Spezza offers up his number 19 to the newly signed Joe Thornton
Just a day or so after signing Joe Thornton to a one-year, league minimum $700,000 deal, the Maple Leafs announced the jersey numbers for some of the newcomers, including Zach Bogosian (22), Wayne Simmonds (24), Jimmy Vesey (26), TJ Brodie (78) and the aforementioned Thornton (97).
What the Leafs did not mention, when they made the announcement via the team's official Twitter account, was that Thornton had the opportunity to don his #19, which he has worn throughout his storied NHL career.
Per TSN's Pierre LeBrun, current #19 with the Leafs, Jason Spezza, reached out to Thornton after he signed with the Buds, offering up his jersey number to Jumbo Joe out of respect for the 1,636-game veteran, but a very humbled and honoured Thornton declined the offer extended by his 1,123-game counterpart.
"I have too much respect for him [Thornton] not to offer it," said Spezza of his #19, to which Thornton responded; "It really was [a nice gesture by Spezza]. I couldn't do that to him. He really is a special guy."
A couple of class acts, all the way, and a great showing of mutual respect by the two veteran teammates.
Thornton has previously worn #97 for Team Canada during international play and wears the number for HC Davos in Switzerland currently, while Spezza has worn #19, #39, #90 and #91 at various points throughout his NHL career and during international play.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Tom Wilson | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Alexander Ovechkin | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Brendan Gallagher | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Anthony Cirelli | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Josh Doan | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Pierre-Luc Dubois | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Dylan Guenther | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Victor Hedman | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jack McBain | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Dylan Strome | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jake Guentzel | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Brandon Hagel | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Michael Carcone | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Christian Dvorak | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Zemgus Girgensons | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nick Paul | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brayden Point | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Cam Atkinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| John Carlson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nick Desimone | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 56 | 39 | 14 | 3 | 81 | |
Capitals | 55 | 36 | 11 | 8 | 80 | |
Oilers | 55 | 34 | 17 | 4 | 72 | |
Stars | 55 | 35 | 18 | 2 | 72 | |
Golden Knights | 56 | 33 | 17 | 6 | 72 | |
Panthers | 57 | 34 | 20 | 3 | 71 | |
Hurricanes | 56 | 33 | 19 | 4 | 70 | |
Wild | 56 | 33 | 19 | 4 | 70 | |
Maple Leafs | 55 | 33 | 20 | 2 | 68 | |
Avalanche | 57 | 33 | 22 | 2 | 68 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||