Retiring numbers?
Rick Nash is the best player we've ever had over any stretch of time, and by quite a bit. If you retire numbers based on who the best players were, Rick Nash is, at best, a marginally great player ... I don't think he's worthy of seeing his number retired because he never did anything great here. He landed in a three-way tie for the goal scoring lead one time ... with a whopping 41 goals. Guys who get their jersey numbers retired are typically Cup winners or score 50 goals several times. Not guys who lead the team to futility and ask to be traded.
Nobody who has played here deserves this honor just yet. Give it time.
Non-HOFers with retired numbers (exempting players not yet eligible):
Barry Ashbee (PHI)
Bill Barilko (TOR)
Michel Briere (PIT)
Rod Brind'Amour (CAR)
Neal Broten (MIN/DAL)
Ken Danyeko (NJ)
Adam Foote (COL)
Danny Gare (BUF)
Bob Gassoff (STL)
Bill Goldsworthy (MIN/DAL)
Adam Graves (NYR)
Al Hamilton (EDM)
Lionel Hitchman (BOS)
Dale Hunter (WSH)
Yvon Labre (WSH)
Trevor Linden (VAN)
Keith Magnuson (CHI)
Rick Martin (BUF)
Bill Masterton (MIN/DAL)
Markus Naslund (VAN)
Teppo Numminen (PHX)
Bob NYstrom (NYI)
Terry O'Reilly (BOS)
Barclay Plager (STL)
Mike Richter (NYR)
Rene Robert (BUF)
Jeremy Roenick (PHX)
Stan Smyl (VAN)
Thomas Steen (WPG)
Brian Sutter (STL)
Dave Taylor (LA)
Keith Tkachuk (PHX)
Rogie Vachon (LA)
Mike Vernon (CGY)
Glen Wesley (CAR)
Ashbee, Barilko, Briere, Gassoff, and Masterton were all players who died prematurely during their careers. Magnuson's number was retired shortly after his death; he undoubtedly received a boost as a result.
Most of the rest have been borderline HOFers, who had long careers and had some type of high peak with the team that retired their numbers.
The obvious deviations are St. Louis and Washington. Barclay Plager spent nine seasons with the Blues, then coached one season and parts of two others (his tenure ending by firing). He had no awards. Bernie Federko played 13 seasons, putting up four 100-point seasons but no accolades. He didn't look like a HOFer when his number was retired, and his actual induction has been widely derided. Brian Sutter had 12 seasons, but less than 10 years worth of games played with no accolades.
For Washington, Dale Hunter played 12 seasons with much notoriety. And Yvon Labre had just 355 games played with the Capitals. Without question, he's the worst player so honored, possibly in any sport.