Joe Thornton is hoping to finally see his name etched on the Stanley Cup, and he believes the Toronto Maple Leafs offer the best chance to get him there.

"It's the hardest hockey decision I've ever had to make, but I truly believe with the roster they have, with the guys they picked up this offseason, I think this team is ready to win now. I'm ready to win," Thornton said, according to TSN's Kristen Shilton.

"I need to win a Stanley Cup, and I think this is a great team that can do that," he added.

The 41-year-old has been chasing the Cup throughout his 22 NHL seasons. He lost in the finals once and reached the conference finals on three other occasions. He's amassed 133 points in 179 postseason games.

Thornton is particularly impressed by Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen.

"I love their goalie. I like Freddie a lot," he said. "I think that was a big part of my decision, I think he's a great goalie."

Despite the star power currently on the roster, the Maple Leafs haven't reached the second round of the postseason since 2004.

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Joe Thornton was given the opportunity to continue wearing his No. 19 jersey with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he'll take a new number for the first time in nearly 20 years instead.

Jason Spezza, who wears No. 19 for Toronto, offered it to Thornton after the club signed the 41-year-old. But the former Shark declined, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun.

Spezza said he respects Thornton so much that he had to offer the number. And while he certainly appreciated the gesture, Thornton didn't want to take it away from Spezza.

"I couldn't do that to him," Thornton said. "He really is a special guy."

Thornton will wear No. 97 with the Leafs, a number that he's sported in international play throughout his career. He's the first player in Leafs history to don the number.

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The ball is in Zdeno Chara's court.

The Bruins captain is an unrestricted free agent for the first time since arriving in Boston, and general manager Don Sweeney is willing to let the defenseman take his time in making his decision for the 2020-21 season.

"We have communicated consistently with Zdeno and (agent) Matt Keator," Sweeney said, according to Boston Hockey Now's Joe Haggerty. "We're just waiting for him to initiate what he'd like to do moving forward. I feel very comfortable allowing (the decision-making process) to take the necessary time and let Zdeno make his own decisions along that route."

Chara's agent recently said his client is "looking at all options" in free agency, Haggerty adds.

The 43-year-old has spent the last 14 seasons in Boston, winning a Stanley Cup as captain in 2011. He proved to still be an effective top-four defenseman in 2019-20, averaging 21:01 per game while tallying five goals and nine assists.

After locking up defenseman Matt Grzelcyk on Saturday, the Bruins have $6.65 million in cap space remaining with only forward Jake DeBrusk left to re-sign.

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Jim Rutherford believes he's found an ideal right-winger for his star-studded top line.

The Pittsburgh Penguins general manager thinks Kasperi Kapanen could gel with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel.

"We really hope that we've got the right chemistry for a line for Sid," Rutherford said on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio on Saturday. "(Crosby) has had really good chemistry with Guentzel here for a while, which will continue. But getting that right-winger that works (is important) and we're hoping that Kapanen is the guy who can do that."

Rutherford hopes their styles of play will mesh well together.

"I think with Kapanen's speed and the fact he can track down pucks and Sid can find him in the open, it should be a good fit, but we'll see," Rutherford said.

The Penguins reacquired Kapanen in a six-player trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs in August. Pittsburgh also threw in the 15th overall pick in this year's draft, which the Leafs used to take Russian forward Rodion Amirov.

Pittsburgh drafted Kapanen with the No. 22 selection in 2014 but dealt him to Toronto in the swap that sent Phil Kessel to the Penguins one year later.

Kapanen collected a career-high 20 goals and 44 points across 78 games in 2018-19, but the 24-year-old produced only 13 markers and 36 points over 69 contests this past season.

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The Boston Bruins have secured defenseman Matt Grzelcyk's services for another four seasons at a cap hit of $3,687,500, the club announced Saturday.

Grzelcyk was a restricted free agent who had a salary arbitration hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

More to come.

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The Pittsburgh Penguins signed defenseman Cody Ceci to a one-year contract worth $1.25 million, according to TSN's Darren Dreger.

More to come.

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It's unclear what's left in 41-year-old Joe Thornton's tank, but what's crystal clear is that Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe will get more options when setting his lineup next season.

The Leafs' bottom-six forward group has undergone a transformation this offseason, with the team trading away Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson, while bringing in Thornton, Wayne Simmonds, Jimmy Vesey, and Alexander Barabanov (who was signed out of the KHL in April). Youngster Nick Robertson could also make the team.

Here are four different ways the Maple Leafs could set their forward lines next campaign, assuming general manager Kyle Dubas is done adding forwards this offseason. For these projections, we've rotated Robertson, Vesey, and Barabanov in and out of the lineup. Pierre Engvall, meanwhile, was omitted because his $1.25-million cap hit may be tough to manage.

Option 1: Stacked top 6

Before adding Thornton, the Leafs would've needed Kerfoot to play center. Opinions are mixed regarding whether he's best suited to be a center or a winger. But Kerfoot struggled during his first season in Toronto, which was spent primarily playing down the middle. Some of his best success came as a winger with the Avalanche in a complementary role on the club's top lines, so we've placed him on the left side with Tavares and Nylander.

The 19-year-old Robertson, meanwhile, flanks Thronton after leading the OHL in goals last year. Mikheyev, who was a hound on the puck last season before suffering a wrist laceration and being quiet in the playoffs, joins them. The finisher and puck retriever could nicely complement Thornton's playmaking ability.

Option 2: Depth down the middle

There's a real chance Thornton can no longer play top-nine minutes and must be sheltered on the fourth line. That would force Kerfoot back to center. We've bumped Vesey - Kerfoot's former college teammate at Harvard - up to the third line in hopes of recreating their old chemistry.

Putting Spezza and Thornton on the same line may not be ideal because they both lack quickness, but flipping Spezza and Simmonds doesn't entirely fix that problem. We've also inserted Barabanov for Robertson in this scenario to provide a different look.

Option 3: Balanced attack

The previous two lineups are awfully top-heavy, which was part of Toronto's issues in 2019-20. In this lineup, we're banking on Matthews to carry his own unit. As the league's second-highest-paid center, he shouldn't need the help of Marner or Nylander to be effective. Plus, a workhorse in Hyman is there for support, alongside a capable playmaker in Kerfoot.

The third line sees the biggest change in this lineup. Nylander, an elite play-driver and zone-entry specialist, would put Thornton in the best position to succeed. A 30-goal scorer this past season, Nylander would benefit from Thornton's playmaking skills, too. As would Robertson, of course.

Option 4: Let's get weird

This isn't a realistic or viable lineup to use over an extended period. It's more of an in-game desperation option for Keefe if the team is trailing and he needs to create a spark.

Toronto ran out it's $33.5-million line toward the end of its qualifying-round series against the Columbus Blue Jackets after the club's offense dried up. The trio displayed flashes of brilliance, but the line should really only be used in spurts.

It probably isn't best to give Thornton second-line minutes over a long span, but Hyman and Nylander are there to provide ample support. However, that leaves the bottom six looking quite bleak. Putting Kerfoot between Barabanov and Mikheyev could create a makeshift checking line, though.

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