Some Toronto Maple Leafs Fans Are Blaming Joe Thornton for Recent Losing Streak

In fact, Joe Thornton was on the Maple Leafs the year that they gave up a 3-1 lead in the playoffs to the Montreal Canadiens.

It was yet another example of Thornton failing in the playoffs which is something he did for his entire 25-year NHL career.

Now, Jumbo Joe is retired, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are going through a mid-season losing streak.

The team has lost three in a row and the timing is pretty odd as it comes on the heels of the squad's recent mentor's trip.

Interestingly enough, Thornton joined the team on the trip as he was a guest of Auston Matthews. While the team enjoyed having the legend around, it seems as though fans are pointing to him as a scapegoat for why things are going down the drain.

In the tweets above, you can see numerous fans make the claim that Thornton had a negative impact on the accountability levels of guys like Matthews, Mitch Marner, and even William Nylander.

The evidence for such claims came in the Amazon documentary which did not paint the future Hall of Famer in the best light.

Throughout the documentary, he could be seen giving a lackluster effort while not understanding why losing streaks might be a bad thing.

Now that he is back around the team, there is this belief that he may have ruined what was otherwise a pretty great season.

Of course, this all seems like astrology on the part of Leafs fans, but it is a real discourse that is happening, hence why we're reporting on it.