The NHL saw two legendary players have their numbers retired over the weekend, as Henrik Lundqvist’s 30 went to the rafters in New York and Sergei Zubov’s 56 went up in Dallas. Both players were obviously worthy of the moment, one that ranks as just about the highest honor a team can bestow on a former star. It’s one of the few things in the hockey world that everyone can enjoy.
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So, needless to say, I’m going to take this opportunity to make a lot of you mad about it.
Today, we’re going to rank all 32 NHL teams based on their retired numbers. But this isn’t just a list of which teams have honored the best players, because that would be too easy. No, we want to look at the whole picture. Who’s been honored? Who hasn’t? Has the team been weird about who they choose and when? Do they just retire numbers like a normal team, or do they insist on complicating things with some weird team-specific rules that nobody likes? And most importantly of all: Given what they have to work with, are they getting it right?
A few quick notes. We’re not counting the leaguewide retirement of 99 but will count upcoming retirements as long as they’ve already been announced. We’re ranking based on numbers that have formally been retired and removed from circulation, although we’ll make note of numbers that have been honored in other ways. And we’ll be going by the list on Wikipediabecause this right here is a professional operation.
Is there an objective, quantifiable way to rank something like this? Of course, there is. Will we be using that method? No, we will not. Will you agree with my ranking of your team’s most beloved players? (Checks to see if I ranked all 32 teams as tied for first.) No, I’m guessing you won’t, but that’s half the fun.
Worst to first, all 32 teams but you’re just going to CTRL+F for your own, let’s do this…
32. Seattle Kraken
Numbers retired: 32, for their fans
No.
Look, call me cold-hearted if you want, but retiring a number for your fans is just lame. And it’s especially lame if you choose the number based on how many ticket deposits you sold. Also, the banner that they retired for their fans doesn’t even mention their fans — it just says “Kraken”.
The @SeattleKraken's first-ever home game started with No. 32 being officially retired by the NHL's 32nd team. #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/Dmh4YQZOS5
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) October 24, 2021
There’s no shame in being a new team without any banners hanging. You don’t need to force it. If your fans wanted to watch a number ascend up to the heavens, they could just look at Philipp Grubauer’s goals-against average.
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31. Florida Panthers
Numbers retired: Roberto Luongo’s 1, plus the No. 37 for Wayne Huizenga and 93 for Bill Torrey
They get one point for retiring Luongo, who was awesome. We’ll be neutral on Torrey, who wasn’t a player and was better associated with another franchise but was still a legitimate legend. And we’ll subtract roughly one million points for honoring an owner, a move that no other NHL team has tried. I’m sure Huizenga was a lovely guy and he had a distinguished career in the waste management/Florida Marlins business, but come on. Even Harold Ballard didn’t think to retire a number for himself, so this is awful.
30. Calgary Flames
Numbers retired: Lanny McDonald’s 9, Jarome Iginla’s 12, Mike Vernon’s 30
There’s nothing wrong with the three numbers the Flames have retired. But you’ll notice there are some big names from the team’s history that are missing, including Al MacInnis, Joe Nieuwendyk, Theo Fleury and Miikka Kiprusoff. That’s where things get messy, because the Calgary Flames apparently can’t decide what they’re supposed to be doing with their numbers.
Here’s the thing: The Flames are the first of several teams we’ll meet that also have “honored” numbers. In their case, that’s MacInnis and Nieuwendyk, both of whose numbers hang in the rafters in Calgary under a new “Forever a Flame” system. But they’re not retired … sort of. It’s been almost 20 years since anyone wore MacInnis’s No. 2 for the Flames, and given that it’s an extremely common number for defenseman, we can consider it unofficially retired. So is Fleury’s 14 and Kiprusoff’s 34, neither of which was ever given to anyone after those players left. So we have a pattern … except that Nieuwendyk’s 25 has been in circulation pretty much constantly, including being worn by Jacob Markstrom right now.
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What the hell?
