Next player to wear 66?

[Fordy]

If I recall, some pest trying to get a roster spot wore 66 in a preseason game against the Pens. Pretty sure someone fought them.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Wasn't it Leclaire that was living like 5 minutes away walking from the Forum in Montreal? I'm pretty sure he knows very well what number he is wearing.Personally as a Montreal & Roy fan I find it disgraceful.

i have no problem with anyone wearing 33 personally. i just found it odd that the last french canadian goalie i remember wearing that number was dominic roussel, and he put it on before '93. when i played minor hockey in the early 90s, that was the number every goalie wanted, and this wasn't even in quebec.

http://www.hockey-reference.com/friv/numbers.cgi?number=33

according to that list, omelette and alfie michaud both wore it briefly, but i didn't notice for obvious reasons, even though both played for my team. i have to think leclaire's is an homage, but being that he's the first significant french goalie to wear it in 15 years, i also have to think there's a stigma among the generation of french canadian goalies after roy where they're like, "whoa, i can't wear that number. that's st. patrick's."

it's an interesting cultural phenomenon, this prohibition. seems almost catholic to me. the direct opposite of all those russians lining up to wear #17 (or in malkin's case 71).

 

[LeafsAlive2010*]

I remember my brother pointing out somebody on the Leafs wearing #66 last pre-season and I just looked it up. It was Andy Rogers.

http://www.life.com/image/90959395

 

[ninetynine*]

I highly, highly doubt that happens. Neither Jagr nor Crosby is anywhere near at the level of Gretzky or Lemieux, and probably even more importantly neither is anywhere close to as respected.

From 1980 to 2001 only 3 players won the scoring title, 10 for gretzky, lemieux with 6, jagr with 5 so don't even start he was WAY UP THERE, well ahead of crosby so far. Also his 149 points in 1995-1996 was the most ever by a non-center. Look it up, even Paul Coffey and Bobby Orr can't disagree. Bernie Nicholls was clearly a Center so don't start.

 

[ninetynine*]

I think Ovechkin will make number 8 his own. I mean they already call him the Great 8. The best previous player with the number 8 was off the top of my head Teemu Selanne, and he's already not far off of passing him for a better career.

Did Ovechkin score 76 goals or 132 points in his rookie season? BTW Selanne wore 13 that season so this is all irrelivant cause he was uber-selanne in 1992-1993 with the 13

 

[Jarick]

I'm not saying Jagr and Crosby are that good, I'm just saying they're wearing iconic numbers.

If Gretzky had wore #9 and Lemieux wore #6, would those numbers be off-limits today? I doubt it. But 99 and 66 were so unique and closely linked that they are linked to the players.

I just think if a hotshot rookie walks into training camp and asks for #87, how much "Crosby" crap is he going to get from the rest of the team?

 

[Fish on The Sand]

Did Ovechkin score 76 goals or 132 points in his rookie season? BTW Selanne wore 13 that season so this is all irrelivant cause he was uber-selanne in 1992-1993 with the 13

so you're comparing them base don their rookie seasons? Did Selanne finish 3rd in NHL scoring in his rookie season? Didn't think so.

 

[Tavaresmagicalplay*]

33, 4 and 9 are worn why shouldn't 66 be? Is 30 going to be retired when Marty Brodeur calls it quits? 5?

 

[Briere Up There*]

Yeah but, who wore #66 before Mario?

so you're comparing them base don their rookie seasons? Did Selanne finish 3rd in NHL scoring in his rookie season? Didn't think so.

5th isn't that far off.

 

[Tavaresmagicalplay*]

Yeah but, who wore #66 before Mario?



5th isn't that far off.

Does it matter though? What is it about Marios legacy that leaves his number untouchable while guys like Orr, Howe/Richard, Roy can have their numbers worn and he can't? Is the sole reason that no significant player wore his number? I mean if that's all that's really not much of a reason. Many players have worn their number in honor of past greats(Yzerman, Lecavalier etc.). Is that an insult to those players?

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

kid on the flames named t.j. brodie wore #66 tonight. an exhibition game, but there you go.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/players/4732

 

[cptjeff]

Wasn't it Leclaire that was living like 5 minutes away walking from the Forum in Montreal? I'm pretty sure he knows very well what number he is wearing.Personally as a Montreal & Roy fan I find it disgraceful.

