Should The NHL Retire Ovechkin’s No. 8 After Breaking Gretzky’s Goal Record?

It would only be the second league-wide retirement

The biggest story of last NHL season was Alex Ovechkin chasing Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals mark, which he, of course, did.

But in a recent interview, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly was asked a question that has never even crossed my mind before.

Should Ovechkin’s No. 8 get the league-wide retirement treatment?

Now that’s something, isn’t it? The league has only ever retired one number league-wide, and that’s the Great One’s No. 99.

Daly didn’t give a definitive answer, but he kept the door open… a little.

“We won’t consider retiring his number until Ovi himself announces his retirement plans,” Daly told Russian website Championat (translated by Russian Machine Never Breaks). “As you know, in the 107-year history of the league, we’ve only retired one number. That’s a rarity.”

It goes without saying that Ovechkin is one of the greatest players of all time, but I don’t think he’ll ever get his number retired by any NHL club other than the Capitals.

Not because his resume isn’t good enough, I just think the No. 8 isn’t iconic to the level that Gretzky’s No. 99 is.

Gretzky’s number was unique… almost. 

According to Hockey Reference, there are only two other players who have worn it: Wilf Paiement and Rick Dudley.

Paiement wore it for three seasons, Dudley for one, and all of them were in the early ’80s.

Now, do you know how many players have worn No. 8?

465.

I think that hurts Ovechkin’s case through no fault of his own. In fact, I think Sidney Crosby would have a better shot at getting his number retired since hardly anyone wears 87 unless it’s rookie camp.

But who knows? The accolades give Ovechkin a pretty compelling case.

I think I have a compromise: he played in the KHL too, so let them retire it.

Problem solved.