Hockey 31s

Our mission to preserve the history of pro hockey through the sweater uniform numbers players wear is to objectively come up with a list of the greatest players at each number based on their career performance. This look is based on facts and statistics gathered as of 1/1/2022.

Let us start our journey on identifying the greatest number 31s in NHL/WHL history by looking at the players that wore the number that are in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

• Jacques Plante
• Gerry Cheevers
• Ed Giacomin
• Bob Johnson
• Billy Smith
• Grant Fuhr
• Ed Belfour
• Dominik Hasek

Our next bit of recognition is of the players who have had the number retired by clubs that they played for along with the date of the number being officially retired. For the number 31 there are a handful:

• Grant Fuhr    Edmonton Oilers    October 9, 2003
• Billy Smith    New York Islanders    February 20, 1993

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 15 greatest NHL/WHL players wearing the number 31.

1. Steve Larmer
2. Tony Amonte
3. Mark Napier
4. Claude Provost
5. Valeri Kamensky
6. Alex Frolov
7. Billy Smith
8. Grant Fuhr
9. Joe Reekie
10. Pavel Kubina
11. Bob Mason
12. Gerry Cheevers
13. Ed Giacomin
14. Ed Belfour
15. Rob Zamuner
16. Jacques Plante
17. Bob Johnson
18. Dominik Hasek
19. Doug Keans
20. Normand Rochefort
21. Tom Chorske
22. Pat Hughes
23. Jamie Storr
24. Antti Raanta
25. Daniel Berthiaume

Here is a look at our stats, years played with the uniform number and calculations on the top 25 number 31 pro hockey players:

The picture in the banner above is from the Wikipedia Commons photo collection of the Public Domain of Vintage fibreglass goalie mask made by Fibrosport in the 1970s.

Special thanks to Hockey-Reference.com and Stathead.com.