Jump to content

If you could retire ONE more Habs number - whose would it be?


titanfan

Recommended Posts

First, I'll be honest - Montreal has retired a lot of jerseys, some say too many.

 

But it is the all-star break - so let's look at all time all-stars.  As the title says, if you could retire ONE more Habs number - whose would you choose?

 

Andrei Markov and Saku Koivu are two names that immediately jump out at me.  (I know they didn't win cups, but...)

 

Or how about Steve Shutt or Jacques Lemaire (the player...)?

 

Georges Vezina's jersey was never retired?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dont know, maybe need to be in hall of fame, fist full of cups or played 1000gms min. as a hab. for the next one. (Which most likely will be Price in ??years.)

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

#79

 

I think any player who plays their entire career with one team and was one of the best players, if not the best player on that team for said career, deserves to have their jersey raised. And I don't think it should matter that Montreal had such high standards before, this is a new era. There are 5 times as many teams now than there were for the first half of Montreal's existence. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, illWill said:

#79

 

I think any player who plays their entire career with one team and was one of the best players, if not the best player on that team for said career, deserves to have their jersey raised. And I don't think it should matter that Montreal had such high standards before, this is a new era. There are 5 times as many teams now than there were for the first half of Montreal's existence. 

But he is a Russian!:o

 

Markov- 990gms 119g 572pts

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, illWill said:

#79

 

I think any player who plays their entire career with one team and was one of the best players, if not the best player on that team for said career, deserves to have their jersey raised. And I don't think it should matter that Montreal had such high standards before, this is a new era. There are 5 times as many teams now than there were for the first half of Montreal's existence. 

 

I'm not willing to lower the bar. In fact, I reject the idea that a major player who stays with one team for his whole career should have his number retired by any team, not just Montreal. Number retirement is the greatest honour a player can receive - greater than the Hall of Fame. I see teams like Vancouver retiring the numbers of Markus Naslund or Stan Smyl, I just laugh. What a testament to organizational mediocrity.

 

If we're going to go 'sentimental' rather than insist on standards, then Koivu should get it waaaaay before Markov. But again, I reject the premise.

 

I like Commandant's Toe Blake idea. But the Habs have already degraded the currency with #5 and #12 (and maybe even #23). Give it a long rest.

 

As for post-Roy Habs, Price will probably be the first non-Cup winner to get his jersey in the rafters. And assuming he can assemble a couple more elite seasons and a couple of additional playoff drives, he would be worthy - a no-brainer candidate for any organization except the Canadiens. No Hab since Roy is even in the same league.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

#6 Toe Blake.  Member of the Punch Line.

 

As a Player

 

  • Stanley Cup champion — 1935 (with Montreal Maroons)
  • Stanley Cup champion — 1944, 1946 (with Montreal Canadiens as a player, and as Team Captain)
  • Hart Trophy  1939 
  • Scoring Leader — 1939 
  • Lady Byng Trophy  1946
  • NHL First Team All-Star — 1939, 1940, 1945
  • NHL Second Team All-Star — 1946
  • In January, 2017, Blake was part of the first group of players to be named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
  •  
  • Member of the famous Punch Line
  • In 1998, he was ranked number 66 on The Hockey News’ list of the NHL's 100 greatest players of all time to date.

    He scored the 
    Stanley Cup-clinching goal in the 1944 Stanley Cup Finals at 9:12 of the first overtime of game four, helping the Canadiens complete a four-game sweep of the Chicago Blackhawks.
  •  
  • 13 years as a Hab (player), 1 year with the maroons
  • Habs stats 569 GP, 235 G, 294 A, 529 PTS
  • Playoffs 57 GP, 25 G, 37 A, 62 PTS,   2 Cups

Scoring....  6 seasons in the top 10 points

 

1938-39 NHL 47 (1st)

1939-40 NHL 38 (7th)
1941-42 NHL 45 (6th)
1942-43 NHL 59 (7th)
1944-45 NHL 67 (3rd)
1945-46 NHL 50 (3rd)

 

4 seasons in the top 10 goals

 

1938-39 NHL 24 (2nd)
1939-40 NHL 17 (8th)
1944-45 NHL 29 (3rd)

1945-46 NHL 29 (3rd)

 

 

7 seasons in the top 10 assists

 

1938-39 NHL 23 (7th)
1939-40 NHL 21 (6th)
1941-42 NHL 28 (8th)
1942-43 NHL 36 (8th)
1944-45 NHL 38 (3rd)
1945-46 NHL 21 (10th)

1946-47 NHL 29 (7th)

 

 

Quite Simply, Toe Blake is the Best Player in Habs history whose number has not yet been retired, and that is solely looking at his contributions as a player before we even discuss his coaching career which is

Stanley Cup champion — 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1965, 1966, 1968 (head coach of Montreal Canadiens)

Record 500‑255‑159 (.634 Win percentage)
82-37 in playoffs (.689 Win percentage)

  • Like 2
  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

I like Commandant's Toe Blake idea. But the Habs have already degraded the currency with #5 and #12 (and maybe even #23). Give it a long rest.

