If you're someone who struggles with arithmophobia, you may want to turn away now. For the rest of you, here's another addition to what my FanHouse buddy Mirtle notes is a boom-time for hockey books: "Hockey Night in Canada: By the Numbers" by Scott Morrison, which lists and ranks the great players at every digit in NHL uniform history. As the Canadian Press mentioned in its piece about the book, Montreal forward Guillaume Latendresse has the distinction of wearing the last number from 0 to 99 to be filled, after taking on No. 84 in training camp last season.Along with some inside stories about how players select numbers, Morrison and the usual gang of hockey aristocracy associated with HNIC -- Ron MacLean, Don Cherry, Scotty Bowman, Eric Duhatschek, Elliotte Friedman and the like -- voted on how to rank the top players at each number. For example, the CP reports that the Top 10 at No. 9 are: 1. Gordie Howe; 2. Maurice Richard; 3. Bobby Hull; 4. Andy Bathgate; 5. Mike Modano; 6. Ted Kennedy; 7. John Bucyk; 8. Lanny McDonald; 9. Charlie Conacher; 10. Glenn Anderson.
I've always been a media guide junkie, and I've actually played this game in my mind when reading the "By The Numbers" portion of the yearbook. As a Devils fan, that meant trying to figure out the best No. 9 out of a list that's included Neal Broten, Bernie Nicholls, Kirk Muller, Don Lever and now Zach Parise. (No. 4 is a bit easier to suss out; no disrespect to Myles O'Connor and Gord Mark, but make mine Scott Stevens, thank you.)
If you've never seen it, check out A to Z Hockey's "by the numbers" page, which was updated just before this season began. It's there you'll find fodder for your own numerical debates, from fairly easy ones like No. 87 (Donald Brashear, Sidney Crosby, Pierre Turgeon) to the 10,000 or so players that have worn No. 3 -- including unbelievably awesome hockey names like Sprague Cleghorn, Zarley Zalapski and Moose Sherritt.
