Joe Thornton left a lasting impact on the ice in the Bay Area, ranking second on the Sharks' all-time points list after 15 seasons in San Jose. However, Jumbo Joe - who signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday - was also one of the team's most beloved players off the ice.

That was evident after Thornton called members of the Sharks before news broke of his signing with the Leafs, per The Athletic's Kevin Kurz. It was also made clear by all the support Thronton's ex-teammates gave to the greatest player in Sharks franchise history.

Thornton is still chasing his first career Stanley Cup.

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Jumbo Joe is coming to T.O.

The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Joe Thornton to a one-year contract worth the league minimum of $700,000, the team announced Friday.

The future Hall of Famer is 41 years old now. He tallied seven goals and 24 assists in 70 games with the San Jose Sharks last year.

Thornton is one of the most decorated players of all time, but he's still missing a Stanley Cup from his resume. The Leafs, although talented, have not won a Stanley Cup since 1967 and a playoff series since 2004.

He's currently training overseas with HC Davos of the Swiss league.

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The majority of the marquee free agents are now off the board, but Mike Hoffman continues to search for his next destination. It was reported Thursday that the 30-year-old is open to signing a one-year contract, which gives prospective teams more flexibility to bring in the dangerous goal-scorer.

Here are five clubs in a position to make a splash by bringing in Hoffman for one season.

Nashville Predators

Projected cap space: $12.94M
Roster size: 19
RFAs: F Luke Kunin

The Predators have been contenders for years and boast one of the league's top defensive cores. Despite their skill at forward, however, their offense still leaves something to be desired. Hoffman has his faults, but there's no denying his goal-scoring talent. Adding the sniper for one year could just be the missing piece that puts the Nashville over the top.

Nashville ranks 18th in goals per game since the start of the 2018-19 campaign, and Hoffman would have led the club in tallies in each of those two seasons. The Ontario native isn't a great scorer at five-on-five, but his services on the man advantage would be invaluable for the Predators, who have been abysmal in that department in recent years. Nashville's power play placed 31st and 25th over the previous two seasons, while Hoffman ranks fifth among all players with 28 power-play markers over that span.

General manager Dave Poile said Thursday that he'll continue to search for ways to improve his club this offseason. With plenty of cap space and a nearly full roster, swinging on Hoffman with a low-risk, high-reward deal seems like an enticing option.

Boston Bruins

Project cap space: $10.35M
Roster size: 21
RFAs: F Jake DeBrusk, D Matt Grzelcyk

The Bruins were reportedly interested in most of the big-name free agents such as Taylor Hall and Alex Pietrangelo but ultimately lost out. Now, with a depleted free-agent group to chose from, it could prove wise to bring in Hoffman on a one-year contract.

Boston has the cap space to make a one-year deal work, and it's been made clear that the club has been looking for a winger to play on the second line with David Krejci to complement the team's top trio. Now that Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak may miss a portion of next season after undergoing surgeries recently, Hoffman's talents could be more necessary than ever.

Last season, Patrice Bergeron, Pastrnak, and Marchand combined to score 107 of Boston's 227 goals (47%). The team is desperate for secondary scoring help, and Hoffman offers just that. There would be little risk in signing him to a short-term contract, and if things go smoothly, the two sides could decide to work out a longer deal in the future. Hoffman's fit on the Bruins makes perfect sense, so perhaps we'll finally see GM Don Sweeney make a big move this offseason.

Los Angeles Kings

Projected cap space: $13.62M
Roster size: 19
RFAs: None

The Kings don't appear to be an obvious landing spot for Hoffman, but hear us out. It's unlikely he wins a Stanley Cup there in 2020-21, but Los Angeles is one of the strongest possession teams in the league, and adding a pure goal-scorer like Hoffman could help catalyze an unpolished offense that lacks some touch.

Los Angeles finished 30th in goals per game (2.53) last season, but head coach Todd McLellan saw his club buy into an aggressive, in-your-face brand of hockey that would have yielded better results if it had a few more finishers. The Kings finished in the top 10 in several critical possession metrics at five-on-five.

