Sweater Numbers

[Frank Barone]

I think one of the reasons players choose an unusual number is that if they get picked to play for their national team they can use that number and not have competition for it. Also applies if the player is traded.

[Old_Goat]

Hopefully this is McTavish saying, "give me a number nobody has ever worn, something non-descript, this is a new me and I'm in great shape and I'm showing up to kick some (donkey) and take some names."

Perfect.

[kimzey59]

83 is the worst hockey number I’ve ever heard. That’s putrid honestly.

The only categories of hockey numbers I see are old school/traditional:
- defenders usually low numbers
- forwards in the 10-29 range
- goalies 29-35 range

The Euro numbers that started in the 80s/90s:
- mostly high numbers and random

The new wave of good players using their birth year:
- started around Crosby with 87
- Kane 88
- 86 seems to be worn by some star players

Then the rest of the new wave is random as F

I was wondering if his parents were born that year, and that would’ve been a fantastic tribute if so. But I can’t find evidence to support that.

Don't know about his mom; but his father, Dale, was born in '72; so that's not it.
Honestly I think it's just the "never been worn by a Blue" factor.

[bluetunehead]

McTavish wore #23 with Anaheim and previously with Canada, Hamilton, and Peterborough. That seems like it was his go-to number, but Mailloux already has it here. If I had to guess, #23 had something to do with his dad Dale using #22 in his Euro hockey days. #22 here is Suter.

Mailloux is #23 because his go-to number before the Blues (with Montreal, Laval, and London) was #24. That's retired here for Federko.

Guessing #83 just looks kind of visually close to #23.

[Army's Mom]

83 is the worst hockey number I’ve ever heard. That’s putrid honestly.

The only categories of hockey numbers I see are old school/traditional:
- defenders usually low numbers
- forwards in the 10-29 range
- goalies 29-35 range

The Euro numbers that started in the 80s/90s:
- mostly high numbers and random

The new wave of good players using their birth year:
- started around Crosby with 87
- Kane 88
- 86 seems to be worn by some star players

Then the rest of the new wave is random as F

IIRC, Jagr wore 68 because that was the year of the Prague Spring in Czech history.

[DIAMONDINTHEROUGH]

I like random numbers. I vividly remember Turgeon wearing #77 and Gretzky wearing #99.

[Pierre McGuire]

I was never a fan of the high numbers…I mean outside of Gretzky wearing 99 and Lemieux wearing 66. I will say the first time that I liked a high number was when Gilmour was traded to the Leafs and reversed his #39 that he wore with the Flames to #93. I thought that #93 looked amazing on the Leafs jersey. I was in Toronto on a Blues sponsored trip in March of 94 and bought a Gilmour jersey.

[Army's Mom]

I was never a fan of the high numbers…I mean outside of Gretzky wearing 99 and Lemieux wearing 66. I will say the first time that I liked a high number was when Gilmour was traded to the Leafs and reversed his #39 that he wore with the Flames to #93. I thought that #93 looked amazing on the Leafs jersey. I was in Toronto on a Blues sponsored trip in March of 94 and bought a Gilmour jersey.

I actually liked the European higher numbers - I knew the Jagr story, and always just assumed every 91 or 85 had a similar story.

Agree about Gilmour, 93 looked good on him. Worked out far better than other players who reverse their numbers for new teams (thinking Stillman and 61).

[Hazelwood72]

The first non-traditional high number I can remember for a non-goalie was when Phil Esposito got traded from the Bruins to the Rangers in 1975. Phil wore #7 for a long time, but Rod Gilbert (a star of his own) of the Rangers already wore 7, so Phil went with 77. This was well before Gretzky’s 99.

Before 1975, it was almost unheard of for a skater to wear a number higher than 28.

Most Goalies wore 1 or 30, but often a rookie goalie coming up due to injury of the regular goalie would wear either 29 or 31 when the team already assigned 1 & 30. Tony Esposito was the first goalie I recall with a higher number, 35.

Before the middle of the 1964-65 season, the primary goalie always wore #1. Before that point, NHL teams were NOT required to roster & dress 2 goalies. (Imagine that!) It got to be an embarrassment when the goalie got injured and it would take 20-30 minutes to either stitch up the starter or get the backup out of the stands, dressed, and warmed up. The NHL was getting more TV exposure in the USA and the league realized it needed to mandate the backup to avoid delays.

When the concept of a backup goalie was new, the backups often had low numbers like 17, 24, etc. They simply took a vacant number within the range of the team. A couple years later, they started to standardize on #30 for the 2nd goalie.

Enjoy the trip down jersey (sweater) numbers memory lane.

[Hazelwood72]

The first non-traditional high number I can remember for a non-goalie was when Phil Esposito got traded from the Bruins to the Rangers in 1975. Phil wore #7 for a long time, but Rod Gilbert (a star of his own) of the Rangers already wore 7, so Phil went with 77. This was well before Gretzky’s 99.

Before 1975, it was almost unheard of for a skater to wear a number higher than 28.

Most Goalies wore 1 or 30, but often a rookie goalie coming up due to injury of the regular goalie would wear either 29 or 31 when the team already assigned 1 & 30. Tony Esposito was the first goalie I recall with a higher number, 35.

Before the middle of the 1964-65 season, the primary goalie always wore #1. Before that point, NHL teams were NOT required to roster & dress 2 goalies. (Imagine that!) It got to be an embarrassment when the goalie got injured and it would take 20-30 minutes to either stitch up the starter or get the backup out of the stands, dressed, and warmed up. The NHL was getting more TV exposure in the USA and the league realized it needed to mandate the backup to avoid delays.

When the concept of a backup goalie was new, the backups often had low numbers like 17, 24, etc. They simply took a vacant number within the range of the team. A couple years later, they started to standardize on #30 for the 2nd goalie.

Enjoy the trip down jersey (sweater) numbers memory lane.

Here’s a link to an interesting history of when the NHL started mandating 2 goalies back in 1965:

www.nhlbackups.com/2017/07/196465-seaso ... e.html?m=1