Advent Day 25 - Thomas Steen

The only number 25 in the league that is retired belongs to Thomas Steen. He is also the only Swedish born player to have earned the honor.

He played 14 seasons in the NHL, all with the Winnipeg Jets, totaling 950 games. Besides Bobby Hull, his number is the only other the Jets ever retired (9 and 25 continue to be recognized by the Coyotes).

Besides playing with Winnipeg he played in three Canada Cups for Sweden as well as numerous World Championships. After retiring from the NHL in 1995 he went on to play 6 more seasons in Germany before finally hanging up the skates in 1999.

He is the father of the Maple Leafs Alexander Steen.

More on Thomas Steen can be found at the HHOF*s Legends of Hockey page here.

His jerseys in the database can be found here.

Steen and company during the 1984-85 season...with terrible music track.

Advent Day 24 - Bernie Federko

One of the greatest St. Louis Blues of all time Bernie Federko played 12 seasons with the team and retired with most of the team's scoring records.

He came into the league in 1976 playing 31 games with the Blues and notching 3 hat tricks in his rookie season. He would have 100 or more points in 4 seasons and more than 90 in 3 more. He was the first player in NHL history to record at least 50 assists in 10 straight seasons, and the 22nd to top the 1000 point mark. He only played in 2 All-Star games and was often overlooked in an era playing with the likes of Lemieux and Gretzky. Jacques Demers called him the most underrated player in the league.

He was traded to Detroit in 1989 and would retire the following year. The Blues retired his number 24 in 1991, and Federko was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002. To this day he still holds the Blues records for games played, assists and points. He is currently the color commentator for the team.

More on Bernie Federko at the HHOF's Legends of Hockey page here.

His jerseys in the database can be found here.

A look back at Federko's career in St. Louis:

Advent Day 23 - Bob Gainey

One of the most dominant defensive forwards to ever play the game Bob Gainey played his entire 15 year career in the NHL with the Canadiens. He won 5 Stanley Cups in Montreal and was awarded the Selke Trophy four years in a row between 1979 and 1982. He also won the Conn Smythe in 1979.

Never a high scoring forward his true talent resided in his defensive play. His total of just over 500 points says little about who he was as a player. The Soviet national team coach at the time referred to him as the greatest all-around player in the world. (He played against the Soviets on a number of occasions including 2 Canada Cups and the 1979 Challenge Cup which replace the All-Star game that season.)

He captained the Canadiens for 8 seasons starting in 1981 and his number 23 was officially retired in February earlier this year. Gainey is currently the General Manager in Montreal.

More on Bob Gainey can be found at the HHOF's Legends of Hockey page here.

His jerseys in the database can be found here.

Advent Day 22 - Mike Bossy

One of the greatest goal scorers in NHL history Mike Bossy left his mark in the league playing only ten seasons - all with the Islanders. Despite a career that was shortened by back injuries (retiring at only 30) he shattered scoring records and was a part of the dynasty that won 4 Stanley Cups between 1980-83.

He came into the league in 1977 scoring 53 goals and winning the Calder as rookie of the year. He would go on to score 50 or more in the next 9 seasons. In 1980-81 he scored the legendary 50 goals in 50 games, and recorded 9 hat tricks. The pinnacle of his career came the following season when he scored 64 goals and had 83 assists. He was an even greater threat in the playoffs where he had 160 points in 129 games.

Besides 4 Stanley Cups and the Calder, Bossy who was strictly against fighting, brought home the Lady Byng three times. (In the 83-84 season he had a miniscule 8 penalty minutes.) He was also rewarded with the Conn Smythe in 81-82, the season that saw the Islanders retain the Stanley Cup for a second time.

He was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Islanders retired his number 22 officially in 1992.

More on Mike Bossy can be found at the HHOF's Legends of Hockey page here.

His jerseys in the database can be found here.

About the jerseys: The Islanders changed their blue jerseys in 1977, and then again in 1978. They changed the number font several times in the early 80's and removed the name outlines following the 1983 season.

Watch for the goal scored in mid-air after being hit by Tiger Williams and try and ignore the music...:

Advent Day 21 - Stan Mikita

Born Stanislav Guot in Slovakia, Stan Mikita moved to Ontario as a boy and was raised by an aunt and uncle who gave him their surname. He played 22 years in the NHL, all with the Blackhawks and was one of the brightest stars in the league during the 1960's. When he retired in 1980 only Gordie Howe had scored more points.

Among Mikita's achievements the one that probably sticks out the most is the fact that in the 1966-67 season he won the Hart Memorial Trophy, the Art Ross and the Lady Byng - and also played in the All-Star game. He's the only player to ever win all three in a season. If that wasn't enough he did it again the following season. That he even won the Lady Byng is something of an achievement, the two seasons he did win it he had a total of 12 and 14 penalty minutes. Just two years before that he had 154.