Did you find every youth goalie in North America wanting 29 for Dryden or 30 when Plante took it from the realm of the backup into THE goalie number offensive?

Goalie numbers have always been special. There's a limited selection, and all of them will have been worn by a huge number of goalies, some great, some lousy, in the past. #33 will follow that path, I'm sure. The whole jersey number to honor the best goalie playing when the young goalie was growing up thing has a long history.

Does it matter though? What is it about Marios legacy that leaves his number untouchable while guys like Orr, Howe/Richard, Roy can have their numbers worn and he can't? Is the sole reason that no significant player wore his number? I mean if that's all that's really not much of a reason. Many players have worn their number in honor of past greats(Yzerman, Lecavalier etc.). Is that an insult to those players?

It's not necessarily all about greatness- though being one of the four who could legitimately be ranked as the best ever to play the game helps- it's about recognition. #66 and #99 are pretty damned unique. Very few people have ever worn them, two in the case of 66 (ojink, not counting the canucks guy who probably won't ever wear that in a regular season game) and four in the case of 99 (Wilf Paiement, Rick Dudley, Joe Lamb). They're too closely associated with one player and just that player, and the players they're rather exclusively attached to are two of the four top players ever. Yzerman, Hull/Howe/Richard, Orr, may all be good, but their numbers are common ones. On a bruins jersey, a 4 may mean a hell of a lot, but what does it mean when a player on the Hurricanes takes it (other then that Aaron Ward needs to get his ass off the ice?) Not a whole lot. But if a player on the Canes goes for 66 or 99, you bet your ass that there's going to be uproar around the league even if he is a star.

 

[Tavaresmagicalplay*]

TJ Brodie will make his nhl debut tonight wearing 66 if I'm not mistaken.

 

[unknown33]

TJ Brodie will make his nhl debut tonight wearing 66 if I'm not mistaken.

What a joke.

 

[Epsilon]

TJ Brodie will make his nhl debut tonight wearing 66 if I'm not mistaken.

That's going to rile some people up pretty good.

 

[Kocur Dill]

I've notice a few 68's this preseason.

 

[MXD]

I've notice a few 68's this preseason.

68 is pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Briere Up There*]

68 is pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

Nah, Jagr was a pretty phenomenal forward.

 

[Seanconn*]

wtf T. J. Brodie, i expect 100pt season and nothing less

just ridiculous ...



66 should be retired just like 99 is for all teams. As much as I like Jagr, i think 68 is fair game for sure.

 

[revolverjgw]

Was Brodie assigned this number randomly like often happens to young guys in pre-season games or is this something he plans on going with?

 

[MXD]

The next generationnal superstar should wear the 69 in tribute to both Lemieux and Gretzky, but he would have to be GREAT or else it's just arrogant.

He was.
So was Lafleur.

 

[CaliforniaSeal]

Doesn't matter if a goon or a highly skilled player wears #66 soon. To put Gretzky and Lemeiux on some untouchable pedestal because their numbers were more unique than Orr's or Howe's is ridiculous.


I think retiring numbers is stupid. Honouring numbers is fine but to retire them. What if the Canadiens have a dominant team with a lot of great players for the next 30 years. Are they going to retire another 20 numbers?

 

[Scott1980]

The league should retire all the distiguised numbers of greats: 99, 66, 33, etc..

Heck, 33 should be retired league wise in basketball, as two of the all time great wore that number!

As for numbers like 4, 7, 9, if they were retired league wise, we might have a problem!

 

[mco543]

The problem with retiring certain numbers, especially with 33 in basketball is who are you specifically honoring? If you retire 33 to honor Kareem and Bird you're doing a disservice to Ewing, Monroe, Pippen, and David Thompson. Granted they arent rated as high as Kareem and Bird all-time but they're all HOFers.

 

[Scott1980]

The problem with retiring certain numbers, especially with 33 in basketball is who are you specifically honoring? If you retire 33 to honor Kareem and Bird you're doing a disservice to Ewing, Monroe, Pippen, and David Thompson. Granted they arent rated as high as Kareem and Bird all-time but they're all HOFers.

Wilf Paiement was a good player! Imagine how he feels being the unoffical "third" Leaf to have his number retired!