Confirmed with Link: CBJ to retire Rick Nash’s #61

[Byrral]

I wanted to wait until the ceremony was over to voice my opinion on Rick Nash. He is the only player to date to be drafted by Columbus that has made as serious an impact to the team in the way that he did. I also appreciate his service to the team, to the community and to his desire to call Columbus his home.

But that's where it ends for me.

In my mind other players have made bigger impacts to the team on the ice than he ever did. Was he really a person that made that much of a contribution to the game of hockey in the city of Columbus to deserve this highest honor? This honor is not asking if he is the greatest player to ever wear a CBJ uniform (Fedorov doesn't count) but does he deserve getting his jersey in the rafters for his contibutions. I'm not convinced.

And this is all I am going to post on this subject because I refuse to get into a pointless battle over whether this should have been done or not and ultimately it's only my opinion and not my decision. But couldn't the organization have recognized him (deserved) without putting his jersey in the rafters. I think this went a step too far.

Saying that:

Congrats to Rick, his family and anyone else who contributed to this honor.

 

[Long Live Lyle]

I wanted to wait until the ceremony was over to voice my opinion on Rick Nash. He is the only player to date to be drafted by Columbus that has made as serious an impact to the team in the way that he did. I also appreciate his service to the team, to the community and to his desire to call Columbus his home.

But that's where it ends for me.

In my mind other players have made bigger impacts to the team on the ice than he ever did. Was he really a person that made that much of a contribution to the game of hockey in the city of Columbus to deserve this highest honor? This honor is not asking if he is the greatest player to ever wear a CBJ uniform (Fedorov doesn't count) but does he deserve getting his jersey in the rafters for his contibutions. I'm not convinced.

And this is all I am going to post on this subject because I refuse to get into a pointless battle over whether this should have been done or not and ultimately it's only my opinion and not my decision. But couldn't the organization have recognized him (deserved) without putting his jersey in the rafters. I think this went a step too far.

Saying that:

Congrats to Rick, his family and anyone else who contributed to this honor.

The Hall of Fame is more science than art. There are stats, Cups, All-Star games, awards, etc., that you can use as a barometer. There's a generally-established standard across all 32 teams, and while there's some gray area/room for debate, it's mostly black-and-white. Rick Nash isn't, won't be and probably shouldn't be a Hall of Famer. That's fine.

Retiring a jersey, and this is just my opinion, is the opposite; it's more art than science, with a bit of black-and-white but a lot of gray area. How the Oilers or Canadiens or Bruins or Coyotes or Panthers treat it shouldn't have much impact at all on the CBJ. It can vary largely from franchise to franchise, and can factor in on-ice, off-ice and cultural impact. It's just my opinion, but I disagree anyone ever made a bigger CBJ on-ice impact (when factoring career) than Nash. (Panarin probably did, but he was only here two years. Short of winning the Cup, that's not close to trumping a decade, in my opinion.) And I think he made an absolutely huge impact on the popularity of hockey in Columbus, particularly at the youth level/number of kids playing. That's of course impossible to accurately quantify. But that also goes in my "more art than science" portion.

Along those lines, the ultimate litmus test for me when it comes to retiring a jersey is: Would it be strange and/or "just not right" if I ever saw somebody wear the number for the CBJ again?

It was not strange at all to me to see Koivu wear #9* (honestly, I still almost associate it as a "CBJ" number with Vyborny more than Panarin, but that might be my youth at the time/nostalgia).

It would be mildly strange to see someone else wear 72, 13, 71 or 80 in a CBJ uniform.

It would've been very, very strange and "just not right", to me at least, if I ever saw anyone else wear #61 in a CBJ uniform ever again. He's the only current or former CBJ player that I can currently say that about.

*Ironically enough, the Wild are retiring Koivu's jersey a week from today. Pretty similar to Nash's career with the CBJ in many ways, although Koivu had more longevity, while Nash had the better/more dominant tenure.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

You didn’t even have to watch Rick Nash play as a blue jacket to get why his number was retired. If you watched that jersey retirement ceremony, you should know why.

If you watched it and still feel he wasn’t deserving, then I got nothing to tell you.

 

[JacketsDavid]

The ceremony was very well done.
Loved how Hitch just turned and faced Nash when he started.
Nash even saying what Hitch asked him when he came on board about wanting to be a goal sorer or all around player and notably if Nash wanted to be on the ice in final minutes with a one goal lead.
All the speakers did great. A. Johnson was really funny.
Nash is pure class when he thanked and named off all the day 1 employees still with the CBJ.

 

[LoneFunyan]

Along those lines, the ultimate litmus test for me when it comes to retiring a jersey is: Would it be strange and/or "just not right" if I ever saw somebody wear the number for the CBJ again?

I like this way of looking at it.

 

[5th Line Fanatic]

The ceremony was very well done.
Loved how Hitch just turned and faced Nash when he started.
Nash even saying what Hitch asked him when he came on board about wanting to be a goal sorer or all around player and notably if Nash wanted to be on the ice in final minutes with a one goal lead.
All the speakers did great. A. Johnson was really funny.
Nash is pure class when he thanked and named off all the day 1 employees still with the CBJ.

Agreed! I loved everything about it. I'm not embarrassed to admit I had tears in my eyes throughout the ceremony. I thought it was very classy of the Bruins to quietly come out and watch from their bench. Not surprised with Fliggy over there, but was a very cool sign of respect.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Full ceremony posted