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Time to retire a bunch of old-timer jersey numbers

I would look to only retire the most worthy players' jersey numbers. Then they can honor whoever they want with banners or rings of honor or anything else the marketing department can think of. I took some time to look at historical stats to get a more complete picture. Added some current and recent players we have all seen play to make comparisons easier.

Some rare accomplishments:
1000 points with Montreal (only 3 players)
1000 GP with Montreal (only 5 players)
500 goals with Montreal (only 3 players)
Franchise-defining Forward / Defenseman / Goalie

Top5:
Guy Lafleur 961 GP 518 G 1246 PTS - Most Points and Assists in Franchise History
*Maurice Richard 978 GP 544 G 966 PTS - Most Goals in Franchise History
*Jean Béliveau 1125 GP 507 G 1219 PTS - Top 5 in every category / Franchise Center
Larry Robinson 1202 GP 883 PTS - Second most GP and Franchise Defenseman
Patrick Roy 551 GP 289 W / 2 cups - Franchise Goaltender

HM:
*Henri Richard 1258 GP 1046 PTS - Most GP in Franchise History and Most Cup Rings (NHL)
Ken Dryden 397 GP 258 W / 6 cups

Recent Players:
Carey Price 712 GP 361 W / 0 cup - Franchise Goaltender
Andrei Markov 990 GP 572 PTS (18th)
Tomas Plekanec 984 GP (7th) 233 G (18th) 606 PTS (13th)
Saku Koivu 641 PTS (10th)
+Brendan Gallagher 834 GP (20th) 239 G (15th) 464 PTS (27th)
+Nick Suzuki 455 GP (77th) 134 G (42nd) 375 PTS (39th)
+Cole Caufield 118 G (49th) 219 PTS (76th)

+Active Player
*Played before 1967

I'm not too interested in going back to the 6-team era of the NHL before 1967. It is a lot more special to me to be a league-leading player in a 30+ team league, so I am completely on board with Carey Price's number getting retired. He's the only Habs player who was close to being of that caliber consistently for the 30+ years I have watched hockey.

The other 2 players who have played 1000+ with Montreal are Gainey and Provost if anyone was curious.
 
Shred said:
I would look to only retire the most worthy players' jersey numbers. Then they can honor whoever they want with banners or rings of honor or anything else the marketing department can think of. I took some time to look at historical stats to get a more complete picture. Added some current and recent players we have all seen play to make comparisons easier.

Some rare accomplishments:
1000 points with Montreal (only 3 players)
1000 GP with Montreal (only 5 players)
500 goals with Montreal (only 3 players)
Franchise-defining Forward / Defenseman / Goalie

Top5:
Guy Lafleur 961 GP 518 G 1246 PTS - Most Points and Assists in Franchise History
*Maurice Richard 978 GP 544 G 966 PTS - Most Goals in Franchise History
*Jean Béliveau 1125 GP 507 G 1219 PTS - Top 5 in every category / Franchise Center
Larry Robinson 1202 GP 883 PTS - Second most GP and Franchise Defenseman
Patrick Roy 551 GP 289 W / 2 cups - Franchise Goaltender

HM:
*Henri Richard 1258 GP 1046 PTS - Most GP in Franchise History and Most Cup Rings (NHL)
Ken Dryden 397 GP 258 W / 6 cups

Recent Players:
Carey Price 712 GP 361 W / 0 cup - Franchise Goaltender
Andrei Markov 990 GP 572 PTS (18th)
Tomas Plekanec 984 GP (7th) 233 G (18th) 606 PTS (13th)
Saku Koivu 641 PTS (10th)
+Brendan Gallagher 834 GP (20th) 239 G (15th) 464 PTS (27th)
+Nick Suzuki 455 GP (77th) 134 G (42nd) 375 PTS (39th)
+Cole Caufield 118 G (49th) 219 PTS (76th)

+Active Player
*Played before 1967

I'm not too interested in going back to the 6-team era of the NHL before 1967. It is a lot more special to me to be a league-leading player in a 30+ team league, so I am completely on board with Carey Price's number getting retired. He's the only Habs player who was close to being of that caliber consistently for the 30+ years I have watched hockey.

The other 2 players who have played 1000+ with Montreal are Gainey and Provost if anyone was curious.
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Provost never received the recognition that he deserved. He belongs in the Hall of Fame and you could argue he deserves his number retired as much as Bob Gainey did.
 
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BenchBrawl said:
Time to get it over with and correct historical injustices, based on current standards of jersey retirement of the franchise. No need to re-do the big ceremonies like in the Pierre Boivin years, which were nice, but would be overkill today since few would have seen them play; modest ceremonies before games with surviving family could work for the old-timers.

#1 Georges Vézina

#1 Bill Durnan

#4 Newsy Lalonde

#4 Aurèle Joliat

#6 Toe Blake

And then...

