New Leafs defenceman Henry Thrun grew up a Bruins fan. He's anxious to see the other side

Toronto Star

2 days ago

Henry Thrun began his first media conference as a Maple Leaf with a confession.
'As much as I hate to say it, I was a Bruins fan growing up,' he said.
Childhood loyalties aside, the 24-year-old defenceman, acquired in the trade that sent Ryan Reaves to the San Jose Sharks last week, said he was happy to be the newest member of the Leafs. Thrun grew up in the Boston suburb of Southborough, not to be confused with Scarborough, which means he'll arrive in Toronto relatively well-versed in at least a few recent chapters of Toronto's difficult post-season story arc.
'I knew the Toronto-Boston rivalry and kind of the history that they've seen in the playoffs, and just knowing how electric of a hockey market (Toronto) is,' Thrun said. 'When (Sharks general manager Mike Grier) told me I was traded, it was definitely a nice way for that phone call to wrap up, just knowing I was going to a city like Toronto, just knowing the history and the success that the team has had the past couple of years, with obviously the end goal still in sight. There's more to push for.'
That there's 'more to push for,' of course, is a kind way of saying a team that has won two playoff series in its most recent nine playoff runs has massively underachieved. But achievement is relative. And Thrun, after spending the past two-plus seasons with the league's worst team in San Jose, would be taking a big step up in class if he can carve out a role with the Leafs.
Exactly what that role will be is anybody's guess. Not that the trade didn't make sense. The Leafs had essentially given up on Reaves, who played in just 35 games last season and did not see the ice in the playoffs. Moving out the remaining year on Reaves' contract, with a $1.35-million (U.S.) cap hit, in exchange for the remaining year on Thrun's $1-million deal offered salary-cap savings.
Still, Thrun, a fourth-round 2019 draft pick of the Ducks who signed in San Jose as a free agent after his junior year at Harvard, is far from a proven commodity as an NHL regular. He has played 119 NHL games as a second- and third-pairing guy on a bottom-feeding team. Grier told reporters in San Jose last week that the Sharks' depth chart was such that Thrun was going to be in tough to earn regular playing time this coming season.
'It's going to be heavy competition here (for spots in the lineup on defence),' Grier said. 'And at the end day, I think this (trade) might help Henry out as well.'
If Thrun was going to have a hard time finding ice time on the back end of the reigning basement dwellers, it's difficult to know where he slots on a Leafs blue line where the top six spots appear spoken for.
Then again, depth never hurts. And perhaps Toronto's perceived defensive surplus means it's the logical place from which to eventually pluck a trade piece to service GM Brad Treliving's self-announced need for another top-six forward.
It's possible, of course, that the Leafs see untapped potential in Thrun, a left-shot blueliner who made the case on Monday that his puck-moving skills weren't exactly showcased in San Jose, where it's safe to say the Sharks spent plenty of time in their own end.
Perhaps the game will look different for Thrun in Toronto, even if Reaves offered a cautionary view of life as a Leaf in his introductory media availability in San Jose last week.
'I started the season two years ago really well, and then things were just going really wrong for me. All of a sudden the whole city wanted me out of there. I don't think you see that in other organizations,' Reaves said.
Reaves was right about his great beginning: In his first two games as a Maple Leaf in engaged in a pair of fights. But less than a month into his first of two seasons in Toronto the fundamental worth of carrying a so-called enforcer on an NHL roster was called into question when Boston's Brad Marchand delivered a dirty hit that injured then-Leaf Timothy Liljegren. That nobody on the Leafs, including Reaves, offered any sort of response did not sit well.
Liljegren, of course, now plays in San Jose, where he and Thrun were neighbours and friends.
'I got to hear (from Liljegren) a little about Toronto, and just, you know how passionate the fans are and how first class in the organization it is,' Thrun said. 'So it's something that I've only heard good things, and I'm excited to see it all firsthand and experience it.'