No. I was responding to why Mike Gartner was having his number retired and what the justification was. If you make the Hall of Fame and were inducted as a Cap or you help us win a Stanley Cup and you are, say, an MVP - you will definitely get your number retired.
But we are, of course, open-minded about what other numbers will be retired. We just need to get an objective format instead of making these decisions on the fly on a subjective manner. So don’t get all freaked out. :-)
Tags: Hockey, Mike Gartner, Ted Leonsis, Ted's Take, Washington Capitals
hahaha wow yeah I was just thinking that was a pretty brainless method for choosing which caps jerseys are worthy of retirement. I’m glad that was just a misunderstanding, and a hope we see 12 up there too. Though I must say we’re retiring an awful lot of numbers, but i guess that just means we’ve been blessed with a lot of deserving players.
AWESOME, AWESOME!! Gart’s was Mr. Capital for a good long while here 80 - 89 ..he scored many timely epic goals , forging small steps in the young capitals history….one half of the goal( d )dust twins …number 11 never looked good on the halpern , bergland and whomever doned the 11 # digits… great decision Ted
Ted, glad to hear this was a false alarm…..I agree that we can’t just go willy-nilly stick a bunch of numbers up in the rafters, HOWEVER, I think you, me, and most every CAPS would agree that “12″ and “37″ deserved to be retired. Bondra and Kolzig are the 2 players that carried us through the 90’s and into the 00’s. Both players always gave 100% out on the ice. Both players are also well known as being leaders in the community. It would mean a great deal to most CAPS fans to retire Bondra’s number in the next 2-3 years and then retire Olie’s number within a few years of his retirement. Oh, by the way, make sure to keep a spot up there for number “8″ and a few CUP banners!! GO CAPS!!
I have no doubt that 12 and 37 will one day hang from the rafters of the arena. You already said there would be a Peter Bondra night when the schedule allowed and I am sure that will happen sooner, rather than later. As for Olie, let’s wait until he retires from the game. I am sure he’d be open to having his number hang up there, and the fans would want it as well.
And let’s not forget, by 2030, the #8 will also probably need to be taken out of circulation…
As for others who wore #11 for the Caps since Mike Gartner:
Tim Bergland: hard worker, wasn’t the most talented of players, definitely a good guy off the ice in the Gartner class.
Bob Carpenter: Was the other half of the Goal Dust Twins… made sense when he came back to DC that he’d get 11 since his old #10 was taken.
Esa Tikkanen: Super pest, was a key player in the Caps Finals run in 1998
Jeff Halpern: Grew up a Caps fan, was a big fan of Gartner’s (probably imagined himself wearing #11 as a kid for the Caps!) It’d be nice if he could be there for the ceremony…hopefully he will be off the injured list by then.
More importantly, peace is made with one of the all time Caps greats. This organization doesn’t have a good track record with it’s past stars, and this is a classy move by you Ted. Now, time to have some kind of Ron Weber night to honor him as well. The way he was let go was a disgrace. Just wish you owned the team at that time, there is no way you would of let that happened.