Most iconic numbers in National Hockey League history – Part 15
Chicago Blackhawks: No.21
Chicago Blackhawks saw its flag carried on the shoulders of one of the most dominating players, Stan Mikita.
He was brought into Hawks’ squad in 1958 and spent his entire time in the National Hockey League with Hawks before retiring in 1979.
He has been a very productive player for the team, playing 1394 games that have seen him scoring 541 goals.
He has also bagged 926 assists that have piled up his total points tally to 1467 points.
With the impressive and game changing performances that he came up with during his time with Hawks, he leads the team rankings for most assists and most points scored.
He not only made records when it came to his team, but was also among the best in the entire National Hockey League. He is still among the top positions in several rankings despite not playing in the league for over 30 years now.
Mikita is 14th overall in the list of players for all time points scored, 16th in the list of players for assists, 29th in goals and 32nd in terms of games played in the National Hockey League, as per the statistics
at the end of the 2009-2010 season.
He was also on the end of winning the Most Valuable Player on two occasions in 1967 and 1968.
With the goals that he has scored, he was also on the end of receiving the Ross Arts Trophy for scoring the most goals in 1964, 1965, 1967 and 1968.
He also made his way into the First NHL All Star team and the Second All Star team while others on several occasions, which reflects the productive and consistent nature of this player.
He was inducted in the Slovak Hall of Fame in 2002 and into the National Hockey League Hall of Fame in 1983.
In 1999 when the list of 100 greatest ice hockey players was made, he occupied the 17th spot in the list.
He was among some of the unique players in the NHL to have his No. 21 jersey retire after his retirement.
Detroit Red Wings: No. 19
Steve Yzerman of Detroit Red Wings occupies a position in the list as he is among one of the best the National Hockey League has seen.
He was acquired by Red Wings as a fourth draft entry in 1983 and ended his career with retirement in 2006.
He played 1514 games in the NHL during which he scored 692 goals and 1063 assists to pile a total of 1755 points.
The statistics that he piled up have put him on the leading board for several things like assists, short-hand goals, game-winning goals and power-play goals.
He was included into the NHL All Star First and Second teams on several occasions.
He won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1989 and won the Stanley Cup championship in 1997, 1998 and 2002 as a player and in 2008 as an executive.
He was also inducted into the Michigan Sports’ Hall of Fame in 2008, Canada’s Hall of Fame in 2008, National Hockey League’s Hall of Fame in 2009 and named the Vice President and General Manager of Tampa Lightning in 2010.
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