Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews has chosen San Jose Sharks legend Joe Thornton as his mentor for his upcoming mentors road trip.
Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews has chosen San Jose Sharks legend Joe Thornton as his mentor for his upcoming mentors road trip.
Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews has chosen San Jose Sharks legend Joe Thornton as his mentor for his upcoming mentors road trip.
Matthews and Thornton played together on the Maple Leafs during the 20-21 season. Matthews has also played with and has a strong connection to fellow Sharks legend Patrick Marleau.
NHL teams often have Mother or Father trips, but the introduction of Mentor trips has begun to catch on throughout the league.
Matthews was the first overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft and can relate to Sharks 2024 No. 1 pick Macklin Celebrini regarding his experience with Jumbo Joe.
When it was announced that Celebrini would be living with Thornton, Matthews commented on the matter in a story on NHL.com.
"'Jumbo' got the master. We all had our own rooms. I was down in the basement. The rink was just, like, a two-second walk. It had a gymnastics area, a basketball court. We would play a basketball game, 2-on-2, to warm up, and then we'd get on the ice," Matthews said. "Yeah, it was two weeks of just hanging out. Jumbo just made it, like, so fun because of who he is. It was our first interaction with him. Yeah, we had an unbelievable time. Those two weeks flew by."
The Maple Leafs will embark on a two-game road trip, facing the Philadelphia Flyers and Carolina Hurricanes. Thornton and other Maple Leafs legends Doug Gilmore and Wendel Clark will accompany the Leafs as other mentors.
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