In hockey there's one number that'll never be used again - the NHL retired number 99 league-wide. Wayne Gretzky's number will never be worn again.
No. 0. What's even rarer than the double-zero is the single zero in the NHL. Only one man has worn this number, and most likely you've never heard of him.
Athletes in every team sport have a number on their jersey to identify them.In the NHL, players are given numbers between 1 and 98. Anything less than 1 (0, fractions, decimals) are not permitted and anything over two digits is not permitted. Additionally, 99 was retired by the league to honor "The Great One."
3, 2011, and played seven seasons in the League, including winning the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2015 (wearing No. 11). Fun fact: Desjardins and forward Melvin Angelstad (two games with the Washington Capitals in 2003-04) are the only players in NHL history to wear No. 69.
The NHL no longer permits the use of 0 or 00 as the League's database cannot list players with such numbers, and in 2000 the League retired the number 99 for all member teams in honor of Wayne Gretzky.
No. 66 isn't retired League-wide like No. 99 is for Wayne Gretzky. Two players have worn it since Lemieux retired from the NHL in 2006: Ho-Sang and Calgary Flames defenseman TJ Brodie in 2010-11.
99 is retired throughout the NHL not only because he is considered the greatest player in League history, but because the number and his name are synonymous. Though there is no debate over who the best player to wear that number is, there are 98 other numbers with more than one worthy candidate.
Seattle Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke addressed the crowd before the game, congratulating them for their 32,000 ticket deposits made in a single day at the birth of the franchise. "You did it. And we will never, ever forget," Leiweke said. "And tonight, we will retire the number 32.
Jersey numbers are so important because it's how fans identify their favourite athletes. For example, Number 99 is synonymous with one player, and one player only. Other players have worn the number 99, but Gretzky is the only player who fans identify as '99. '
It was with the Greyhounds that Gretzky first wore the number 99 on his jersey. He originally wanted to wear number 9—for his hockey hero Gordie Howe—but it was already being worn by teammate Brian Gualazzi. At coach Muzz MacPherson's suggestion, Gretzky settled on 99.
Today, if a player did wear number 66, it would feel like 66 tons of weight on his back. It's a number they would have to live up to. It's a number they know they couldn't live up to. No player has worn number 66 full-time since Vancouver's Gino Odjick in 1991.
99 – The Great One
Unless you are the Great One, this number is completely off limits to any hockey player anywhere in the known universe. It is retired in the NHL, and pretty much around any hockey leagues in North America, and quite likely in the whole world.
The rules of the IIHF, NHL and Hockey Canada do not permit goaltenders to be designated as on-ice captains, due to the logistical challenge of having the goaltender relay rules discussions between referees and coaches and then return to the crease.
1949: The Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers stage one of the best goaltending duels in NHL history when Bill Durnan of the Canadiens and Chuck Rayner of the Rangers match saves for 60 minutes in a 0-0 tie at the Forum.
The NFL joins the NBA, WNBA and MLB as major American sports leagues to let players wear No. 0. The NHL used to permit the number on the ice, but it banned the number starting with the 1996-97 season since Nos. 0 and 00 confused the league's digital database.
The number 00 has only been worn twice in NHL history. Martin Biron wore 00 for the 1996 season with the Buffalo Sabres, but only appeared in three games and had an 0-2 record. The only other time the number appeared on an NHL surface was by goaltender John Davidson in his 1977-78 campaign with the New York Rangers.
All the while, we need to remember that 99 itself is retired league-wide thanks to Wayne Gretzky, whose impact on the history of the Leafs is of course more infamous than famous. His number and the other 13 that have been retired by the Leafs in their first 101 years of existence leave us with 86 possibilities.
Still, Lemieux had not forgotten why he chose to wear the '66' as a nod to Gretzky's '99'. “I had the mindset of becoming the best in the world,” Lemieux recalls. “Looking at Gretzky, the way he was racking up points, I had a long way to go.” The chase was officially on, but playing in Pittsburgh had been frustrating.
Pierre-Olivier Joseph Bio.
In the future you know Alex Ovechkin will have his No. 8 retired. That is a given. But that is still probably a decade or so away from happening, as Ovechkin still has several more dominant years ahead of him in the NHL.
Successful comebacks
In Stanley Cup Playoffs history, 204 teams (as of May 7, 2023) have faced a 3–0 deficit in a best-of-seven series. Of those, only four teams successfully overcame them – a success rate of just under 2% – and only one of those did so in the Stanley Cup Final.
How many 3-0 comebacks have there been in the NHL? Only four teams have successfully battled back from down three games to none to win the series 4-3: the 1942 Maple Leafs, the 1975 Islanders, the 2010 Flyers and the 2014 Kings.
No, the NFL has not banned the number 69. However, the NBA apparently does not issue the number.
Billy Coutu was the first, and to date only, player banned from the NHL for life for violence in 1927; he assaulted referee Jerry Laflamme and tackled referee Billy Bell before starting a bench-clearing brawl during a Stanley Cup game between the Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators, apparently on the orders of Bruins ...
Numbers in the thirties were seen as "safe" for goaltenders, since most numbers below thirty were already spoken for by forwards and defensemen (remember that "high numbers" were essentially-unheard of at this time).