Who wore number 3 in NHL?

Choosing a jersey number sometimes has a philosophy of its own. Each NHL player has his own number logic and usually keeps this number for the rest of his career if possible.

Dave Amadio

David Augustus “Hoss” Amadio was a professional ice hockey player who played 125 games in the National Hockey League. He played with the Los Angeles Kings and Detroit Red Wings.

Amadio was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. He spent much of his professional career, playing 500 games over eight seasons, with the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League, including the team’s Calder Cup championship in 1961–62.

Following his retirement as a player after the 1974 season, Amadio coached a single season for the Calgary Centennials of the Western Canada Hockey League. He died of a heart attack in 1981, less than two weeks shy of his 42nd birthday.

Al Arbour

Alger Joseph Arbour was a Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and executive. Under Arbour, the New York Islanders won four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1980 to 1983. Born in Sudbury, Ontario, Arbour played amateur hockey as a defenceman with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League. He played his first professional games with the Detroit Red Wings in 1953. Claimed by the Chicago Black Hawks in 1958, Arbour would help the team win a championship in 1961. Arbour played with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the next five years, winning another Cup in 1962. He was selected by the St. Louis Blues in their 1967 expansion draft and played his final four seasons with the team.

During his last year with the Blues, Arbour was hired mid-season to coach the team. In 107 games, he led them to a 42–40–25 record, but only one playoff series win. After a woeful expansion season in 1972-73 in which the New York Islanders were coached by Phil Goyette and Earl Ingarfield, the club hired Arbour as its new coach in 1973. Arbour led the team to a winning record every season from 1974–75 until he stepped down in 1985–86.

Arbour won nineteen consecutive playoff series. He was awarded the Jack Adams Award as the league’s top coach in 1979. Upon retiring from the bench, Arbour was named vice-president of player development for the Islanders. He returned to coach the Islanders in the 1988–89 season and remained there through 1993-94, notably upsetting the two-time defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1993 playoffs. He was awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy for his contributions to the sport and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1996.

John Arbour

John Gilbert Arbour is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in both the National Hockey League and the World Hockey Association. A stocky, physical defenceman, Arbour also developed an offensive dimension to his game later in his career.

Bob Ash

Robert John Ash is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played 200 games in the World Hockey Association with the Winnipeg Jets and Indianapolis Racers, scoring six goals and 46 assists.

Adrian Aucoin

Adrian Mark Aucoin is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played over 1,100 games in the National Hockey League (NHL). Aucoin was born in Ottawa, Ontario, but grew up in Gloucester, Ontario.

Keith Aulie

Keith Aulie is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman known for playing with EHC München in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). Aulie was drafted by the Calgary Flames 116th overall in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. Aulie played junior hockey for the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League (WHL), and was honoured as the League’s Top Scholastic Player in 2007.

Internationally, Aulie played in the 2009 World Junior Championships, where he paired with Tyler Myers on defence and helped Canada capture a gold medal. He was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs with Dion Phaneuf, among others, from the Flames during the 2009–10 season. Aulie made his NHL debut with the Maple Leafs in November 2010. Off the ice, Aulie was honoured by the Canadian Red Cross for saving his father after he fell through ice on the family farm.

Gary Bergman

Gary Gunnar Bergman was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. A defenceman, Bergman played in the NHL, mostly for the Detroit Red Wings. He was also a part of Team Canada in the 1972 Summit Series.

Alex Biega

Alex Biega is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman known for playing with the Toronto Marlies in the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract to the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). Biega was selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the 5th round (147th overall) of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.

Kevin Bieksa

Kevin Francesco Bieksa is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He is known for playing with the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League (NHL). After a three-year career in the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OPJHL) with the Burlington Cougars, Bieksa was awarded a scholarship to Bowling Green State University. He was a one-time All-CCHA honourable mention during his four-year tenure with the Falcons of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). He graduated from the university with a bachelor’s degree (B.A.) in finance, and was a two-time CCHA All-Academic honourable mention in 2003 and 2004. Bieksa now co-hosts Hockey Night in Canada.

Bieksa represented his country in the 2014 World Hockey Championships in Minsk, Belarus. He was selected as team captain and named 1 of 3 top players for Canada in the tournament. Bieksa represented Canada for the second time in his career at the 2018 Spengler Cup.

Selected 151st overall by the Canucks in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft he joined their minor league affiliate, the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League (AHL), upon graduating. He earned AHL All-Rookie Team honours in his first and only full season with the Moose, before joining the Canucks as a regular member in 2005–06.

He is known as a physical and aggressive two-way defenceman.

In 2020 he joined the Hockey Night in Canada team as a regular member of the analysis panel.

Bieksa was known as a two-way defenceman with the Canucks. With the Canucks, he was paired with Willie Mitchell and Dan Hamhuis. Regularly jumping into the rush, he led the Canucks’ defencemen in scoring in 2006–07 and 2008–09. His play was aggressive and physical. He earned a reputation as a fighter early in his career in the AHL.

Though he was a very strong two-way defender first and foremost, Bieksa was also known as a very rugged defender who would drop his gloves at pretty much any time. He became known around the league for performing a variation of a one punch knockout style superman punch on skates, which he executed successfully a few times during his NHL career. At one point he was listed online as an undefeated fighter with well over 30 NHL fights as reported by Scott Oake of Hockey Night in Canada.