And no, unlike some teams, the Flames aren’t creating different tiers for players who are or aren’t in the Hall of Flame. Vernon isn’t in, but MacInnis and Nieuwendyk are, so none of this makes any sense. It’s like there are three different people in Calgary who handle number ceremonies, and whichever one picks up the phone when you call decides on their own what to do.
This is completely unacceptable, makes no sense to anyone, and bothers me way more than it should. Figure it out, Calgary, before we get to Mark Giordano in a few years and you just tape an upside-down 5 to the door of a men’s room stall.
29. Minnesota Wild
Numbers retired: Mikko Koivu’s 9 later this season, plus 1 for the fans
The only established team to have never had a Hall of Famer, the Wild would be right there with the Kraken for hanging a banner for their fans. (Seriously guys, every team has fans, stop doing this.) But Koivu was cool, and is a worthy honoree, so we’ll nudge them up the list just a bit.
28. Washington Capitals
Numbers retired: Rod Langway’s 5, Yvon Labre’s 7, Mike Gartner’s 11, Dale Hunter’s 32
Langway and Gartner are Hall of Famers, and Hunter is an important part of Capitals’ history. Yvon Labre is just a weird pick, and one that probably ranks as the worst player to ever have his number retired for non-tragic reasons — unless you count the ineptitude of the expansion-era Capitals as a tragedy, which maybe we should. Labre played parts of seven seasons in Washington and was team captain for a few years. He had 14 goals. No, not in his best season — that was his career total. They retired his number in 1981, because somebody had to be the cautionary example for new teams moving too quickly on this stuff.
I guess the part that bugs me here is that if you’ve got Labre’s number hanging in the rafters, you might as well embrace the identity and honor everyone who even vaguely deserves it. Where’s Peter Bondra? What about Olaf Kolzig? Screw it, let’s do Michal Pivonka, Calle Johansson and Mike Ridley. If they did that, I might have them in the top 10. As it stands … pick a lane, you know?
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27. St. Louis Blues
Numbers retired: Al MacInnis’ 2, Bob Gassoff’s 3, Bob Plager’s 5, Barclay Plager’s 8, Brian Sutter’s 11, Brett Hull’s 16, Bernie Federko’s 24, Chris Pronger’s 44
Ugh, here we go again with a team that can’t figure out how it wants to handle numbers. In addition to the eight numbers above, the Blues also have five “honored” numbers. One of those is Doug Wickenheiser’s 14, which isn’t retired even though it hasn’t been circulated in 20 years. The other four are all number 7s: Keith Tkachuk, Garry Unger, Red Berenson and Joey Mullen. At this point, you might as well go ahead and do Cliff Ronning too, guys.
I’ve got them higher than Calgary because unlike the Flames, you could at least make the case that the Blues have drawn the line between honored and retired in a place that makes sense based on importance to the franchise. (Gassoff was an early Blue who was killed in an accident at 24.) Still, 13 names seems excessive for a 50-year-old franchise that hasn’t even got to their one Cup team yet.
26. Detroit Red Wings
Numbers retired: Terry Sawchuk’s 1, Red Kelly’s 4, Nicklas Lidstrom’s 5, Ted Lindsay’s 7, Gordie Howe’s 9, Alex Delvecchio’s 10, Sid Abel’s 12, Steve Yzerman’s 19
This is probably a lot lower than you expected to see the Red Wings, but I’m going to use this as a chance to get on my soapbox about something that bugs me. The Wings are one of the teams that only retires the numbers of players who are in the HHOF, and that’s dumb. We already have an honor for players who’ve been inducted into the Hall of Fame — it’s called being inducted into the Hall of Fame. You’re allowed to use your retired numbers to widen the scope a bit when it comes to recognizing the guys who’ve been important to your franchise.
For example, I don’t think Chris Osgood is HHOF-worthy. But should he have his number retired in Detroit, where he won three Stanley Cups? Of course. So should Vladimir Konstantinov, whose number is listed as honored but not retired. Loosen up, Detroit.
