Man, I keep sayin this- he doesn’t play winning hockey, not in the playoffs at least. He’s like Adam Dunn, or one of those other home run hitters who was deficient at everything else.
I have this whole Charlie Kelly Pepe Silvia conspiracy with Thornton, but it basically boils down to-
1) Injuries. Dude played through a torn ACL and MCL, so we know he was tough and willing to play through injury. He was a big body playing a ton of games, refusing to sit out, and I wonder if that wore him down by the time playoffs rolled around. Nobody loved the game more, so I just can’t imagine it was an effort/prep thing.
2) Strategy. I don’t think Thornton was any worse in the playoffs, but the spacing he feasted on just tightens up a bit in the playoffs. I’d say the team failed to adjust more than anything, Jumbo still made passes when they were there, dudes just flubbed shots and failed to establish position.
3) Marleau. I blame Marleau. Now there was a playoff stinker, and he just sunk Joe with him. Joe would never say that, too nice a guy, as is Pat, but that gentleman lacked any playoff snarl whatsoever.
In summary, Joe did nothing wrong, it was the cowardly Patrick Marleau all along.
Also, Nash is a weird one, because it just felt like he’d be good. Idk how to explain it better, but a lot of these guys I can create a narrative for, even if it’s my own biased BS. Nash I can’t, big scorer, shoulda been better.