#31 Carey Price

---

Maybes:

Georges Hainsworth

Kenny Reardon

Didier Pitre

Jacques Lemaire

Gump Worsley

Sprague Cleghorn (short stint but impactful)

Guy Carbonneau (161 playoff games for MTL, 2 cups, Selke record in MTL: 1,1,1,2,2,3,4,4,5, team captain)

Jacques Laperrière

JC Tremblay

Tom Johnson

Pit Lépine (early Carbonneau type)

Sylvio Mantha

Jack Laviolette
Click to expand...

I wouldn't retire any of these numbers.
 
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BenchBrawl said:
There's a reason Boston is our true nemesis, our real arch rival, because they are the only other franchise with a comparable level of respect for its history as Montreal.

Now let's lead by example and retire those jerseys!
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Retiring jerseys is a tough one.........it just is.

I kinda like what the Leafs do, where they honor the number, not retire it.
Crazy I know.
 
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BLONG7 said:
Coming from the guy, who said Mesar would get 200 pts his last year in Jr..............a little rich eh. lol

Price's number should be up there. He wins a Cup, if Bergevin never gets hired.
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Best player in hockey for a short stint and would’ve had a back to back Hart if he hadn’t gotten hurt.

And yeah, MB was poison.
 
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I would be up for it, why not. Most of those deserve to be there. And I'll include Steve Shutt as well.

What you do is retire them in threes every two years. (three players retired in the same ceremony)

In the case of Price, I'm not sure. It's the same as Koivu with me. They were not part of great dynasties and cups but they meant a lot for us and for this franchise at some point in time. Is it enough? Maybe. We either retire them both or not at all.
 
The top priority should really be Newsy Lalonde, who was a mega superstar and in contention as best player in the world for a long time, always playing for the Canadiens.

It is incomprehensible that his name is so forgotten. Most people know who Howie Morenz is, so it's not just about the passage of time. We should honor him.

en.wikipedia.org

Newsy Lalonde - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
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Kimota said:
I would be up for it, why not. Most of those deserve to be there. And I'll include Steve Shutt as well.

What you do is retire them in threes every two years. (three players retired in the same ceremony)

In the case of Price, I'm not sure. It's the same as Koivu with me. They were not part of great dynasties and cups but they meant a lot for us and for this franchise at some point in time. Is it enough? Maybe. We either retire them both or not at all.
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Price has nothing to do with Koivu. He’s a blue chip HOFer and a true superstar who brought a sad sack team to the finals and stole multiple playoff series in his career. They are completely different cases.

HOF should be the minimum for jersey retirement. Price’s career was brief but very special. He was among the absolute best in the game and I’d argue the very best for a few years.
 
Lafleurs Guy said:
Price has nothing to do with Koivu. He’s a blue chip HOFer and a true superstar who brought a sad sack team to the finals and stole multiple playoff series in his career. They are completely different cases.

HOF should be the minimum for jersey retirement. Price’s career was brief but very special. He was among the absolute best in the game and I’d argue the very best for a few years.
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In no world did Price bring any one into a sc finals

1 season and 12 games was he ever the best

Theodore was the best competing with Brodeur in 2002

Huet had one of the best 38 games stretch of any goalie here with 7 so on a very limited team

Halak had one of the best seasons in 2010 upsetting 2 top cotenders

Price had a 4 year stretch where he was top 5

Most of the rest of his career he was euther trash like the years of his 10.5 mil contract or mediocre.

You’re obviously on a agenda trying to gaslight everyone here.

No buddy, habs fans dont typically go watch raptors games, The Rocket is the bench mark so we dont want to give the biggest award to a guy that was on substances throughout his career and who dint take his job seriously.

The chill pill attitude could maybe work in toronto or vancouver but not here. We don’t want that crap here. We want guys who give it all out everyday, we want people like Patrick Roy who steps up and is a source of energy for the team and crowd.

Subban could have easely been a candidate, because he undeniable both on ice and off the ice. He unequivocally had more successful years than price.

Apart from 5 seasons Price’s performances where poor, many seasons in the low .900
No sc to show for
Fans are not on board with his jersey retirement

But the RBC’s logo also has no business on the habs jersey. If your argunent is that we must have at least one guy eligible to be retired every 20 years and hes the only guy eligible by default then…. Ok?
 
Bombshell11 said:
In no world did Price bring any one into a sc finals

1 season and 12 games was he ever the best

Theodore was the best competing with Brodeur in 2002

Huet had one of the best 38 games stretch of any goalie here with 7 so on a very limited team

Halak had one of the best seasons in 2010 upsetting 2 top cotenders

Price had a 4 year stretch where he was top 5

Most of the rest of his career he was euther trash like the years of his 10.5 mil contract or mediocre.

You’re obviously on a agenda trying to gaslight everyone here.

