Posted - 03/03/2008 : 07:24:56 I am not sure if this has been done already, so I apologize. But I really wanted to know if others felt the same as I did.
I wanted to know what others thought of retiring numbers in the NHL.
I know it shows great respect towards a player who put their heart and soul into a team, and the team wants to show just how valued that player was by retiring their number.
However, some may believe that a number is just a number. It isn't the number that should be respected but rather the player filling that number.
My own belief is that retiring numbers is a great concept but not a very practical one. It takes numbers away from a team until eventually you may get to a stage where they may start to add a third digit to numbers because a team could have too many retired numbers. My own philosophy is that no number should be retired. Not even 99. If someone else takes that number it does not diminish Gretzky's fame in anyway, other than to say that he isn't the only 99 in history. Others should be allowed to wear the number and carve out their own legacy, knowing that they would have very big shoes to fill with that particular number.