Mix in the very weird case of Larry Aurie, whose No. 6 was the first in franchise history to be retired, then was unretired, then was re-retired, and then for some reason was unretired again yet still remains out of circulation, and it’s kind of a mess in Detroit. And don’t even get me started on Sergei Fedorov.
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25. Arizona Coyotes
Numbers retired: Shane Doan’s 19
That’s a deceivingly simple list, because the Coyotes also have a long list of honored numbers, including all of the original Jets’ retired numbers plus former head coach Wayne Gretzky’s 99 even though he never played for the team. The weird thing is that the Jets numbers originally stayed retired when the team moved, then were unretired years later. Franchise relocations are tricky, as we’ll see a few times here, but there’s a decidedly confused vibe in Arizona. They did add super fan Leighton Accardo in their Ring of Honor, which is cool.
24. New York Rangers
Numbers retired: Eddie Giacomin’s 1, Brian Leetch’s 2, Harry Howell’s 3, Rod Gilbert’s 7, 9 for both Andy Bathgate and Adam Graves, 11 for Mark Messier and Vic Hadfield, Jean Ratelle’s 19, Henrik Lundqvist’s 30, Mike Richter’s 35
No Original Six team has less star power to draw from, but the Rangers still wind up with a solid mix of Hall of Famers and lesser names that still meant a lot to the team. Graves is the one that always raises a few eyebrows in other fan bases, but Ranger fans love the guy. It is a little weird that both Bathgate and Hadfield had their numbers retired after Graves and Messier. And seriously, what’s the deal with Brad Park?
23. Columbus Blue Jackets
Numbers retired: Rick Nash’s 61 in a few weeks
The team has also honored the number 80 for Matiss Kivlenieks, and Nash is pretty clearly the only other player in franchise history who deserves consideration. No problems here.
22. Carolina Hurricanes
Numbers retired: Glen Wesley’s 2, Ron Francis’s 10, Rod Brind’Amour’s 17
The Hurricanes also have some numbers that are out of circulation due to tragedy but not officially retired, including Steve Chiasson’s 3 and Josef Vasicek’s 63. But the weird one here is Gordie Howe, whose number was retired by the Whalers, then unretired when the team moved to Carolina (along with Rick Ley and John McKenzie), then never given out in a quarter-century of Hurricanes history. He’s one of the greatest players ever and he was part of your franchise, it’s OK to just retire the number.
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21. Winnipeg Jets
Numbers retired: Nobody… kind of.
The modern Jets don’t have any officially retired numbers, although they do recognize several original Jets as “honored.” I get wanting to carve out your own history, I’m fine with ignoring an Atlanta star like Ilya Kovalchuk, and many of your current fans don’t even know who WHA guys like Ulf Nilsson or Ab McDonald were. But Dale Hawerchuk’s number should absolutely be formally retired in Winnipeg, end of story. You could argue that it basically already is, since it hangs from the rafters and no player will wear it. So let’s make it official.
20. Vegas Golden Knights
Numbers retired: 58, for the victims of the 2017 shooting
No players have been honored, which of course makes sense for a team that’s just five seasons old. They do have one number in the rafters, and while my feelings on retiring numbers for fans have been well-established, this was obviously a different situation. The shooting happened days before the Golden Knights’ inaugural game, and their role in helping the community mourn became a key piece of the team’s early identity. No objections here.
19. Ottawa Senators
Numbers retired: Chris Phillips’ 4, Frank Finnigan’s 8, Daniel Alfredsson’s 11
No, Finnigan never played for the Senators — it was a different team with the same name a century ago, although if I’m going to constantly bang that whole “the Jets are the Jets” drum then I guess I have to grudgingly allow this too. (The Stanley Cup banners are ridiculous, though.) Alfredsson and Phillips are worthy recipients.