No buddy, habs fans dont typically go watch raptors games, The Rocket is the bench mark so we dont want to give the biggest award to a guy that was on substances throughout his career and who dint take his job seriously.

The chill pill attitude could maybe work in toronto or vancouver but not here. We don’t want that crap here. We want guys who give it all out everyday, we want people like Patrick Roy who steps up and is a source of energy for the team and crowd.

Subban could have easely been a candidate, because he undeniable both on ice and off the ice. He unequivocally had more successful years than price.

Apart from 5 seasons Price’s performances where poor, many seasons in the low .900
No sc to show for
Fans are not on board with his jersey retirement

But the RBC’s logo also has no business on the habs jersey. If your argunent is that we must have at least one guy eligible to be retired every 20 years and hes the only guy eligible by default then…. Ok?
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Price finished in the top 5 for Vezina 4 times. Top 7 for Hart twice. Multiple other seasons where he was on a Vezina ballot. Won the Vezina, Hart AND Lindsay in 2015 which I believe only Hasek has done. Stanley Cup final appearance. Leads all Habs goalies in wins. First ballot HOFer. Canadian athlete of the year in 2015. Even mentioning Theodore with his name who did nothing outside of one season in 2002 and was a fluke is just insulting. The other goalies you mentioned did nothing either whether it was short stints in Montreal or bouncing around the league. No player is going to want to play in Montreal to create a legacy if they’re held to a standard created by ancient ghosts of the past that played in an era when parity wasn’t a thing. Subban also didn’t do more. That’s ridiculous as well. He had less hardware in his Norris year and it was debatable if he should’ve even won the Norris over Suter.
 
nhlfan9191 said:
Price finished in the top 5 for Vezina 4 times. Top 7 for Hart twice. Multiple other seasons where he was on a Vezina ballot. Won the Vezina, Hart AND Lindsay in 2015 which I believe only Hasek has done. Stanley Cup final appearance. Leads all Habs goalies in wins. First ballot HOFer. Canadian athlete of the year in 2015. Even mentioning Theodore with his name who did nothing outside of one season in 2002 and was a fluke is just insulting. The other goalies you mentioned did nothing either whether it was short stints in Montreal or bouncing around the league. No player is going to want to play in Montreal to create a legacy if they’re held to a standard created by ancient ghosts of the past that played in an era when parity wasn’t a thing. Subban also didn’t do more. That’s ridiculous as well. He had less hardware in his Norris year and it was debatable if he should’ve even won the Norris over Suter.
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Not sure why you brought all this to the conversation?

Did i not mention he was a top 5 goalie in 4 of the years he played? Saying he was a top 5 vezina in 4 of the years, isnt that the same thing?

The reason i mentioned the other goalies was to compare their best seasons which were note worthy

2014
2002
2010
2006
These were the most notable seasons of our goalies playing above and beyond.

And we both agree that one great season is not enough to have your jersey retired

As for Subban, no he absolutely for 7 straight years played like a guy who would have his jersey retired given he was given the opportunity to play his entire career here.

Price had 15 seasons ? 4-5 were great?

We cant just forget the other 10 and pretend they never existed. Being in the low .900 AFTER your big contract is weak.

And with his substance abuses out of the way he for sure would have played alot better.

He for sure had the potential to do what you people are talking about but he’s the main person to blame for the lack of extended success.

And if mtl wasnt a fit for him, no one forced him to stay here, he could of left and have a better career elsewhere.
 
Bombshell11 said:
Not sure why you brought all this to the conversation?

Did i not mention he was a top 5 goalie in 4 of the years he played? Saying he was a top 5 vezina in 4 of the years, isnt that the same thing?

The reason i mentioned the other goalies was to compare their best seasons which were note worthy

2014
2002
2010
2006
These were the most notable seasons of our goalies playing above and beyond.

And we both agree that one great season is not enough to have your jersey retired

As for Subban, no he absolutely for 7 straight years played like a guy who would have his jersey retired given he was given the opportunity to play his entire career here.

Price had 15 seasons ? 4-5 were great?

We cant just forget the other 10 and pretend they never existed. Being in the low .900 AFTER your big contract is weak.

And with his substance abuses out of the way he for sure would have played alot better.

He for sure had the potential to do what you people are talking about but he’s the main person to blame for the lack of extended success.

And if mtl wasnt a fit for him, no one forced him to stay here, he could of left and have a better career elsewhere.
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His substance abuse wasn’t the problem. His body fell apart in his 30’s which was when his big contract kicked in. Bergevin nuked the team ironically the same time. And Price’s performances in 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2019 was levels above anything goalies like Huet and Halak did in a single season. People rave about that Halak playoff run every once and awhile and he did have some magical games. What they don’t talk about when bringing up that run is how inconsistent he was during those playoffs and how he fell apart in the third round.
 
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