Who are the NHL's greatest players...by the numbers?

Question

Here in this little place in the world we like to call our hockey home, the league's greatest goal scorers, defensemen, and goalies are often discussed with aplomb. However, what hasn't been discussed is who is the the NHL's greatest...number 9? Or 27? How about 38? That's the gist of this question: who are the NHL's greatest players by uniform number?

Answer 1

5 Nick Lidstrom

8 Igor Larionov

9 Mike Modano

13 Pavel Datsyuk

14 Brendan Shanahan

16 Sean Avery

17 Brett Hull

19 Steve Yzerman

21 Peter Forsberg

25 Darren McCarty

30 Martin Brodeur

31 Marty Turco

33 Patrick Roy

40 Henrik Zetterberg

51 Valtteri Filppula

66 Mario Lemiuex

71 Evgeni Malkin

87 Sidney Crosby

91 Sergei Fedorov

99 Wayne Gretzky

Answer 2

There's a book about this that is currently on the best seller list here in Canada, written by former Hall of Fame archivist turned report Scott Morrison.

I'll refrain from answering further.

Answer 3

the greatest is # 9 Mr.hockey and # 99 gretz all other's are in 2nd place

Answer 4

#99 Gresky and soon to be i think #87 Crosby

Answer 5

When did Paul Coffey wear #74?  I remember him being #7 on the Oilers and I think he was #77 on the Pens, but I don't remember him ever being #74?  That's a great list though.

Answer 6

1 Terry Sawchuk

2 Slava Fetisov (with honorable mention to Al MacInnis and Brian Leetch)

4 Bobby Orr

5 Nick Lidstrom

7 Phil Esposito

8 Cam Neely

9 Gordie Howe

10 Guy LaFleur (with honorable mention to Ron Francis)

11 Mark Messier

13 Mats Sundin

14 Brendan Shanahan

16 Bobby Clark

17 Jari Kurri

18 Serge Savard

19 Steve Yzerman (with honorable mention to several, including Joe Sakic)

20 Luc Robitaille

21 Stan Mikita

22 Mike Bossy

24 Chris Chelios

26 Peter Stastny

27 Frank Mahovlich

29 Mike Vernon

30 Martin Brodeur

31 Grant Fuhr

32 Dale Hunter

33 Patrick Roy

35 Mike Richter

37 Olaf Kolzig

40 Henrik Zetterberg

55 Larry Murphy

60 Jose Theodore

61 Rick Nash

66 Mario Lemieux

68 Jaromir Jagr

77 Ray Bourque

87 Sidney Crosby

88 Eric Lindros

91 Sergei Fedorov

93 Doug Gilmour

94 Ryan Smyth

96 Tomas Holmstrom

97 Jeremy Roenick

99 Wayne Gretzky

Answer 7

I did something like this for all numbers (I was up to 68)

