A new face was wearing an old number on Thursday, as New York Islanders forward Jonathan Drouin stepped onto the ice at Islanders camp with No. 29 stitched across his back.
For over a decade, that number had been synonymous with Brock Nelson, who wore it with pride from 2013 until his trade to Colorado earlier this summer. Drouin becomes the first Islander since Nelson to don 29, and while jersey numbers are just digits on a sweater, this one carried weight.
Drouin, who signed a two-year deal with New York over the offseason, didn’t want to claim the number without first checking in with Nelson, whom he briefly played alongside in Colorado.