Joe Thornton cleared to play on Monday after missing 10 games with a rib injury
The Toronto Maple Leafs inch closer to a healthy lineup as the team announced on Sunday that forward Joe Thornton has been cleared to return to action on Monday evening against the Ottawa Senators.
The team has no doubt missed Thornton's enormous presence over the last 10 games, despite performing at a very high level and posting an 8-1-1 record through the 10 games that he was sidelined - especially after losing another key veteran leader in Wayne Simmonds, who was lost just a handful of games later due to a broken wrist.
Thornton was injured in the 3rd period of a 3-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on January 20th after taking a hard, clean hit from Oilers forward Josh Archibald.
Thornton skated with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner on Sunday, but there has been no confirmation yet as to where he will slot into the lineup on Monday.
One interesting thing to note is that Zach Hyman has registered 7 points in his last 5 games in a 1st line role with Matthews and Marner. Sheldon Keefe will have a tough decision to make ahead of Monday's game at Scotiabank Arena.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Conor Garland | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Dylan Guenther | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Nick Schmaltz | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Jake Debrusk | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jack McBain | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alex Newhook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mikhail Sergachev | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jayden Struble | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Cole Caufield | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Logan Cooley | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Christian Dvorak | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Barrett Hayton | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Quinn Hughes | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Clayton Keller | - | 1 | 1 | |
| David Savard | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Pius Suter | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Arber Xhekaj | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Joel Armia | - | - | - | |
| Arshdeep Bains | - | - | - | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 22 | 18 | 4 | - | 36 | |
Devils | 24 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 32 | |
Hurricanes | 21 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 31 | |
Wild | 21 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 30 | |
Golden Knights | 22 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 30 | |
Capitals | 21 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 29 | |
Maple Leafs | 21 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 28 | |
Flames | 22 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 27 | |
Stars | 20 | 13 | 7 | - | 26 | |
Rangers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||