Every number you can't wear on the Vancouver Canucks

The Vancouver Canucks announced jersey numbers for their three new free agent signings last week.

We’re talking about the Canucks, so of course it didn’t come without controversy.

For the first time since Luc Bourdon died in 2008, the Canucks announced that one of their players would wear No. 28. It was met with opposition from many fans, who viewed the jersey as unofficially retired out of respect for Bourdon.

Many fans pushed back, however, saying that Ian Cole should be able to wear the number given it’s not hanging from the rafters.

Nobody was blaming Cole for choosing the number. He has worn 28 for the majority of his NHL career, and the Vancouver newcomer shouldn’t be expected to know the history of that number.

In the end, Cole did the classy thing and announced that he will wear another number.

It brings up an interesting question, though.

Imagine you’re a new player on the Canucks. What numbers are you not allowed to wear?

Here’s a handy guide.

You can’t wear a number that’s already taken

Want to wear No. 40 or No. 43? Good luck, those are taken by Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes.

Duplicate numbers aren’t allowed, though there have been instances of players giving up their numbers for more established veterans.

That’s what happened in 1999 when the Canucks acquired Felix Potvin. Peter Schaefer, who was in just his second NHL season, gave up No. 29 for him and wore No. 72 instead.

You can’t wear retired Canucks numbers

Six players have had their jerseys officially retired by the Canucks, and their numbers hang from the rafters at Rogers Arena.

That means you can’t wear No. 10 (Pavel Bure), 12 (Stan Smyl), 16 (Trevor Linden), 19 (Markus Naslund), 22 (Daniel Sedin), or 33 (Henrik Sedin).

Nobody has dared to wear No. 1 since Roberto Luongo left town in 2014, but that number is still available. Luongo is going into the Ring of Honour next season, but won’t have retired-number status.

You shouldn’t wear unofficially retired numbers

This one is a bit more of a grey area.

Two players have died while being active members of the Canucks: Bourdon and Wayne Maki. Their numbers, except for one famous example, have never been worn since.

Maki’s No. 11 jersey was considered unofficially retired after he died tragically of a brain tumour in 1974. It remained that way until 1997, when Mark Messier wore it.

The Maki family was not consulted before Messier wore No. 11 and they were furious.

“I was watching the 12 o’clock news and I was really shocked when Mark Messier turned around and was wearing Wayne’s number… I always felt the number was retired,” Maki’s widow Beverly told the Vancouver Sun in 1997. “Messier can wear No. 111 if he wants. I guess this is the way it’s going to be but I’m just hurt the way it happened.”

Bourdon, who died at age 21 in a motorcycle accident while a member of the team in 2008, falls into a similar category. Given the team allowed Cole to wear his number, it isn’t officially retired. But no player has worn 28 since Bourdon.

Rick Rypien is technically a different example. He was still an active NHL player when he died in 2011, though he was technically a member of the Winnipeg Jets at the time of his tragic passing. Rypien played 119 NHL games, all of them with Vancouver. He’s the last Canucks player to ever wear No. 37.

Many Canucks fans have pointed out that Pavol Demitra’s No. 38 has been worn since his death and that’s indeed true. The Canucks were the last NHL team that Demitra played for, though he had already played a season for Yaroslavl Lokomotiv of the KHL before he and his teammates died in a plane crash in 2011. Victor Oreskovich began wearing No. 38 before Demitra passed away, and the number has since been worn by Derek Joslin and Justin Bailey.

You can’t wear triple digits

Messier shouldn’t have worn 11, but he wouldn’t have been allowed to wear No. 111.

That’s because the NHL rule book specifically states that triple digits (and presumably anything higher than that) aren’t allowed. Also not allowed and specifically mentioned in the rule book: fractions or decimals.

You can’t wear 0 or 00… anymore

While some leagues like the NBA allow players to wear 0 or 00, the NHL does not. Though it used to.

Defenceman Neil Sheehy was the last player to wear No. 0, doing so while a member of the Hartford Whalers during the 1987-88 season.

Goaltender Martin Biron wore No. 00 when he was first called up to the Buffalo Sabres in 1995-96. The next season, the NHL banned players from wearing 0 or 00.

The Canucks have never had a player wear 0 or 00. Twelve other numbers have never been worn by a Canucks player: 67, 68, 69, 80, 84, 85, 87, 90, 93, 97, 98, and 99.

You can’t wear 99

There’s only one number that’s been retired league-wide, and that’s Wayne Gretzky’s No. 99. So you can’t wear the Great One’s number on the Canucks, or any other team.

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