Mikita is usually given credit as the first player to adopt a curved stick which he used quite well racking up 541 career goals. His only Stanley Cup came in 1961, however he played in 9 All-Star games and led the league in scoring 4 times.

His number 21 was retired by the Blackhawks in 1980, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983. In 2002 he was inducted into the Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame.

More on Mikita can be found at the HHOF's Legends of Hockey page here.

His jerseys in the database can be found here.

About the jerseys: The Chicago Blackhawks have made no major changes to their uniforms for more than 50 years. They have however made small adjustments over the years. The tomahawk first appeared on their sweaters in 1955, it has been moved up and down the sleeves three or four times and has been on the shoulders since the early 1960s. The sleeve stripes have altered slightly over the years as well as the collars. The numbers first used outlines in 1973, and names appeared in the 1977-78 season when the league made them mandatory.

Stosh in action via ChicagoBlackhawks.com

Advent Day 20 - Luc Robitaille

One of the greatest players in hockey history wore the number 20, although their number was never retired by an NHL club. In fact they never played a single game in the NHL, although they are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. That would be Vladislav Tretiak. Perhaps the greatest player to wear the number on this side of the world Luc Robitaille played nearly 20 years in the NHL. Born in Montreal he would start, and spend most of, his career in Los Angeles.

He wasn't drafted in the first round, or even the second or third. In fact he was drafted in the 9th round 171st overall. He would however prove himself a worthy choice in his first season scoring 45 goals and adding another 39 assists for a team leading 84 points (topping veteran Bernie Nicholls). He would rightly win the Calder Trophy.

Robitaille would go on to score at least 40 goals in his first eight seasons in the league (all with LA). In 1992-93 he put up career numbers scoring 63 goals and 62 assists. That year saw the Kings in their only Stanley Cup final in franchise history. They would lose to Montreal in 5 games.

He was traded to Pittsburgh (in the deal that sent Rick Tocchet to LA) after the 93-94 season. He would spend one year with the Penguins (the shortened season of 48 games) playing with Jagr and Francis. After a poor showing with the Pens he was dealt to the Rangers where he spent two seasons, the second one saw him reunited with Gretzky. And then it was back to Los Angeles for the 97-98 season.

He would spend the next 4 years back in his adopted hometown and his form would return. In 2000-01 he put up 88 points, it was the highest total he had recorded since first leaving the Kings in 1994. He had been in the league for nearly 15 years and his thoughts turned towards winning the Stanley Cup before retiring. In the offseason he looked for a better chance and found it with Detroit. It was a good move, he would win his only Cup in that first season with the Wings (playing on a team whose roster looked like that of an All-Star game...). The following season Detroit would go out in the first round and Robitaille decided to go back to Los Angeles before retiring. Two final seasons would be played there.

His last game was played in 2006 and the Kings retired his number the following year. During his career he played in 8 All-Star games and would retire as Los Angeles's all time leader in goals. Not bad for a kid drafted in the 9th round...

He is currently President of Business Operations for the team as well as the owner and president of the USHL Omaha Blazers.

More on Luc Robitaille can be found at the HHOF's Legeneds of Hockey site here.

A great interview can be heard via NHL.com's podcast section on Doc's Classic NHL here.

The jerseys in the database can be found here.

How about that for a goal...and a uniform!

Advent Day 19 - Bill Masterton

Bill Masterton's name lives on not because of his stats but because of tragedy. He played less than a season in the NHL, where he scored the first goal ever for the expansion North Stars. His career and life were cut short half way through the year in a game against the Seals. He was checked and fell over backwards, the hit to his head resulted in massive blood loss and severe trauma to the skull and would cause his death just 2 days later. He was 29.

He was the first, and to this day the only, NHL player to die as a result of an injury sustained during a game. Although many had come close in the past including Gordie Howe who dealt with a similar experience early on in his career. Masterton's death would inevitably put a focus on the use of helmets in the league, although they wouldn't become mandatory for more than 2 decades.

He was the only player to ever wear the number 19 for the North Stars and they officially retired it 20 years after his death in 1987. (The Dallas Stars still recognize Minnesota's retired numbers.)

The Bill Masterton Trophy, which is given annually to the NHL player who most exemplifies "perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey", was created in the year following Masterton's death. It has been awarded to among others Mario Lemieux, Pat LaFontaine, Bobby Clarke, Teemu Selanne, and Cam Neely.

More on Bill Masterton, including the original press clippings, can be found at NorthStarsHockey.com here.

