Ex-Toronto Maple Leafs player Jeff O’Neill, 50, revealed on social media that he received a FaceTime call from rising prospect Gavin McKenna on Saturday, July 4. He mentioned that the 18-year-old requested permission from him to wear the No. 92 on the back of his jersey with the Maple Leafs.

In response, O’Neill gave his blessings to fellow Canadian McKenna, who was selected as the No. 1 pick by the Maple Leafs in the 2026 NHL Draft last month.

“Last night I got a FaceTime after dinner. Gavin asked if it was cool if he wore the [92] number. I said, ‘It’s the only way to go son. LFG,’” O’Neill wrote about his side of the conversation with McKenna in a post on his official X account.

He played two seasons wearing the No. 92 jersey for the Maple Leafs in 2005-06 and 2006-07, which turned out to be his last act in the NHL before retirement.

Around the same time as O’Neill’s X post, TSN reporter Mark Masters took to his official account on the platform to give the latest information on McKenna’s jersey number.

“Gavin McKenna says he will wear No. 92 next season,” wrote Masters on X.

Notably, prior to becoming a part of the Maple Leafs roster in the build-up to the upcoming 2026-27 season, McKenna wore the No. 72 on his jersey for most of his junior career. It included his time at the Penn State Nittany Lions in the NCAA tournament as a freshman in the 2025-26 season, and before that, with the Medicine Hat Tigers in the Western Hockey League (WHL) for three seasons.

But he decided to cede it to 37-year-old goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who wore the same number in his illustrious NHL career, as per the report published in Sportsnet on July 4.

The Russian, who is a two-time Stanley Cup winner, joined the Maple Leafs on a three-year contract after leaving the Florida Panthers as an unrestricted free agent at the start of this month. Meanwhile, McKenna put pen to paper on his three-year, entry-level contract on July 3 to play for the Maple Leafs in the new season.

What was the backup jersey number for Gavin McKenna after ceding preferred No. 72 to Sergei Bobrovsky?

After ceding his most preferred jersey No. 72 to Sergei Bobrovsky at the Toronto Maple Leafs, Gavin McKenna had a couple of backup jersey numbers in mind.

“My two other ones are taken,” said McKenna to the reporters when he was asked about the eventuality of missing out on the No. 72 to Bobrovsky, as posted by the Leafs' YouTube channel on July 3. “They’re up in the rafters. So I'll have to think about it.”

McKenna was referring to the jersey numbers 9 and 27 as his backups, which have already been retired by the Maple Leafs as part of their illustrious history. While the No. 9 was put up in the rafters at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, to honor Ted Kennedy and Charlie Conacher, the same was done for Frank Mahovlich and Darryl Sittler with their No. 27.

With the jersey numbers 9, 27, and 72 out of the picture, McKenna has settled on the No. 92 on his Maple Leafs jersey for the upcoming 2026-27 season and beyond. Moreover, in the history of the Maple Leafs, there have been three players who have already worn the No. 92 on their jerseys, namely Alexander Nylander, Igor Ozhiganov, and the aforementioned Jeff O’Neill.

Will Gavin McKenna make the No. 92 iconic at the Toronto Maple Leafs with his exploits in the coming seasons? Share with us your prediction in the comments.

Read more at NHL Fan Central.

Written by

Arjun Sharma

Edited by

Soheli Tarafdar