Years ago when the collective bargaining agreement brought in new rules giving veteran players their own hotel rooms on the road, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau didn’t immediately jump on the new luxury afforded to them.



They had been road roomies for too long.



“I can’t remember which lockout it was but they brought in that new rule that if you played so many games in the NHL, you got your own hotel room,’’ Thornton told The Athletic.



“Well me and him, we were so used to it, we stayed together for a while after that,’’ Thornton chuckled. “We had our whole routine and didn’t want to change it. Eventually we got our own rooms. But we spent a lot of time together.’’



It speaks to the friendship forged through 12 NHL seasons as teammates, years where both were the face of the franchise, where both held the captaincy before getting it stripped away, during which time both wore a...