His jerseys in the database are available here.

Advent Day 18 - Denis Savard

Savard played 17 years in the NHL, spending the majority of them in Chicago during two different stints. He came into the league in 1980 scoring 75 points as a rookie (he was only 1 point shy of the team lead). He would go on to score a total of 1338, with nearly 500 goals and more than 800 assists.

He never won any major awards, he only played in one All-Star game, but Denis Savard was a magician on the ice going end to end and using the infamous spin-o-rama to beat defenders (a move defined by another Savard...Serge). He was a part of the Montreal team that won the cup in 1993 (the Canadiens got Savard in the trade that sent Chris Chelios to Chicago). However, he would only be in his home province of Quebec for 3 years before being sent south to the relatively new Tampa Bay Lightning. He switched to number 9 in Tampa, not because 18 was being used but because 9 wasn't retired already as it had been in Chicago (Hull) and Montreal (Richard). His time there was short, only a little more than a season, before he came back to Chicago.

He finished out three more seasons before retiring as the third highest scoring Blackhawk in history. His number 18 was retired the next year, and in 2000 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. After hanging up the skates he never left hockey - he became the assistant coach for the Hawks in 1997 (spending 10 years in the position) and is currently their head coach.

More on Savard can be found at Legends of Hockey here.

The jerseys in the database can be found here.

About the jerseys: The Canadiens jersey with the logo on the sleeve was worn by Montreal in 1991-92 as part of the celebrations around the 75th anniversary of the NHL. All of the Original Six teams wore heritage jerseys. The Canadiens wore that particular style in the late 20's and early 30's during the time of Howie Morenz.

The Tampa Bay Lightning, despite not changing the actual appearance of the jerseys themselves between their conception in 1992 till this year's Reebok jerseys, changed their fonts and texts 4 times. Most notably each of the first three years of their existance. They have used their current font style since 2001. Besides the two shown here, in their first season the Lightning had a non-sheared version of the upper of the two types shown above. (I won't even go into their third jersey from 1996 with the rain and waves on it...)

The guy had some serious moves...

Advent Day 17 - Jari Kurri

Perhaps the greatest Finnish-born player to play in the NHL, Kurri came to the league in 1980. He played alongside Gretzky in the golden years of the Oilers, winning 4 Cups before Wayne left for Los Angeles and one in the years following. Kurri's peak came in the 1984-85 season when he scored 71 goals and added 64 assists (135 points, if you can believe Gretzky managed 208 that season).

In '91 he was traded via Philadelphia to the Kings, although reunited with Gretzky his numbers with Los Angeles are nothing compared to the ones he had put up earlier in Edmonton. His form was never on top and the two were often on seperate lines. The team did reach the Finals in '93, although the cup was eventually won by Montreal. In the 1995-96 season he was traded to the Rangers - and when that season ended he was back in California playing for the Ducks. A season later he was in Colorado, where he scored his 600th goal. He would add one more before the season ended and would retire after the playoffs.

Amongst Kurri's achievements he is the second leading scorer in Oiler history, he was the highest scoring European in NHL history, was the first Finnish player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, he played in 8 All-Star games and won the Lady Byng.

His number was retired by Edmonton in 2001, later it was retired by the Finnish national team (a team Kurri played for consistantly throughout his career and now coaches).

More on Kurri's career (and there is a lot more to it) is posted at Legends of Hockey here.

The jerseys in the database can be found here. (And yes, that is the terrible Burger King jersey worn by LA in 1995-96.)

The Gretzky-Kurri magic...

Advent Day 16 - Henri Richard

Fifteen years younger than The Rocket, Maurice Richard's little brother came into the league 12 season's after him - and the name was already legend. The two would play together in Montreal for 5 years (on the same line with Dickie Moore playing the other wing), Henri would play another 15 years (all with the Canadiens). When he retired in 1975 he had won more Stanley Cups than you can count on two hands.

Having to live up to the name and establish himself as an individual star the Pocket-Rocket scored more than a 1000 points during his time in the NHL, nearly 700 of them coming from assists. He actually topped his brother in a number of categories - although Maurice still hold the the Habs record for goals scored. He was tough, outspoken and temperamental but he was also a playmaker and a leader who would eventually take over the captaincy in 1971.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979, the Canadiens retired his number 16 in 1975. The Stanley Cup bares his name a record 11 times.

An excellent article about Richard can be found at Canada.com here.

The jerseys in the database can be found here.


Between 1955-1960 Henri and Maurice Richard played together in Montreal. It was Henri's first five seasons and Maurice's last. During those 5 seasons the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup every year.