0 JIM OTTO

1 WARREN MOON

2 DEREK JETER

3 BABE RUTH

4 BOBBY ORR

5 JOE DIMAGGIO

6 BILL RUSSELL

7 JOHN ELWAY

8 CAL RIPKEN JR.

9 TED WILLIAMS

10 PELE

11 MARK MESSIER

12 TERRY BRADSHAW

13 DAN MARINO

14 PETE ROSE

15 BART STAR

16 JOE MONTANA

17 JARRI KURI

18 PEYTON MANNING

19 JOHNNY UNITUS

20 BARRY SANDERS

21 ROBERTO CLEMENTE

22 EMITT SMITH

23 MICHAEL JORDAN

24 WILLIE MAYS

25 BARRY BONDS

26 WADE BOGGS

27 JUAN MARCIAL

28 MARSHALL FAULK

29 ROD CAREW

30 NOLAN RYAN

31 GREG MADDUX

32 MAGIC JOHNSON

33 KAREEM ABDUL-JABAR

34 WALTER PAYTON

35 PHIL NIEKRO

36 JEROME BETTIS

37 LESTER HAYES

38 CURT SCHILLING

39 DOMINIK HASEK

40 GALE SYAERS

41 TOM SEAVER

42 JACKIE ROBINSON

43 DENNIS ECKERSLY

44 HANK AARON

45 BOB GIBSON

46 LEE SMITH

47 TOM GLAVINE

48 SAM MCGOWELL

49 RON GUIDRY

50 DAVID ROBINSON

51 d**k BUTKIS

52 RAY LEWIS

53 DON DRYDSDALE

54 RANDY WHITE

55 JUNIOR SEAU

56 LAWRENCE TAYLOR

57 CLAY MATTHEWS

58 JACK LAMBERT

59 JACK HAM

60 OTTO GRAHAM

61 RICK NASH

62 JIM LANGER

63 GENE UPSHAW

64 JERRY KRAMER

65 ELVIN BETHEA

66 MARIO LEMIEUX

67 REGGIE MCKENZIE

68 JAROMIR JAGR

77- RAY BORQUE

80- JERRY RICE

99- WAYNE GRETZKY

1- Terry Sawchuk

2- Doug Harvey

4- Bobby Orr

9- Gordie Howe

10- Guy LaFluer

11- Mark Messier

16- Marcel Dionne

17- Jarri Kurri

18- Dennis Savard

19- Steve Yzerman

22- Mike Bossy

26- Peter Stasney

30- Martin Brodeur

33- Patrick Roy

39- Dominik Hasek

61- Rick Nash

66- Mario Lemieux

68- Jaromir Jagr

77- Paul Coffey/Ray Borque

87- Sydney Crosby

99- Wayne Gretzky

Answer 8

I own this book

does 00 count?if so John Davidson

some of these numbers like number 45brenden morrow may not use use the same numbers(morrow is 10)

where to get the book is at the bottom

0 - Neil Sheehy

1 - Terry Sawchuk

2 - Doug Harvey

3 - Scott Stevens

4 - Bobby Orr

5 - Denis Potvin

6 - Ace Bailey

7 - Howie Morenz

8 - Cam Neely

9 - Gordie Howe

10 - Guy Lafleur

11 - Mark Messier

12 - Dickie Moore

13 - Mats Sundin

14 - Dave Keon

15 - Milt Schmidt

16 - Henri Richard

17- Jari Kurri

18 - Denis Savard

19 - Steve Yzerman

20 - Luc Robitaille

21 - Stan Mikita

22 - Mike Bossy

23 - Bob Gainey

24 - Chris Chelios

25 - Jacques Lemaire

26 - Peter Stastny

27 - Frank Mahovlich

28 - Steve Larmer

29 - Ken Dryden

30 - Martin Brodeur

31 - Grant Fuhr

32 - Dale Hunter

33 - Patrick Roy

34 - John Vanbiesbrouck

35 - Tony Esposito

36 - Glenn Anderson

37 - Olie Kolzig

38 - Dave Andreychuck

39 - Dominik Hasek

40 - Henrik Zetterberg

41 - Stu Barnes

42 - Sergei Makarov

43 - Martin Biron

44 - Chris Pronger

45 - Brendan Morrow

46 - Martin St. Louis

47 - Viktor Kozlov

48 - Daniel Briere

49 - Brian Savage

50 - Trevor Letowski

51 - Brian Campbell

52 - Adam Foote

53 - Nikolai Khabibulin

54 - Hannu Toivonen

55 - Larry Murphy

56 - Sergei Zubov

57 - Steve Heinze

58 - Bill Berg

59 - Tom Fitzgerald

60 - Jose Theodore

61 - Rick Nash

62 - Olli Jokinen

63 - Mike Ribeiro

64 - Darrub Shannon

65 - Mark Napier

66 - Mario Lemieux

67 - Robert Svehla

68 - Jaromir Jagr

69 - Mel Angelstad

70 - Oleg Tverdovsky

71 - Evgeni Malkin

72 - Mathieu Schneider

73 - Michael Ryder

74 - Paul Coffey

75 - Hal Gill

76 - Dustin Penner

77 - Ray Bourque

78 - Pavol Demitra

79 - Alexei Yashin

80 - Nik Antropov

81 - Miroslav Satan

82 - Martin Straka

83 - Ales Hemsky

84 - Guillaume Latendresse

85 - Petr Klima

86 - Johnathan Ferland

87 - Sidney Crosby

88 - Eric Lindros

89 - Alexander Mogilny

90 - Joe Juneau

91 - Sergei Fedorov

92 - Rick Tocchet

93 - Doug Gilmour

94 - Ryan Smyth

95 - Danny Markov

96 - Tomas Holmstrom

97 - Jeremy Roenick

98 - Brian Lawton

99 - Wayne Gretzky

Answer 9

4 Orr

5 Lidstrom

7 Esposito

9 Richard (Howe, I think Morenz wore it too, but not sure)

10 Bure (Lafleur)

19 Sakic (Yzerman)

21 Forsberg

30 Brodeur

33 Roy

66 Lemieux

68 Jagr

77 Bourque

99 Gretzky

(Honourable mentions)

