Next Retired Numbers (Hockey, Part II)

OK, here we go with Round II of the hockey retired numbers.  I have to admit, three teams made this one kinda tricky.  Well, not so much the Golden Knights, but definitely the Kraken and Mammoth.  Utah is technically an expansion team, so no Jets or Coyotes.  So, it looks like we're using an active Mammoth player!

It's not exactly like the rest of the Western Conference teams had an easy obvious candidate, either.  But, they've at least got enough history or an active player who's done enough to warrant it.  Besides, the whole purpose of this exercise was to do one from every team regardless of how likely it is, which is exactly what I'm gonna do.

Ducks: 10 Corey Perry-He's made his way around the NHL since leaving Anaheim and is on a crazy Pat Maroon-esque streak of five times playing in the Stanley Cup Final in the last six years, but let's not forget how good Corey Perry was with the Ducks (who are still the only team he's actually lifted the Cup with).  Perry spent his first 14 seasons in Anaheim and was one of the best players in the NHL during his prime.  Longtime teammate Ryan Getzlaf also deserves to be in the running, but Corey Perry gets the nod.  No matter how many teams he ends up playing for, the first one that comes to mind will be the Ducks.

Flames: 13 Johnny Gaudreau-Much like with Columbus, I'm surprised the Flames didn't retire Gaudreau's number at the beginning of the season.  Johnny Hockey spent the majority of his career in Calgary, won the Calder and the Lady Byng, and became one of the best players in the NHL.  In Calgary, it would be far more than a gesture honoring a fallen hero.  It would be recognizing his role as one of the franchise's all-time greatest players.

Blackhawks: 88 Patrick Kane-Kane was the Blackhawks' best player on their three Stanley Cup teams and was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players during the league's centennial celebration.  He's also arguably the greatest American player in NHL history.  Kane is still going strong as a Red Wing, but he'll always be a Blackhawk.  And once he hangs it up for good, his No. 88 will take its rightful place in the United Center rafters.

Avalanche: 29 Nathan MacKinnon-Pick an Avalanche player.  Landeskog.  MacKinnon.  Makar.  Rantanen is probably out because he's now in Dallas, but the other three are all in the running.  Barring anything unforeseen, MacKinnon and Makar figure to both be Avalanche for a while, so they'll likely both end up having their numbers retired.  MacKinnon's only 29 and has already been there a decade!  How crazy is that?!

Stars: 14 Jamie Benn-There are several options for the Stars, who have a surprisingly small amount of retired numbers for how successful the franchise has been.  Which leads me to believe they're just selective about who they choose to honor.  No matter how selective their process is, Jamie Benn makes the cut.  He's been a Star since 2009-10 and should get his 1,000th point in a Dallas uniform next season.

Oilers: 97 Connor McDavid-Everybody significant from their dynasty teams has had has number retired for years.  Which means the next Oilers retired numbers will likely come from their current run of success.  While neither McDavid nor Draisaitl figures to retire anytime soon, both of their numbers will be retired as soon as they do.  I just arbitrarily picked McDavid, but if Draisaitl retires first, then 29 will go to the rafters before 97.

Kings: 32 Jonathan Quick-This one really comes down to a race between Quick, Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar.  They were all integral to the Kings winning two Stanley Cups a decade ago, and Doughty and Kopitar is still going strong.  Quick is much closer to the end of his career, so it stands to reason that he'll retire first.  As such, his number will be retired first.

Wild: 97 Kirill Kaprizov-Believe it or not, the Wild DO have a retired number: Mikko Koivu's No. 9.  There are some candidates on the current roster for who might be the second.  Matt Boldy is just getting started, but could end up holding all of their franchise records by the time he's done.  Kirill Kaprizov has a bit of a head start, so his numbers are better right now.  As such, he gets the nod.

Predators: 59 Roman Josi-Pekka Rinne is the only player in Predators history to have his number retired.  And rightfully so!  He's, without question, the most significant player in franchise history.  Josi isn't too far behind, though.  He's been in Nashville since 2011-12 and won a Norris Trophy.  So far.  After all, Josi is still only 34.

Sharks: 88 Brent Burns-Brent Burns deserves to be honored just for his beard alone!  He's obviously in Carolina now, but let's not forget how great he was in San Jose!  I don't see him hanging it up anytime soon, but when he does, I can see Burns signing a one-day contract with San Jose just so he can retire a Shark.  When/if that happens, expect to see him become the third Shark to have his number retired.

Kraken: 10 Matty Beniers-Seattle's only been around four years and hasn't found the same expansion magic that Vegas did.  The Kraken have only made the playoffs once in franchise history.  They do have a franchise player, though.  Beniers was their first-ever draft pick, played 10 games in that inaugural season, and has been their guy ever since.

Blues: 7 Keith Tkachuk-Matthew and Brady's dad spent the better part of his last nine NHL seasons in St. Louis and was recently inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.  He's become a sort of cult hero for Blues fans, too.  And, because he racked up so many penalty minutes, I think his offense is a bit underrated.  While acknowledge this is probably unlikely, there's no doubt his jersey retirement ceremony would be fun!

Mammoth: 9 Clayton Keller-As I mentioned above, the Mammoth are technically a one-year-old franchise.  So, we're basically limited to their current roster.  Clayton Keller is their captain and just won gold with Team USA at the World Championships, so let's go with him.

Canucks: 1 Roberto Luongo-Frankly, I'm surprised the Canucks haven't retired Luongo's number yet.  It's no coincidence that Vancouver was one of the best teams in the NHL while Luongo was their goalie.  He's the franchise's all-time leader in every goaltending category and even served as team captain (even though goalies aren't allowed to wear the "C").  Luongo also won Olympic gold for Canada on home ice (which was doubly true for him) in 2010.

Golden Knights: 29 Marc-Andre Fleury-Vegas is the poster child for an expansion success story.  The Knights have been around for eight seasons, made the playoffs in seven of them, been to two Finals and won a Cup.  They were given instant credibility by taking a future Hall of Fame goalie with the top pick in their expansion draft.  Fleury won a Vezina in Vegas, too.  They've done a lot of things right since coming into the NHL.  Things like immediately having a franchise goalie.

Jets: 37 Connor Hellebuyck-We're just gonna pretend the Atlanta Thrashers never existed so, sorry Ilya Kovalchuk.  You didn't play in Winnipeg, you don't get your number retired!  Especially when the Jets are far more successful than the Thrashers ever were.  Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey are also in the running for this honor, but Hellebuyck's the franchise goalie.