Advent Day 15 - Milt Schmidt

Schmidt played all 16 seasons of his career for Boston retiring in the middle of the 1954-1955 season to take over as the team's head coach.

He won 2 Cups with the Bruins as part of the Kraut Line, made up of Schmidt and two of his childhood friends Bobby Bauer and Woody Dumart. In 1942 all three enlisted in the Canadian army and spent three years overseas during the war before coming back to the NHL in 1946. He would become captain of the Bruins in 1951 and retire as the team's leading scorer.

He played in 4 All-Star games, won the Hart trophy and was awarded the Lester Patrick trophy in 1996. He was inducted into the hall of fame as an honored member in 1961.

He coached the Bruins for 11 seasons before spending one season as the GM of the expansion Washington Capitals. Unfortunately the year would see the Capitals set the record for the worst performance by an NHL team in history, finishing the season with a horrendous 8-67-5 record.

His number 15, the only one in the league, was retired by the Bruins in 1980.

More on Milt Schmidt's career can be found at Legends of Hockey here.

His jerseys in the database can be found here.

The Kraut Line with the Allan Cup - playing in Halifax for the Royal Canadian Air Force Commandoes.

Advent Day 14 - Rene Robert

One player has the distinction of having their number 14 retired in the NHL - Rene Robert.

His career actually started out not with Buffalo but with 5 games playing for the Maple Leafs in 1970, he then spent half a season in Pittsburgh before landing with the Sabres.

As part of the French Connection Robert was Buffalo's first 100 point scorer and the team nearly took the Cup in 1975, losing in the Finals to the Flyers. He had 7 highly succesful seasons with the Sabres before being traded to the hapless Rockies. Don Cherry, then head coach of the team, sums his time in Colorado up pretty well:

"After I got Robert, and looked at some of the guys he had to work with, I'd feel sorry for the guy. He blocked shots, threw his weight around and fought. He even played though he had a broken thumb, a separated shoulder and a pulled groin! Considering our collection of players, I wouldn't have blamed Robert if he had just thrown in the towel, but he wouldn't quit."

After a season with the Rockies he was back where he started playing in Toronto. He retired after the 1982 season. He played in 2 All-Star games and was for a time president of the NHL Alumni Association.

In 1990 the Sabres retired Gilbert Perreault's number, 5 years later they retired Rick Martin and Robert's - immortalizing the French Connection.

More on Robert can be found at the Buffalo Sabres Alumni page here.

The jerseys in the database are here.

Just how good was the French Connection?
So good they wrote a pretty awful song about them -

Advent Day 13 - Mats Sundin

In the superstitious world of hockey the number 13 is something of a taboo. The majority of players who do wear it are European, one who has worn it probably longer than anyone else is Mats Sundin. He may also be the first player to see the number retired.

Sundin came to the NHL in 1990 after being drafted first overall (the first European ever to do so) by Quebec in the 1989 draft. He led the Nordiques in points in 1992-93 with 114 before being traded to Toronto in '94 in connection with the Lindros debacle. (Quebec got, among other things, Wendel Clark as part of the deal..)

He took over the Leafs captaincy in 1997, an honor he still holds 10 years later. He's led the team every year he's been there in points (except for 2002-03 when Mogilny bettered him). In fact "Sudden" is now the all time scoring leader in Maple Leafs history leading in both points and goals. Taking both titles away from Darryl Sittler earlier this season. He is the only Leaf player to score more than 400 goals - and oddly holds the NHL record for most overtime goals with 15.

Besides playing in 9 All-Star games Sundin has played for the Swedish National team (often as the captain) in the last 3 Olympics as well as numerous World Championships (3 golds, 2 bronze and a silver..). In 2006 Sweden took the gold in Turin beating Finland in the final.

Notes on the jerseys: the only change the Nordiques made to their jerseys while in the NHL was the addition of red to the numbers in 1991. In 1991-92 the Leafs used their old style jerseys as part of the NHL's 75th anniversary, their main jerseys at the time were the ones with the two-tone sleeves that they had used for more than 20 years. The next season saw them use the vintage style jerseys as their main uniform. Besides altering between new and old Leaf logos, they made subtle changes over the next 15 years. They changed the font for the names and numbers in 1997 to the current style used for the name plates. The numbers originally matched this style but were changed back to the Leafs block font in 2000. They also switched to the TML shoulder patches instead of the old leaf logos. (I will never understand why.) The striped jersey without a name was used as an alternate in the 1996-97 season. It was the original jersey style used by Toronto in their first full season in the NHL (70 years earlier in 1927). The green jersey was used for one game in 2002 celebrating the Leafs 75th anniversary, and is based on the Toronto St.Pats jerseys worn the season they became the Maple Leafs in 1926-27.