Captain Anze Kopitar - the Kings' lone 20-goal scorer in 2019-20 - led the team in scoring with 62 points, and Alex Iafallo was the only other player to break 40. Hoffman averaged 61 points over his previous five campaigns, and L.A. adding a dynamic winger alongside Kopitar would undoubtedly bolster the offense. Los Angeles could also use a power-play specialist after finishing 26th on the man advantage last season.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Projected cap space: $13.63M
Roster size: 19
RFAs: F Pierre-Luc Dubois, F Kevin Stenlund, D Vladislav Gavrikov

Columbus isn't exactly a free-agent hot spot, but the Blue Jackets have shown a ton of promise in recent years and have already added offensive depth with the additions of Max Domi, Mikko Koivu, and Mikhail Grigorenko this offseason. The club has a handful of RFAs in need of new deals, but only Dubois is set for a significant pay raise.

Hoffman isn't Artemi Panarin, but the Blue Jackets' upset over the juggernaut Tampa Bay Lightning during the 2019 playoffs is proof of what the team can do when equipped with high-end offensive talent. General manager Jarmo Kekalainen can sell his club as a defensive machine that's one or two premier scorers away from making a serious run, and Hoffman could certainly move the needle.

Signing a one-year deal with the defensive-minded Blue Jackets could pose a risk for Hoffman, but it's unlikely that a potential down year would tarnish his market value in 2021-22. Flanking the wing of either Dubois or Domi doesn't sound like a bad gig, either. Like the Predators and Kings, the Blue Jackets need help on the man advantage, and Hoffman would likely be the club's No. 1 option.

Florida Panthers

Projected cap space: $11.56M
Roster size: 18
RFAs: D MacKenzie Weegar, F Aleksi Saarela

The Panthers' abundance of cap space makes bringing back Hoffman a distinct possibility. Over the past two seasons, his 65 goals rank first on the team and his 129 points rank third. Florida already lost Evgenii Dadonov to the Ottawa Senators, so with a glaring hole at left wing, the club can ill afford to lose Hoffman too.

GM Bill Zito has been busy in his first few months with the team, bringing in the likes of Patric Hornqvist, Alexander Wennberg, Vinnie Hinostroza, and Carter Verhaeghe. The four forwards combined for 36 goals last season - Hoffman buried 29 on his own.

Replacing a lethal goal-scorer is never an easy task, and few options remain on the market for Florida at this point in the offseason. With the cap space to make it work, perhaps Hoffman circles back and signs for one year before hitting free agency again next season.

(Analytics source: Natural Stat Trick)

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The Calgary Flames have signed forward Andrew Mangiapane to a two-year deal worth $4.85 million, the team announced Friday.

Mangiapane was a restricted free agent and had an arbitration hearing set for Oct. 20. His new deal carries an average annual value of $2.425 million.

The 24-year-old tallied career highs with 17 goals and 15 assists over 68 games in 2019-20 after signing a one-year pact worth $715,000 with the Flames last offseason. He added two goals and five points through 10 playoff contests.

Calgary selected Mangiapane in the sixth round of the 2015 NHL Draft.

The Flames have just under $4 million in projected cap space with one remaining restricted free agent in defenseman Oliver Kylington, according to CapFriendly.

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Salary arbitration hearings for restricted free agents will begin next week, the NHLPA announced Tuesday.

Here's the full schedule:

Players can still re-sign with their teams prior to their hearings.

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After seven months away from his place of work, an amateur scout for an NHL club drove into the parking lot of a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League arena and found a prime spot. The lot, usually bustling on game nights, was nearly empty.

The scout, who had been asked by the league to register for the game 24 hours in advance, confirmed his identity at the arena entrance. Someone took his temperature and he filled out two COVID-19 forms - one to collect information for contact tracing, the other to screen for symptoms.

