Hockey Number 0s & 00s

I am not going to lie, hockey is a tough sport to identify who the top players in history are. The modern statistics using Fenway and Corsi percentages are great but they only apply to players since 2008. The challenge is how do you group players from all positions on the ice throughout NHL and WHL history all together to find the best at a certain number? I am not sure there is any one way to do so correctly but here is our stab at it for this number using stats like; goals, assists, points, plus/minus, saves and bonus points for years wearing the sweater number and Hall of Fame. We also had to give Defensive line players a little boost based on their plus/minus stats. It is not perfect but here is our statistical call on the top 3 greatest NHL/WHL players wearing the number 0 & 00. Why three? Well that is all that are in the record books of wearing the numbers.

According to a 2020 NHL.com article on Number 0;

"Beginning with the 1996-97 season, the NHL decreed that Nos. 0 and 00 could no longer be worn since they confused the League's digital database; today, only No. 1 through No. 98 are allowed, No. 99 retired for Gretzky at the NHL's 50th All-Star Game in 2000 following The Great One's retirement."

1. John Davidson
2. Neil Sheehy
3. Martin Biron

Special thanks to the banner photo above from an unknown photographer and contributor to the public domain of Wikimedia Commons. The Pic is of the First Finnish Champions in ice hockey 1928, Viipurin Reipas.A.

Of course we also could not have done the above stat research without the assistance of Hockey-Reference.com and Stathead.com resources.