By: Nick Lanciani
Many teams chose to retire (or honor) jersey numbers based on extraordinary circumstances, dedication to the organization, or legendary status. With that in mind, what will retired numbers look like around the league in the future? Let’s explore what each team around the NHL might do in the coming seasons for former and/or current players that should see their numbers raised to the rafters someday.
Feel free to speak your mind and drop us a line in the comments or tweet to @DtFrozenRiver using #DTFRNumbersGame.
Washington Capitals
Current Retired Numbers- 5 Rod Langway, 7 Yvon Labre, 11 Mike Gartner, 32 Dale Hunter
Recommended Numbers to Retire
8 Alex Ovechkin
Ovi-bvious. Next.
70 Braden Holtby
Holtby has solidified his elite goaltender consideration for years to come with the last couple of seasons he’s been having. If he can backstop the Capitals all the way to their first Stanley Cup championship with guys like Ovechkin, Niklas Backstrom, and Evgeny Kuznetsov in front of him, he’ll become even more legendary among Washington faithful.
Having said that, you could throw in Backstrom’s number 19 into consideration for future discussion.
I’ll admit that there’s not that much to go off of, but that can only mean that the best is yet to come for the Washington Capitals as an organization, on the ice, as well as for their fans. They’re still heavily favored to represent the Eastern Conference in the 2016 Stanley Cup Final as it is right now with one of the best records in the NHL.