18. Vancouver Canucks
Numbers retired: Pavel Bure’s 10, Stan Smyl’s 12, Trevor Linden’s 16, Markus Naslund’s 19, Daniel Sedin’s 22, Henrik Sedin’s 33
Six players, only one of which is a Hall of Famer and three of whom weren’t even really in the discussion. You know what? I’m good with that. If you go to a game with a new fan and they ask about those six banners, you can tell them pretty much the whole story of the Canucks’ history, with all of the team’s most beloved players. That’s how it should be.
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I do have to dock them a few spots for this, though:
The most Canucks moment of all-time was when the light shining through Naslund's #19 banner formed a giant frowny face. pic.twitter.com/q2VRvVxV
— Down Goes Brown (@DownGoesBrown) November 8, 2012
17. Philadelphia Flyers
Numbers retired: Bernie Parent’s 1, Mark Howe’s 2, Barry Ashbee’s 4, Bill Barber’s 7, Bobby Clarke’s 16 and Eric Lindros’ 88
Ashbee was a career minor-leaguer who didn’t crack the Flyers lineup full-time until he was 31, had his career ended by an eye injury and died of cancer at 37. The other five are all Hall of Famers, which seems to be a de facto policy for the Flyers, explaining why Howe and Lindros had to wait until they got their HHOF calls.
Do guys like Reggie Leach, Ron Hextall or Mark Recchi deserve the honor? Maybe, although some fans will prefer the high standards. The one sticking point here is Pelle Lindbergh, whose 31 has never been given out since his death in 1986 but remains only unofficially retired. Given Ashbee was already honored, Lindbergh seems like an odd omission.
16. Chicago Blackhawks
Numbers retired: Glenn Hall’s 1, 3 for Keith Magnuson and Pierre Pilote, Bobby Hull’s 9, Denis Savard’s 18, Stan Mikita’s 21, Tony Esposito’s 35
With only seven names, the Blackhawks have the fewest honorees of all the Original Six teams. You can’t argue with any of the names here except maybe Magnuson, and he was a longtime Hawk who died young. But I think there’s a case to be made that the Blackhawks are being way too stingy when it comes to the modern era, with names like Jeremy Roenick, Doug Wilson, Steve Larmer and Chris Chelios all having good cases. Are we really going to pretend that Denis Savard was the only great player this team had in the decades between Esposito and the Kane/Toews years?
15. Colorado Avalanche
Numbers retired: Joe Sakic’s 19, Peter Forsberg’s 21, Milan Hejduk’s 23, Patrick Roy’s 33, Adam Foote’s 52, Ray Bourque’s 77
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The Avs chose not to carry over the Nordique’s three retired numbers (for Michel Goulet, J.C. Tremblay and Marc Tardif), which is their right. Beyond that, no issues here unless you have a problem with Bourque’s inclusion, which a lot of you do but I don’t.
14. Pittsburgh Penguins
Numbers retired: Mario Lemieux’s 66, Michel Briere’s 21
If you’re not a Pittsburgh fan then you may not know Briere; he played one season for the expansion-era Penguins before being killed in a car accident.
He’s also the only Penguin to have his number retired apart from Lemieux, which seems odd — it’s by far the fewest of any team that’s existed since the start of the modern era in 1967. They’ll obviously be joined by Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jaromir Jagr someday, and probably Marc-Andre Fleury. But you might think the team would have also honored guys like Ron Francis or Tom Barrasso.
Anyway, I’m giving them bonus points because Lemieux was awesome, and his number coming down from the rafters to the tune of “Simply the Best” when he made his comeback was just about the best-retired number moment of all time. Legitimate chills to this day.
13. Buffalo Sabres
Numbers retired: Tim Horton’s 2, Rick Martin’s 7, Gilbert Perreault’s 11, Rene Robert’s 14, Pat LaFontaine’s 16, Danny Gare’s 18, Dominik Hasek’s 39
That’s a solid list, although the absence of Dave Andreychuk, Phil Housley and Alexander Mogilny could all be argued. We can assume Ryan Miller’s 30 is next in line, right?