A set of doors led to an empty rink featuring roped-off sections for the 20 or so scouts on hand for a rare live viewing. Each of them wore their mandatory face covering. There was no mingling due to physical distancing rules, no customary pregame scout's meal; music blared from the speakers, for nobody in particular, before and during the fanless game.

From a player evaluation perspective, the game felt relatively normal - the scout could do his job. Otherwise, the experience was a little surreal. "Weird. That's the way I would best describe it," said the scout, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as he's not authorized by his employer to talk to the media.

Amid a global pandemic, hockey scouts are far from the only group of people being forced to recalibrate. Everybody, in some way, is sacrificing in 2020. Still, there's no denying these creatures of habit - whose job it is to project the future performance of teenage hockey players in large part based on these in-person viewings - are operating under suboptimal conditions.

COVID-19 interrupted the 2019-20 scouting season in March before the evaluation process for last week's two-day draft could be wrapped up. It wasn't ideal. However, properly evaluating prospects for the 2021 draft will be an infinitely more difficult undertaking for all 31 teams. So much is unknown.

"It's challenging for every NHL organization," Arizona Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong said. "I think the good news is that whenever something happens, you have to find a way around it. You have to adapt. My dad used to always talk about it: 'Adapt or die, son. Adapt or die.' That's what this situation is about."

Live viewings are the bedrock of the evaluation process. In person, scouts can watch an entire play develop before their eyes, zero in on certain players for a full shift, and monitor body language between whistles. Thorough scouting reports are formed after seeing a kid a half dozen times.

"You get the feel of the game," director of NHL Central Scouting Dan Marr said. "You get to see the mannerisms of the players. You get to see what leads up to the big plays. You get to see how the player handles adversity within the specific game. You don't necessarily catch all of that on video."

Right now, for a large chunk of NHL scouts, live-game scouting remains a fantasy.

Of the five most prominent junior leagues in North America, the QMJHL is the only one that has launched a 2020-21 season, though it has already gone off the rails. Twenty-six people within two teams tested positive for COVID-19 and a slew of games were postponed. Elsewhere, the United States Hockey League is targeting a November start, both the Ontario Hockey League and B.C. Hockey League are aiming for December, and the Western Hockey League has its sights set on January. Generating some semblance of revenue, solving logistical puzzles, and keeping everyone safe and healthy are just some of the challenges facing these development leagues.

"A lot of these other leagues have their dates sort of written in pencil rather than in pen at this point, and that's all going to be determined based on how things play out with the pandemic," assistant GM and director of scouting for the Nashville Predators Jeff Kealty said recently.

European leagues are on a better track. Action is well underway in Sweden, Finland, and Russia - which is both a blessing and a curse for NHL teams who don't have a huge scouting presence overseas. If they wanted to ship a few scouts to Europe, it would come at a hefty price during a time in which budgets are tight across the league. It would also involve heavy lifting at the government level with so many international borders closed.

"Right now, the most important thing is just the safety of, first of all, those (development) leagues, those players and staffs in those leagues, and the safety of our scouts," Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill said. "We're like everybody else in the world. We're going to monitor this, make adjustments as we go, and see what's the best way to go."

"We'll adjust, and it probably means when we do get (traveling), it'll be a lot of nights on the road," Washington Capitals assistant GM Ross Mahoney added with a whimsical laugh. "Try to catch up with everybody."

Annual specialty events are hit or miss at this point, too. The world junior championship, which starts the day after Christmas, will be held in a secure bubble in Edmonton. But the Hlinka Gretzky Cup was canceled, and other important showcases such as the CHL Top Prospects Game and the USA Hockey All-American Game could also end up being postponed or canceled.

Last week, The Athletic's Corey Pronman released a top-35 player ranking for the 2021 NHL Draft. Of those 35 upper-echelon players, 15 have yet to appear in a game this fall. All of this uncertainty about schedules and limited access to rinks makes you wonder how exactly NHL teams can be expected to gather adequate intel on some of these prospects. As Armstrong noted, every team is at the same disadvantage - but that doesn't make it easy.