 

#12? Seriously?

 

Yvan Cournoyer, 10 Stanley Cups, four of them as a captain, a Conn Smythe trophy and third all-time in goals for the Habs (when he retired)?

 

Dickie Moore, six Stanley Cups, two Art Ross trophies, set the record for regular-season points?

 

Both Hall of Famers, both named to the top 100 all-time players by nhl.com.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

 

#12? Seriously?

 

Yvan Cournoyer, 10 Stanley Cups, four of them as a captain, a Conn Smythe trophy and third all-time in goals for the Habs (when he retired)?

 

Dickie Moore, six Stanley Cups, two Art Ross trophies, set the record for regular-season points?

 

Both Hall of Famers, both named to the top 100 all-time players by nhl.com.

 

I felt they were borderline *by the standards of previous Habs' jersey retirements.* No question, they'd be retired by any other organization. But for the longest time the Habs reserved that honour only for the most spine-tinglingly magical players of all time. I'm not knocking those great #12s, just saying that they were not quite at that level. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nobody in the modern era has risen to the standard of number retirement IMO.  If someone put a gun to my head and forced me to pick one, I would go with Markov by leaps and bounds over anybody else.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, sbhatt said:

Nobody in the modern era has risen to the standard of number retirement IMO.  If someone put a gun to my head and forced me to pick one, I would go with Markov by leaps and bounds over anybody else.

 

Recent years -- or salary cap era -- yes. I'd certainly count Roy as "modern era" and maybe even Robinson and Gainey, both of whom played until 1989. Koivu and Markov would qualify with another team, but we have a legacy of very high standards.

 

We are still looking for our next superstar(s).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

I'm not willing to lower the bar. In fact, I reject the idea that a major player who stays with one team for his whole career should have his number retired by any team, not just Montreal. Number retirement is the greatest honour a player can receive - greater than the Hall of Fame. I see teams like Vancouver retiring the numbers of Markus Naslund or Stan Smyl, I just laugh. What a testament to organizational mediocrity.

 

If we're going to go 'sentimental' rather than insist on standards, then Koivu should get it waaaaay before Markov. But again, I reject the premise.

 

I like Commandant's Toe Blake idea. But the Habs have already degraded the currency with #5 and #12 (and maybe even #23). Give it a long rest.

 

As for post-Roy Habs, Price will probably be the first non-Cup winner to get his jersey in the rafters. And assuming he can assemble a couple more elite seasons and a couple of additional playoff drives, he would be worthy - a no-brainer candidate for any organization except the Canadiens. No Hab since Roy is even in the same league.

I think you meant to say: “After Price finally leads the Habs to the Cup he will be worthy- a no -brainer candidate...”

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I grew up in the 70s, was in attendance for the ‘79 cup win, loved Cournoyer as I did all Habs (Lafleur, Dryden & Robinson we’re favorites tho). 

 

But although I always thought Cournoyer was good, I never saw him in Hall of Fame or Jersey retirement status. I would have put Shutt and Lemaire over him easy.

 

4 times named as the 2nd best RW in the league is good, 1 Conn Smythe. 

 

He just was never top. He never seemed in that Hall of Fame elite class to me as a fan. 

 

Thst said, my memories are more late 70s than early 70s, maybe I’m overly influenced by the star Guy Lafleur and didn’t see the star Cournoyer. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jacques Lemaire

Bill Durnan

George Vezina

Toe Blake

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, PMAC said:

I think you meant to say: “After Price finally leads the Habs to the Cup he will be worthy- a no -brainer candidate...”

 

Well, no. First of all I seriously doubt it will happen. Secondly, what I'm saying is precisely that Price is the only Hab ever to have a profile that suggests he'll be worthy of jersey retirement without winning a Cup. This says less about Price than about the futility of the Canadiens over the past quarter-century, but there it is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...