He was praised throughout his career for his leadership qualities by coaches, NHL executives and by his close teammates including the Sedin twins. Henrik at the Sedin’s retirement ceremony in Vancouver called Kevin a “Great leader, a great teammate”.

Bieksa along with teammates Ryan Kesler and Alexandre Burrows were known as three of the fiercest competitors of their time in the NHL – all three players were a huge driving force behind the Canucks’ 2011 Stanley Cup Finals run and in their two Presidents’ Trophy-winning seasons. The three were commonly known to be among the leagues most frustrating players to play against.

After joining Hockey Night in Canada in 2020, he was a Canadian Screen Award nominee for Best Sports Analysis or Commentary at the 9th Canadian Screen Awards in 2021.

Chris Bigras

Christopher Bigras is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman known for playing with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the American Hockey League (AHL). Bigras was selected by the Colorado Avalanche in the second round (32nd overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. He was born in Orillia, Ontario, but grew up in Elmvale, Ontario.

Pierre Pilote

Joseph Albert Pierre Paul Pilote was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and perennial All-Star, most notably for the Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League (NHL), for which he served as team captain for seven seasons. He won the James Norris Memorial Trophy three times for best defenceman in the NHL.

Zdeno Chara

Zdeno Chára is a Slovak professional ice hockey player known as a defenceman for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has also played for the Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins, and Washington Capitals. Standing at 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) tall, Chára is one of the tallest people ever to play in the NHL, earning him the nickname “Big Z”. He is also known as one of the oldest players to play in the NHL.

Chára served as the Bruins’ captain for all of his fourteen seasons with the franchise, from 2006 to 2020. He won the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman in 2009, becoming the first Slovak player to do so, and the second European player after Nicklas Lidström. In 2011, 2013 and 2019 Chára captained the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Finals. He is one of the few European-born and raised captains to lead his team to the Stanley Cup championship (along with Nicklas Lidström and Alexander Ovechkin), and the first born and trained in the Eastern Bloc.

Gary Galley

Garry Michael Galley is a Canadian broadcaster and former professional ice hockey player. Galley played in the National Hockey League from 1984 to 2001. Galley was a former co-host of the defunct “More On Sports” radio program on The Team 1200 (now TSN Radio 1200) in Ottawa, Ontario, and is also known as a colour commentator on Hockey Night in Canada.

Marcel Pronovost

Joseph René Marcel Pronovost was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and coach. He played in 1,206 games over 20 National Hockey League (NHL) seasons for the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs between 1950 and 1970. A top defenceman, Pronovost was named to four post-season NHL All-Star Teams and played in 11 All-Star Games. He was a member of four Stanley Cup championship teams with the Red Wings, the first in 1950, and won a fifth title with the Maple Leafs in 1967. Pronovost was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a player in 1978.

Pronovost began coaching in 1969 and spent several seasons behind the bench of the junior Hull Olympiques and Windsor Spitfires. He was head coach of the Chicago Cougars in the World Hockey Association’s inaugural season in 1972–73, coached 104 games in the NHL for the Buffalo Sabres between 1977 and 1978 and was briefly an associate coach of the Red Wings. Pronovost worked for the NHL Central Scouting Bureau for five years until 1990, when he was hired as a scout for the New Jersey Devils, with whom he was a member of three Stanley Cup championship teams, with the last coming in 2003. The 53-year span between his first championship and his last is a Stanley Cup record.

Harry Howell

Henry Vernon Howell was a Canadian professional hockey player and longtime star for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League.

Butch Bouchard

Joseph Émile Alcide Bouchard was a Canadian ice hockey player who played defence with the Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey League from 1941 to 1956. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, won four Stanley Cups, was captain of the Canadiens for eight years and was voted to the NHL All-Star Team four times. Although having a reputation as a clean player, he was also one of the strongest players and best body-checkers of his era. He excelled as a defensive defenceman, had superior passing skills and was known for his leadership and mentoring of younger players. In his early years in the NHL, Bouchard, among other players, made a major contribution to reinvigorating what was at the time an ailing Canadien franchise.

He was born in Montreal, Quebec, and at the time his death resided in Saint-Lambert, Quebec. In retirement Bouchard was active with several business interests and contributions to his community. In 2008, he received the National Order of Quebec. On 4 December 2009, Bouchard’s No. 3 was retired by the Canadiens as part of their 100th anniversary celebrations. On 30 December 2009, Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, announced Bouchard as among the appointments to the Order of Canada.

J.C. Tremblay

Joseph Henri Jean-Claude Tremblay was an ice hockey defenceman for the NHL Montreal Canadiens and the WHA Quebec Nordiques, notable for play-making and defensive skills.

Seth Jones

Jared Seth Jones is an American professional ice hockey player known as a defenseman for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected fourth overall by the Nashville Predators in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. After two seasons playing for the United States National Team Development Program, Jones joined the Western Hockey League’s (WHL) Portland Winterhawks.

Jones has represented the United States several times internationally. He won back-to-back gold medals at the 2011 and 2012 IIHF World U18 Championships. He was a member of the 2013 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships team that won a gold medal.