More on Sundin can be found at Legends of Hockey here.

His jerseys in the database can be found here.

And...the classic Nike commercial...

Advent Day 12 - Stan Smyl

The soul of Vancouver - Smyl played his entire 13 years in the NHL for the Canucks, for 8 of those years he captained the team. He was a major factor during the team's first trip to the Stanley Cup finals in 1982 - scoring 78 points and racking up 144 penalty minutes.

He was popular with fans and team mates and held many of the offensive scoring records for Vancouver, although most have since been overtaken. Nicknamed "Steamer" Smyl was an all around player that could both score and play physically. Putting the puck in the net and going after the biggest guys on the ice. He is the last NHL player to lead their team in goals, assists, points AND penalty minutes in a season.

He retired in 1991 and was promptly made assistant coach of the team, a position he held for 8 years before becoming head coach for the Canucks minor league affiliates in first Syracuse and Kansas City and then with the Manitoba Moose. He is currently director of player development back in Vancouver.

The Canucks retired his number 12 in '91, making him the first (and only) player to receive the honor in the club's history.

More on Stan Smyl can be found at Legends of Hockey here.

The jerseys are available in the database here.

Some perspective from the man himself:
Be aware that this video features not only those beauty early eighties yellow jerseys but ALSO the Flyers wearing Cooperalls...my my...



Video continues with part 2 here

Advent Day 10 - Guy Lafleur

In his last year in the QMJHL playing for the Quebec Remparts Lafleur led the team to the Memorial Cup - he scored 130 goals during the season. The following year would have seen Guy Lafleur playing not for the Canadiens but for the California Golden Seals (does anyone want to imagine the consequences of this?), had it not been for a rather strange, and decidedly uneven trade, that put the first round pick of the 1971 draft into Montreal's hands.

Lafleur would spend 14 seasons with the Canadiens where he was part of 5 Stanley Cup teams, scoring more than 50 goals and 100 points in 6 straight seasons beween 1974 and 1980. By 28 he had already accumulated more than 400 goals. He is the highest scorer in Montreal Canadiens history with 1,246 points. Only Richard has more goals.

He retired from the game in the middle of the 1984-85 season and took a desk job with the Canadiens. He was 33. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1988...but much like Howe decided he wasn't done with hockey. He signed with the Rangers after 3 years absence from the NHL played one season with them and spent the last two years of his career with the Quebec Nordiques.

His number 10 was retired by the Canadiens in '85. Besides winning 5 Stanley Cups Lafleur also won 3 Art Ross Trophies, 2 Hart Trophies, and the Conn Smythe. He appeared in 6 All-Star games and played for Canada in 2 Canada Cups.

More info can be found at the HHOF's Legends of Hockey's page here.

All his jerseys in the database can be found here.

If you want to see something really, really frightening (and I mean this), check out the following clip of the release party of Lafleur's self titled disco album released in 1979 (from the CBC). (Disco music accompanied by Lafleur reciting hockey exercises...) Even scarier, you can score the MP3's of this masterpiece here at the Disco Delivery Blog. (The album was actually released in both French and English if you were wondering.) They also have a very thorough review/explanation of the whole album. (Be aware that there are a massive amount of pop-up ads if you want to download the songs, but worth it. I've been listening to it...and well, I lack the words.)

Advent Day 9 - Gordie Howe

Mr. Hockey needs no introduction. He is the embodiment of the sport. He was born in 1926 in Floral, Saskatchewan and played professional hockey in both the NHL and the WHA for more than 30 years setting just about every record there was (only to watch Gretzky slowly break most of them).

He came to Detroit at the age of 18 and actually wore the number 17 during his rookie season - Roy Conacher was using the number 9 during the 1946-47 season. He won 4 Stanley Cups with the Red Wings and established himself as one of the most gifted players the league had ever seen. During his 25 years playing in Detroit he appeared in 22 All-Star games, won the Art Ross Trophy 6 times, the Hart Memorial trophy 6 times, the Lester Patrick Award, and well...a lot more silverware. Suffering from a wrist problem he "retired" following the 1970-71 season and gained a position working in the Wings front office.

After 2 years off the ice, and a wrist operation, he returned to hockey to play for the Houston Aeros of the newly formed WHA alongside his sons Mark and Marty. In 1974 he won the Gary L. Davidson Trophy, which was given to the WHA's most valuable player...the next year they renamed it after him. He played 3 years with Houston before the Howe clan moved to the New England Whalers. When the WHA ceased to function following the 1978 season the Whalers were absorbed into the NHL. Howe signed a 1 year contract with Hartford at the age of 51. He would play ALL 80 games in his final season, scoring 15 goals and taking them to the playoffs.

