Domi following in dad's footsteps with Maple Leafs

Max Domi is breaking out some of those old photos with dad.

The new Toronto Maple Leafs forward, who signed a one-year contract with the team on Monday, will be playing for the same team that his dad, Tie, played over a decade for.

Tie Domi played 12 of his 16 NHL seasons with the Maple Leafs, starting his career there 1989-90 before returning to the franchise in 1994-95. Throughout that time, a young Max Domi was with his dad in the locker room and on the ice, and the family has the photos to prove it.

Max Domi posted one of those photos on Twitter to celebrate the signing.

"I remember running around the room when my pops was playing here," Domi said Monday. "Right there, there's kind of a push on my end to want to chase the dream of playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs and then trying to win a Stanley Cup for the Toronto Maple Leafs. So obviously my dad played over a decade here and I know firsthand through him how hard it is to win one. He didn't get to do it. The last couple of years I've seen just how hard it is."

The Maple Leafs posted another photo of the two of them in full Maple Leafs gear together.

"Sometimes my dad would let me get dressed and go out there and dump a bucket of puck at center ice [at Scotiabank Arena, then known as the Air Canada Centre]," Domi said. "And I never forget the feeling of just skating around out there, kind of looking at the seats, and thinking like, 'man this this would be the coolest thing in the world playing in this rink with every seat filled and playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs.'"

Domi said his dad was "ecstatic" about the news.

"I mean, he's just a hockey dad," Domi said. "But I think for myself personally, again, winning is everything and especially when he wasn't lucky enough to be a part of a team that won the Stanley Cup. That was something that he was never able to do. … So it's one thing to do that but another to have the chance to do that in the same jersey he was wearing for many years. It's something that makes my hair stand up on my arms. … There's no bigger fan for the Leafs right now than my dad, that's for sure."

NHL correspondent Mike Zeisberger contributed to this report.