most of and enjoys each day. Therefore, I do believe that plays a role. You still only feel grateful that you were a part of it.”
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