As you might have already heard, the Toronto Maple Leafs were able to lure NHL legend Joe Thornton north of the border to his home province on a one-year deal, and the entire fan base was over the moon about it.
The Maple Leafs were probably one of the last teams that we expected were going to have issues with well-respected veterans having the same number, but it’s 2020, so here we are. Beloved Leafs vet Jason Spezza and newly-acquired Joe Thornton are both known to rock number 19, so the question of ‘who’s gunna get to wear it?’ came up right away.
Yesterday, the Leafs announced what numbers their newly-acquired players would wear, and it was revealed that Thornton would be rocking number 97.
Good thing nobody else in the league wears that number, right?
Even though it was to be expected that these two long-time pros would handle this like pros, many people wondered how they came to this decision.
Leave it to Pierre LeBrun to give us the answers we need.
Nice to know that there’s a lot of respect between these two legends, and we can’t wait to see them both on the ice this upcoming season.