Of the records Howe still holds in the NHL most of them have to do with his hobbit like longevity - he played in an amazing 1,767 NHL games. This goes up to 2,186 if you add his 5 years in the WHA, add the playoffs and it comes to 2,421. That would be the equivalent of playing a game everyday, 365 days a year, for nearly 7 years. During his NHL career he scored 801 goals, had 1049 assists, and only one Gordie Howe hat trick...

In 1997 Howe played one shift with the Detroit Vipers of the IHL, effectively meaning that he had played in 6 different decades. A feat no one is likely to ever match.

His number 9 was retired by the Red Wings in 1972, it was also retired by both the Whalers and the Aeros (the Hurricanes still honor it on behalf of Hartford). He was elected to the Hall of Fame the year after he first retired.

More info can be found on the Howe's official site Mr. and Mrs. Hockey as well as the Hockey Hall of Fame's site here.

All his jerseys in the database can be found here.

Advent Day 8 - Cam Neely

Neely was born in Comox, British Columbia and was drafted by the Canucks in 1983. He spent three years in Vancouver before finding a permanent home in Boston. (Where he is currently the Vice President of the team.)

He led the Bruins in goals in his first season there with 36, on top of his goal scoring ability Neely was physical and willing to drop the gloves. He scored more than 50 goals in a season three times, including the 93-94 season where he scored 50 in 44 games (only Gretzky did it quicker). In his 10 years with Boston he played in 5 All-Star games and won the Masterton Trophy.

Plaqued by an injury, much attributed to the infamous hit by Ulf Samuelsson during the 91 playoffs, he retired in 1996. The injury caused him to miss most of the 92 and 93 seasons playing only a handful of games both seasons. Despite his shortened career he scored nearly 400 goals and totaled nearly 700 points.

His number 8 was retired by the Bruins in 2004 and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005.

More about Cam Neely can be found at the HHOF's Legends of Hockey here.

All his jerseys in the database can be found here.

Advent Day 7- Chris Chelios

Chris Chelios (actually born Christos Kostas Tselios) is 45, whch is insane by any standards in any sport to still be playing productively. He's got kids that are Crosby's age. To accent this - he was born in Chicago when Kennedy was president.

His early hockey career was spent with the Moose Jaw Canucks after being drafted by Montreal, as well as two years with the University of Wisconsin. He is currently in his 23rd NHL season.

In Montreal, where he played for 7 seasons, he won the Stanley Cup and his first of three Norris trophies. He also played in his first of many All-Star games. In 1990 he was traded to Chicago for Denis Savard.

In Chicago he switched to number 7, and would eventually switch back to 24 for Detroit since it was retired on behalf of Ted Lindsay. He won his second Norris in 92-93 whilst scoring 73 points. He captained the team for 5 seasons and was eventually traded to the Red Wings in 1999 at the age of 37.

In 2002, at the age of 40!, he led the league with a +40 plus/minus, won the silver medal with the US Olympic team (he's played in 4 Olympics), AND the Stanley Cup. (Not a bad year). During the 2004 lockout Chelios played for the Motor City Mechanics of the UHL - something that caused a bit of controversy, which is something Chris Chelios is no stranger to in the NHL... He currently has a one year contract with the Red Wings.

Now for something completely different: Chris Chelios and big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton (this is actually true) trained with the Olympic bobsled team in an attempt to compete in the 2006 Winter Games as Greece's first bobsled team. Unfortunately this never came to pass. Just reading that sentence makes me baffled...

Read more about the bobsledding here on ESPN.

For more biography stuff, and info about Cheli's Chili Bar (his restaurants) check out ChrisChelios.com.

All the jerseys in the database can be found here.

Advent Day 7- You Decide

I'm at a loss here. Yesterday I went to do today's profile for the advent calendar and came to the conclusion that I can't make a viable decision for an NHL player who wore the number 7. Truth be told it is one of the most popular numbers in all of sports (one might say in all the world...) In the NHL we've had giants like Esposito, Coffey, Bourque, Morenz, Broten, Martin, Gilbert..the list goes on. It is the most retired number in the league with 9 teams officially having removed it from rotation.

So, I leave it to you to pick the most proffered candidate. I will make every jersey the player ever wore for the database for whoever is chosen from the suggestions I receive. Most likely whoever is the most requested.

Simply leave a comment below or send me a note using the Contact form (link at top of screen). Feel free to back up your suggestion, and don't feel limited to just retired numbers.

AZHockey.com has a list of players who wore 7, although it is in no way complete, to help you out with ideas. You can find it here: Nr. 7 Sweaters.