12. New Jersey Devils
Numbers retired: Ken Daneyko’s 3, Scott Stevens’ 4, Patrik Elias’ 26, Scott Niedermayer’s 27, Martin Brodeur’s 30
You could make a case for Scott Gomez and maybe John MacLean, and Zach Parise will make for a debate when he’s done. But for now, I think they’ve got their list just about right. And yes, that includes Daneyko, a guy who never got a Norris vote or played in an All-Star Game or even had his name come up in a Hall of Fame discussion but is absolutely the sort of franchise pillar who deserves to have his number honored.
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11. Edmonton Oilers
Numbers retired: Al Hamilton’s 3, Kevin Lowe’s 4, Paul Coffey’s 7, Glenn Anderson’s 9, Mark Messier’s 11, Jari Kurri’s 17, Grant Fuhr’s 31, Wayne Gretzky’s 99
Yeah, it’s OK to admit that you don’t know who Al Hamilton is.
In another case of a new-ish team jumping the gun, the Oilers honored Hamilton in just their second NHL season. The honor was based on his time with the team during their WHA days, and he was reasonably good for a few years back then. But today, alongside seven Hall of Famers from the dynasty years, his inclusion looks weird.
They also have a number hanging for announcer Rod Phillips, but otherwise, the list stops once the band breaks up in the early 90s. I wonder if they get Ryan Smyth or Bill Ranford up there at some point, or just wait another 15 years or so for Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
10. Toronto Maple Leafs
Numbers retired: 1 for Turk Broda and Johnny Bower, 7 for Tim Horton and King Clancy, 9 for Teeder Kennedy and Charlie Conacher, 10 for Syl Apps and George Armstrong, 27 for Darryl Sittler and Frank Mahovlich, plus Bill Barilko’s 5, Ace Bailey’s 6, Mats Sundin’s 13, Dave Keon’s 14, Wendel Clark’s 17, Borje Salming’s 21 and Doug Gilmour’s 93.
It’s a long list, but that’s to be expected for a team that’s been around for over a century, and all the players are worthy with the exception of Wendel Clark, who is worthy twice.
The problem is that up until recently, the Leafs were another one of those weirdo “honored numbers” teams, meaning I grew up watching guys like Lucien Deblois wearing 27, Mike Craig wearing 9, and Peter Ing wearing 1. They finally fixed that a few years ago, but the result of doing it wrong for decades is that they’ve got several numbers that are retired for multiple players, which is confusing to new fans.
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9. San Jose Sharks
Numbers retired: Nobody.
The Sharks are the only team left with no players whose numbers have been retired or otherwise honored (or that have been announced for the future). You know what? That’s absolutely fine. It’s safe to assume Patrick Marleau will get the honor soon, and will probably be followed by Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski once they’re done. And when that happens, the moments will feel special because the team didn’t try to force an unworthy honor on somebody just to sell a few tickets.
8. New York Islanders
Numbers retired: Denis Potvin’s 5, Clark Gillies’ 9, Bryan Trottier’s 19, Mike Bossy’s 22, Bob Nystrom’s 23, John Tonelli’s 27, Billy Smith’s 31, Butch Goring’s 91
It’s pretty much the entire 1980s dynasty and nobody else, which is a little weird — no Pat LaFontaine? — but if my team won four Cups in a row I’d probably want everyone hanging from the rafters too. Tonelli and Goring both had to wait until 2020, which means John Tavares got to play his entire Islanders career wearing 91 and Anders Lee still has 27. It’s always weird when teams take decades to decide to honor someone, but otherwise the Islanders list is great, if a little bit hyper-focused.
7. Tampa Bay Lightning
Numbers retired: Vincent Lecavalier’s 4, Martin St. Louis’ 26
Yep. Hard to argue. You could probably find room for Brad Richards if you wanted, but otherwise, the Lightning have pretty much nailed it until the back-to-back Cup guys are ready.
