On the night of Vince Carter’s jersey retirement, he and Mats Sundin recreated their iconic 2001 photo of swapping jerseys at Scotiabank Arena.
From Kids in the Hall to neighbours in the rafters at @ScotiabankArena
Congrats on your day, VC pic.twitter.com/DKJ8xI4w98
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 2, 2024
The two legends of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors posed for this photo to appear on the cover of Raptors Insider, which was the Raptors’ game-day program at the time. In addition to this legendary photo of the two titans of Toronto sports in the early 2000s, they did another inside the Leafs dressing room, where Carter laced up skates, which appeared on Leafs Insider.
The original photo of Carter and Sundin has stood the test of time in the 23 years since it first appeared in publication. Fans of both teams occasionally clamour for the Leafs and Raptors to make one for a new generation of fans, with the calls in recent years to have Auston Matthews and Scottie Barnes do something similar.
This comes on the night the Raptors will retire their first jersey number in franchise history. There will be a ceremony during halftime of Saturday night’s game against the Sacramento Kings, during which Carter and President Masai Ujiri will speak before raising the banner to the rafters at Scotiabank Arena.
While Carter’s legacy in Toronto is considered to be controversial given how his time with the Raptors came to an end in 2004, there is no question that he is one of the most important players in the history of the Raptors. His arrival in 1998 helped bring legitimacy to a young franchise trying to make a name for themselves in a city dominated by the Leafs and Toronto Blue Jays. Carter helped guide the team to their first three playoff appearances and was a missed shot away from getting the Raptors in the 2001 Eastern Conference Finals.
As for Sundin, he enjoyed many productive seasons with the Leafs and played a big part in them being a perennial playoff contender for the majority of his time in Toronto. Though they never won a Stanley Cup, it wasn’t for a lack of trying as they made two trips to the Eastern Conference Finals.