I'm personally a bit partial to Curtis Leschyshyn myself....

The leader so far:
So, Chris Chelios is the current vote getter...I think most of the jerseys are already in the database except for this one:

Advent Day 6 - Phil Housley

I bet you didn't realize Phil Housley got around the league this much...

Born in Minnesota Housley held the record for US born NHL scorers (1,232 pts) until just this year when Modano broke it. He also held the record for games played (1,257) by a US player...until Chelios broke it last year. Not surprisingly he is in the American Hockey Hall of Fame, he's also in the Sabres Hall of Fame, a bit surprisingly he isn't in the other hockey Hall of Fame yet.

Drafted by the Sabres right out of high school Housley would play 21 years in the NHL between 1982 and 2003. He played on 8 different teams, including two stints with the Flames, however he never won a Stanley Cup. He also never won the Norris Trophy. He nearly won the Calder...but lost out to Steve Larmer. He was runner up for rookie of the year. He still hasn't won the Lester Patrick Award...

Despite the things he didn't win he was among the best defenseman the US has ever produced. And very possibly the best offensive one - in fact he played both defense and forward during his career. He broke numerous scoring records in both Buffalo and Winnipeg, notching 77 points in 82-83 (and 53 assists the following season) with the Sabres and a career high 97 points with the Jets ten years later in 92-93. A record that would probably stand if the club was still in existance. He is still the 5th highest scorer in Sabres history. He ranks an impessive 4th on shots alone, even more so when you consider he played defense. He still holds the record in pretty much all of the defensive scoring categories for Buffalo nearly 20 years after he left the team.

In his twenty plus years of hockey he played in 7 All-Star games and was often on the US National and Olympics teams (he was part of the silver medal team in Salt Lake City 2002).

After a very brief stint with the Maple Leafs in 2002-03 (incredibly brief he played only one game there) Housley retired from the game. He currently coaches high school hockey in Minnesota and does work with the US National team.



A rare glimpse of Housley as a Leaf...

You can read more about Housley at PhilHousley.com as well as here at Legends of Hockey

All of his jerseys in the database can be found here.

Advent Day 5 - Rod Langway

Rod Langway started playing hockey at 12. Despite the late start he would become one of the greatest defenseman to play the game. His professional career actually started with a year playing for the Birmingham Bulls in the WHA, after that he found a home with the Canadiens in 1978. He would win the Cup that year and would play in his first of 6 All-Star games in 1981.

In 1982 Langway and three other Canadiens were traded to Washington, it was a move that saved the franchise. Before Rod Langway joined the Capitals they had never been to the playoffs, in his 11 years there they only missed them once. He won the Norris (given to the league's best defenseman) twice and was runner up for the Hart trophy in 1982 - losing out only to Gretzky.

The Capitals retired his number 5 in 1997, he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2002.

A complete biography is available at the NHL's Hall of Fame section here.

The jerseys in the database can be found here.

*A note about the Capitals jerseys: Washington did some strange things with their jerseys in the eighties, some years they would have one font with an outline for the names, the next year they wouldn't. The two models used here are the most consistant during Langway's stay there. The original font used was wider and more blocked, later the Capitals switched to a thinner version reminiscent of the Canadiens numbers. In 1995 they parted with the red, white and blue.

Advent Day 4 - Bobby Orr

If you ever go to Parry Sound, Ontario, or if you ever even get close to it, you will know even before you enter the town that it is the place that gave the world Bobby Orr. It's also where Bruins scouts found him at the age of 12 and put him into the system that would eventually land him in Boston at the age of 18.

In a career cut short by knee injuries he played only 12 years in the NHL. Many question what a completely healthy Orr could have done over a longer period of time, but in reality I don't think he had anything else he needed to prove. In his 10 years with the Bruins he played in 9 All-Star games, won 8 Art Ross trophies, the Calder, 8 James Norris trophies, 3 Harts, and 2 Conn Smythes. Oh and two Stanley Cups. In fact there isn't a whole lot Orr didn't win.

If anything exemplifies what type of player he was it may be the oft brought up plus/minus record from 1970-71. A staggering +124. If that's not enough to prove his overall skill, he is also the only defenceman to win the league scoring title...which he did twice.

His career ended in Chicago, although he played just 26 games there over 2 seasons. Orr was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979 at the age of 31. He is still the youngest person to have received the honor. The Bruins retired his number the same year.

More on Bobby Orr can be found at BobbyOrr.com

All his jerseys in the database can be found here.