6. Dallas Stars
Numbers retired: Neal Broten’s 7, Bill Goldsworthy’s 8, Mike Modano’s 9, Bill Masterton’s 19, Jere Lehtinen’s 26, Sergei Zubov’s 56
OK, I know I’ve said that I don’t blame teams like the Hurricanes and Avalanche for not carrying over retired numbers after a franchise move, but I have to admit I think it’s cool that the Stars honored their North Stars history. It also means a team in Dallas has more retired numbers for Minnesota NHL players than the Wild do, which is interesting.
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5. Boston Bruins
Numbers retired: Eddie Shore’s 2, Lionel Hitchman’s 3, Bobby Orr’s 4, Dit Clapper’s 5, Phil Esposito’s 7, Cam Neely’s 8, Johnny Bucyk’s 9, Milt Schmidt’s 15, Rick Middleton’s 16, Willie O’Ree’s 22, Terry O’Reilly’s 24, Ray Bourque’s 77
It’s a long list, but not too long given their history, and most of the names are no-brainers. They finally righted a wrong by honoring Willie O’Ree earlier this year, so we don’t have to dock them for that oversight. The name you might not recognize is Hitchman, who was a good player best known for playing with Shore and was actually the second player in NHL history to have his number retired, after Ace Bailey. There are a few possible omissions here, including Hall of Famers Gerry Cheevers and Brad Park. Middleton had to wait until 2018, so maybe there’s still hope, but for now this is a great list that might be a little too exclusive.
That said, they do get bonus points for Esposito’s retirement, which led to this genuinely cool moment:
4. Nashville Predators
Numbers retired: Pekka Rinne’s 35, which is being honored in a few weeks
Number of retired players in Predators history who’ll have their numbers honored: 1
Number of retired players in Predators history who deserve to have their numbers honored: 1
See everyone, this isn’t that complicated. Nice job, Nashville.
3. Montreal Canadiens
Numbers retired: Jacques Plante’s 1, Doug Harvey’s 2, Emile Bouchard’s 3, Jean Beliveau’s 4, 5 for Bernie Geoffrion and Guy Lapointe, Howie Morenz’s 7, Rocket Richard’s 9, Guy Lafleur’s 10, 12 for Yvan Cournoyer and Dickie Moore, 16 for Elmer Lach and Henri Richard, Serge Savard’s 18, Larry Robinson’s 19, Bob Gainey’s 23, Ken Dryden’s 29, Patrick Roy’s 33
Ah, the Habs. It’s one of the longest lists in the league, which you’d expect given their rich history, and I don’t think there’s anyone there that you could possibly object to. If anything, they might be leaving too many key names out, including old-timers like Aurele Joliat, Toe Blake and Bill Durnan or dynasty-era stars like Steve Shutt and Jacques Lemaire.
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The bigger issue here is that the Habs are one of those teams that only honors Hall of Famers, which means they have no room for somebody like Saku Koivu, who always struck me as a guy who deserved the honor. But I guess you have to give them credit for setting the bar as high as they have. You may have expected them to be number one, and if that’s where they are on your list, I can’t really object.
2. Anaheim Ducks
Numbers retired: Teemu Selanne’s 8, Paul Kariya’s 9, Scott Niedermayer’s 27
Three players, three Hall of Famers, no question marks to be found. Maybe we could quibble over Niedermayer since he was only there for five years, but he won a Cup and a Conn Smythe so you really can’t argue. It took too long to get Kariya into the rafters, so they’re lucky we didn’t do this list a few years ago. But for now, it’s just about perfect.
1. Los Angeles Kings
Numbers retired: Rob Blake’s 4, Marcel Dionne’s 16, Dave Taylor’s 18, Luc Robitaille’s 20, Rogie Vachon’s 30, Wayne Gretzky’s 99
Six names, all of them worthy, with five Hall of Famers and then a guy who played for the team for 17 years, and not a single omission worth arguing about. Pretty much perfect, no notes.
(Photo of Henrik Lundqvist’s jersey number retirement ceremony: Jared Silber / NHLI via Getty Images)
