I came across a rather interesting read for hockey fans, by Brian Cazeneuve of Sports Illustrated’s web site. He wrote an ARTICLE about players’ numbers in hockey, inspired by the fact that a player for the Montreal Canadiens recently started wearing number 84, becoming the last of the single and doubt digit number worn (from 1-99, 0, and 00). Cazeneuve decided to make a list of the greatest players to ever wear a number. You can read the article to find out about his “rules” for making the list, since some players wore different numbers throughout their careers.
I read through it and think there are some interesting choices for sure. And there could probably be some good discussions / arguments about the merits of some over others. Some you just can’t help to make. Like at number 4 where Bobby Orr was picked over Jean Beliveau. It was the right choice, but makes you cringe to see Beliveau, probably one of the top ten best players in NHL history, get left off the list.
Obviously too, many goalies were left off the list. In the early days, the teams top goalie, and usually only goalie, since the equipment manager was the back-up, wore number 1. Even as they broke away from that, goalies’ numbers hardly strayed out of the low 30’s.
The funniest thing for me is number 3. As stated in the article, for many, many years the players only wore numbers 1 through 30. So like number 4 (and number 9 is a good example with Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, and Maurice Richard), the low numbers are peppered with some of the games best being left off the list. Being a hockey fan for as long as I have, and having read so much about the history of the game, I can go through the list and get to number 68 before I say, “OK, that guy I don’t know.” And after skipping over number 69 I only came across two more names I hadn’t heard of. But I have never heard of, or don’t remember, the name at number 3!! Lionel Hitchman? (For those that care, like me, Hitchman was a defenseman for the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins from 1922 to 1933. He was captain of the Bruins from 1927 to 1931.)
Some interesting things about some of the numbers, and for those that don’t know:
In the article it is pointed out that Steve Yzerman beat out Bryan Trottier for the spot at number 19. (And for the record, Joe Sakic as well.) Even if I wasn’t a Red Wings’ fan I would agree with this. Stevie-Y has the longest tenure at captain in NHL history, and was the real leader of the great Red Wings teams of the 90’s. Trottier, in the Hall and deservedly so, was just one of many weapons the great late 70’s / early 80’s Islanders teams had. So why did Yzerman start wearing 19? Because Trotts was his boyhood idol.
Mario Lemieux said after being drafted that he choose to wear number 66 because he was going to be different then Wayne Gretzky. Boy, was he ever.
Brendan Shanahan falls in at number 14. A bit surprising to me for two reasons. Shanny is obviously one of the best left wings to play the game, but I was surprised not to see someone else from the earlier years at 14. Even more interesting is that he was an impact player in the NHL before he wore that number. He wore 11 in New Jersey, 19 in St. Louis, then 94 in Hartford before coming to Detroit where he started wearing 14.
At number 98 is Brian Lawton, one of the most interesting first overall draft picks in NHL history. This is mostly due to my knowing more of the history of that year’s draft better then others. Lawton was picked by the Minnesota North Stars. He managed to string together 458 games as an NHL player over the course of 10 seasons and 6 teams. Picked AFTER Lawton that year: Pat Lafontaine by the Islanders, Tom Barrasso by the Sabres, and Steve Yzerman by the Wings. Ouch! But not many guys in the NHL, if any other than Lawton, wore 98.
With all the goalies the NHL has seen, usually using number 1, or something in the low 30’s, it was interesting to see Dale Hunter, a forward, at number 32. But I couldn’t think of many memorable goalies that wore 32. Hunter is a good choice for any number, given his throwback style of play (hard-hitting and could score goals).
Steve Heinze was the obvious choice for number 57. Think about it for a few seconds. I remember seeing Gord Hynes (pronounced the same as Heinze) wearing number 57 with the old IHL’s Detroit Vipers in the mid 90’s.
There are a few players on the list with numbers they “settled” for. Mike Foligno is on the list for number 71. Foligno wore number 17 at the beginning of his career, but reversed the numbers when traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs where it was already taken. Miroslav Satan did the same thing his former 18 when traded to the Buffalo Sabres. I don’t know for sure, but I think Doug Gilmour (on the list for number 93) did the same when traded to the Maple Leafs as well when 39 was / might have been taken. Ray Bourque switched to number 77 after the Boston Bruins retired number 7 for Phil Esposito.
Petr Klima (85), Alexander Mogilny (89), and Sergei Fedorov (91) wore the last two digits of the years they defected from countries behind the “iron curtain.”
Other things that were interesting to me was seeing two of my boyhood idols (or just favorite players) chosen for their numbers. Those being Peter Stastny for number 26 and John Vanbiesbrouck for number 34.
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