Answer 10

1-Bernie Parent

2-Doug Harvey

4-Orr

5-Boom Boom Geoffrion

7-Esposito

9-Gordie Howe

10-Guy Lafleur

11-Mark Messier

16-Clarkie over Henri Richard

19-Yzerman

21-Mikita

33-Roy

35-Dryden

66-Mario

77-Bourque

99-Gretz

Answer 11

LITY Is right on!

it is an AMAZING book!

i read it, a very good read, digs deep into hockey history and is something i would read again.

if you like to read, maybe you should look for a copy.

Answer 12

Yes, LITY is right about the book by Scott Morrison. It is called "By The Numbers: From 00 to 99". I own it, and I will do each number from 00 to 99 for you that is in the book.

The book has one simple rule: A player could only be declared the best at one number. This why Howe couldn't be first with 9 and 17, why Hull couldn't win 7, 9 and 16, why Daniel Briere couldn't be first with 48 and 54, or why Terry Sawchuk couldn't take the honours for 1 and 30 as some examples. It also explains why there are some unheralded winners in the more unusual digits.

Here is the list from the book:

00 - John Davidson

0 - Neil Sheehy

1 - Terry Sawchuk

2 - Doug Harvey

3 - Scott Stevens

4 - Bobby Orr

5 - Denis Potvin

6 - Ace Bailey

7 - Howie Morenz

8 - Cam Neely

9 - Gordie Howe

10 - Guy Lafleur

11 - Mark Messier

12 - Dickie Moore

13 - Mats Sundin

14 - Dave Keon

15 - Milt Schmidt

16 - Henri Richard

17- Jari Kurri

18 - Denis Savard

19 - Steve Yzerman

20 - Luc Robitaille

21 - Stan Mikita

22 - Mike Bossy

23 - Bob Gainey

24 - Chris Chelios

25 - Jacques Lemaire

26 - Peter Stastny

27 - Frank Mahovlich

28 - Steve Larmer

29 - Ken Dryden

30 - Martin Brodeur

31 - Grant Fuhr

32 - Dale Hunter

33 - Patrick Roy

34 - John Vanbiesbrouck

35 - Tony Esposito

36 - Glenn Anderson

37 - Olie Kolzig

38 - Dave Andreychuck

39 - Dominik Hasek

40 - Henrik Zetterberg

41 - Stu Barnes

42 - Sergei Makarov

43 - Martin Biron

44 - Chris Pronger

45 - Brendan Morrow

46 - Martin St. Louis

47 - Viktor Kozlov

48 - Daniel Briere

49 - Brian Savage

50 - Trevor Letowski

51 - Brian Campbell

52 - Adam Foote

53 - Nikolai Khabibulin

54 - Hannu Toivonen

55 - Larry Murphy

56 - Sergei Zubov

57 - Steve Heinze

58 - Bill Berg

59 - Tom Fitzgerald

60 - Jose Theodore

61 - Rick Nash

62 - Olli Jokinen

63 - Mike Ribeiro

64 - Darrub Shannon

65 - Mark Napier

66 - Mario Lemieux

67 - Robert Svehla

68 - Jaromir Jagr

69 - Mel Angelstad

70 - Oleg Tverdovsky

71 - Evgeni Malkin

72 - Mathieu Schneider

73 - Michael Ryder

74 - Paul Coffey

75 - Hal Gill

76 - Dustin Penner

77 - Ray Bourque

78 - Pavol Demitra

79 - Alexei Yashin

80 - Nik Antropov

81 - Miroslav Satan

82 - Martin Straka

83 - Ales Hemsky

84 - Guillaume Latendresse

85 - Petr Klima

86 - Johnathan Ferland

87 - Sidney Crosby

88 - Eric Lindros

89 - Alexander Mogilny

90 - Joe Juneau

91 - Sergei Fedorov

92 - Rick Tocchet

93 - Doug Gilmour

94 - Ryan Smyth

95 - Danny Markov

96 - Tomas Holmstrom

97 - Jeremy Roenick

98 - Brian Lawton

99 - Wayne Gretzky