Will we look back on the 2021 draft in 10 years and chuckle at how teams were completely off in their projections for these players? Or will certain NHL clubs shine during a chaotic period that will surely test a scout's eye?

"I can tell you right now, I've watched a lot of the players for the 2021 draft, and do I want to see them more? Absolutely. And I know NHL teams do too," said former NHL GM Craig Button, who's led the draft coverage for years at the Canadian TV network TSN.

"But I have a lot of confidence in what I've seen up until this time because of watching them at 15, 16 years old. That's where NHL teams are going to have to evaluate their processes." Teams that have taken a longer view of a player’s development, he believes, won’t be as adrift as those who only rely on draft-year scouting.

For the time being, adapting means managers and scouts retreating back to their home offices to pour over video. There was roughly half a year between the stoppage of the 2019-20 season and the 2020 draft, so the industry has already learned from being thrust into using technology for evaluation purposes at the end of the last scouting cycle.

Every organization has a different philosophy, though, and some started the 2021 process better equipped to deal with this mess. For example, one of the amateur scouts on Mahoney's staff has long been tasked with covering pre-draft eligible players, giving the Capitals a head start on each incoming class. He'll be relied upon even more to provide baseline knowledge of the 2021 kids.

The Buffalo Sabres have one of the smallest scouting staffs in the league after enduring a staffing purge in June. Yet, director of scouting Jeremiah Crowe believes the current climate could actually be a sweet spot for the Sabres. The club wasn't afraid to dive deep into video and analytics to slot players on their 2020 draft board, and it sounds like they won't be shy to do so again in 2021.

"I do think this process might make us a little bit uniquely suited to be prepared to cover (the 2021) draft class, just because we've ensured that we have full coverage from a video perspective of levels all around the world," Crowe said.

His staff will be ready to resume live viewing but can easily maintain their current operation for 2021.

Both Armstrong and Crowe hinted at the cost-effectiveness of scouting through video. Perhaps this unexpected detour for the industry will change some minds about the validity of evaluating prospects via the camera's eye.

"It's been unique to tweak a process through video because when you're live-scouting, you go to a game and you fill out a game report. That's a snapshot, which is obviously of value," Crowe said. "But you can watch three games of players in a row (on video) and fill out one game report and get closer to reality in many cases, too, and be more efficient, and 'cover' more ground than you could if you were actually covering ground."

As noted by an amateur scout based in the U.S., this season will not only test the trust between area scouts and their superiors, it will also test teams' flexibility.

"Teams that collaborate well, work well with each other, have experience using video, those are the organizations that are going to have an advantage going into the 2021 draft," he said. "Teams that are dependent on seeing guys live, if that's the meat of your process, you're behind.

"Maybe this is the year," the scout added, "we use more data, deploy our analytics people more, and give them a bigger seat at the table."

Scouts have also relied on the opinions of people close to players, and knowing how to filter and interpret that information - separating the genuine analysis from the sales jobs - will be a key skill. Perhaps they can use this awkward period away from the rinks to make extra phone calls to a minor hockey coach or junior hockey trainer to dig into the player's history.

The NHL scouting combine, which typically runs each May in Buffalo, was canceled for the 2020 draft. If the world is still grappling with the pandemic next spring, physical testing could again be a missing link in the evaluation process. Technology has allowed teams to replicate the combine's in-person interviews, and both teams and players seem OK with the new normal.

Scouting for the 2021 draft will be about filling in the gaps created when the entire system was upended. Can a team learn more about a player's character or psychological makeup to shore up a report deemed incomplete due to a lack of live viewings? Can video and analytics identify underrated talents? How can an organization unearth a competitive advantage in undesirable circumstances?

"There's no question it's going to be different, and we're going to have to find ways to get it done. Just like we did to get ready for this draft," Kealty noted.

Said one Ontario-based scout: "The 2021 draft is going to be the strangest one."

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

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