Advent Day 3 - Ken Daneyko

Ken Daneyko came to the Devils the year the Devils came to New Jersey. He was their first round draft pick in 1982 and would stay in New Jersey for the entirety of his career. In all he played 20 years and nearly 1300 games on the Devils, picking up three Stanley Cups (and over 2500 penalty minutes).

Never known for being much of an offensive player his total goals round out to less than 2 a season (36), however his stats as defenseman more than make up for it.

Ken Daneyko retired in 2003, his number 3 was retired by New Jersey in 2006.

You can read more at Legends of Hockey here.

His jerseys in the database can be found here.

Advent Day 2 - Tim Horton

Tim Horton is perhaps better known for wearing the number 7 than the number 2, he spent nearly 20 years wearing 7 in Toronto - he spent less than two years wearing 2 in Buffalo. His number is retired there nonetheless. To understand it you have to look at what kind of player, and what kind of person, he was.

Horton began his career with the Leafs in the early 50's (he actually played one game with them in 1949), and would spend the bulk of his career there. He was a genuinely nice and clean cut guy, at a time when he hockey was anything but. He would spent 18 years with Toronto and be apart of 4 Stanley Cup teams. He appeared in 7 All-Star games and The Hockey News ranked him in the top 50 greatest players of all time.

He also co-founded the legendary doughnut chain that bares his name in the mid-60's opening the first, of what would eventually be 100's across Canada, in Hamilton in 1965.

In 1970 with the Leafs fumbling, and Horton one of the highest paid players in the league, he was traded to the Rangers and soon after to Pittsburgh. One season later he was in Buffalo and reunited with former Toronto head coach Punch Imlach. He was 42 and a veteran player for the likes of Jim Schoenfeld, Gilbert Perreault, and Rene Robert to look up to. It showed, they voted him team MVP in 1973. Schoenfeld would later say of Horton, "Tim was the greatest thing to happen to us because he was an on-the-job tutor. It's something I think today's game misses sometimes because the older players are overlooked in favor of the younger guys and you don't have that veteran to share his experiences with you."

In 1974 he was driving back to Buffalo after a game in Toronto. Travelling in excess of 100 mph his car crossed the median on the QEW and ran into a cement culvert throwing him from the vehicle. He was already dead when police got to the scene. The event is almost as famous as Horton's many awards and records, but it has done little to tarnish his legendary career in the NHL.

He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1977. In 1995 the Maple Leafs declared Horton, and another legendary nr. 7 King Clancy, honored players. (The Leafs don't retire numbers.) In 1996 the Buffalo Sabres retired the number 2 in his honor.

You can find more info and Horton's stats at Legends of Hockey here.

All his jerseys in the database can be found here.

Advent Day 1 - Bernie Parent

Well, with Christmas approaching (I know I am a couple days late...I'll catch up) I figured I'd do something a bit different. There is an advent calendar of sorts on the main site with a different jersey for each day, each day will be linked to a particular player who wore that particular number at some point during their NHL career. For the sake of making things a bit unique I've decided to do not just a couple of sweaters, but all the jerseys the player wore. (This does not, however, include All-Star games and international teams.) Feel free to make suggestions for upcoming dates if they haven't already been fulfilled.

Starting off with number 1... I decided to overlook some of the more obvious ones here, Jacques Plante comes to mind, as does Terry Sawchuk. In fact 4 other goalies besides Parent have the number one retired by a team (his was retired by Philadelphia in 1979...the year he retired). I can however connect all 5 a la Kevin Bacon if that helps:

Ed Giacomin played together on the Rangers with Terry Sawchuk - who played together with Glenn Hall on the Red Wings - who played together with Jacques Plante on the Blues - who played together with Bernie Parent on the Maple Leafs. Strange but true.

Bernie Parent's career actually started in Boston where he played a handful of games between '65 and '67. Hard to believe but he was actually teammates with Bobby Orr for one of those seasons. With expansion he ended up in Philadelphia and eventually became the Flyers starting goaltender. Despite his play in goal he was actually traded to Toronto in 1971 where he became teammates with the forementioned Plante (who was his childhood hero).

In 1972 Parent was actually the first NHL player to make the move over to the new WHA (thankfully he quickly moved back...) He spent a year with the Philadelphia Blazers playing 63 games and garnering a 3.61 GAA (the worst of his career). In 1973 he was back with the Flyers where he would stay untill his retirement in 1979.

During his time on the Flyers he would win two Stanley Cups, and be awarded both the Vezina and Conn Smythe twice. Later he would be on their coaching staff training the likes of Pelle Lindbergh and Ron Hextall.

There is a great write up with more information on the Flyers website here.

The infamous TIME magazine article, from the issue that features Parent on the cover, can be found here.

All the jerseys in the database can be found here.