Who wore number 91 in NHL?

91 is maybe one of the very best contemporary numbers. The natural inclination here is to think back to the days of Sergei Fedorov, or perhaps younger fans will jump right to John Tavares, Steven Stamkos and Tyler Seguin. But divorcing the number from some of the players who have worn it, you still wind up with a very cool set of digits. What’s great about any number ending in one (91, 71, 51 etc.) is the odd visual that the one provides. It’s very aesthetically pleasing and makes all of those digits work. Especially 91.

Tyler Seguin

Tyler Paul Seguin is a Canadian professional ice hockey player known as the centre and alternate captain for the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League (NHL). Seguin was selected second overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft by the Boston Bruins and went on to win the 2011 Stanley Cup in his rookie season. He finished the 2011–12 season in Boston with a plus-minus of +34, one of the highest in the NHL.

During the 2012–13 NHL lockout, Seguin played for EHC Biel of the Swiss National League A (NLA) and finished the season with 25 goals, the most on the team. In 2013, Seguin played in his second Stanley Cup Finals in three seasons, ultimately losing the series to the Chicago Blackhawks. On July 4, 2013, Seguin was traded by the Bruins to the Dallas Stars for a package of players including Loui Eriksson and Reilly Smith.

Vladimir Tarasenko

Vladimir Andreyevich Tarasenko is a Russian professional ice hockey player known as the right winger and alternate captain for the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL). Prior to playing in the NHL, he played in the system of Sibir Novosibirsk organization, first playing for the senior team in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in 2008–09. He spent a total of three seasons with Novosibirsk before being traded to SKA Saint Petersburg in 2012. Tarasenko was selected in the first round, 16th overall, in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft by the Blues, joining the team for the 2012–13 season. Since then, he has been one of St. Louis’ leading scorers and has played in multiple NHL All-Star Games. Tarasenko won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Blues in 2019.

John Tavares

John Tavares is a Canadian professional ice hockey player known as the centre and captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected first overall by the New York Islanders in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, where he spent nine seasons and served as captain for five seasons.

Previously, Tavares competed at the major junior level as a member of the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) before being traded to the London Knights at the 2009 OHL trading deadline along with Michael Del Zotto. Tavares broke into the OHL after gaining “exceptional player” status at age 14, allowing the Generals to select him in the OHL Priority Draft as an underage player in 2005. Tavares was named the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) Rookie of the Year in 2006 and CHL Player of the Year in 2007. In 2009, he finished the season with a career total of 215 goals, breaking Peter Lee’s OHL record by two.

Tavares was the focus of an unsuccessful push to have the NHL’s draft rules changed to allow him to participate in the 2008 Entry Draft, as well as an attempt to allow him to play in the American Hockey League (AHL) as a 17-year-old in 2007. Tavares was ranked as the top prospect for the 2009 Draft by both the NHL Central Scouting Bureau and International Scouting Services.

Tavares has represented Canada at International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF)-sanctioned events, including the 2010 and 2011 World Championships. At the under-20 level, he won gold medals at the 2008 and 2009 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. He was named the most valuable player of the 2009 tournament after scoring eight goals and 15 points in six games. He also participated in the 2006 IIHF World U18 Championships, but failed to medal. Additionally, Tavares represented Team Ontario at the 2006 World U-17 Hockey Challenge and 2007 Super Series. On January 7, 2014, he was named to the 2014 Canadian Olympic Hockey Team, winning a gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics despite an injury preventing him from participating in the final two games.

Tavares has been praised by his coaches for his ability to anticipate the play since he joined the OHL. A lack of speed had been the most common criticism of Tavares’ play, something he spent his junior career attempting to improve. Tavares’ skating speed is something he greatly improved since turning professional, and he is now considered one of the NHL’s faster skaters.

The media hype he has encountered has led Tavares to remain guarded when speaking to the media, while his teammates and family attempt to shield him from the spotlight where they can. However, Tavares is regarded as a natural leader on the ice, and a player who puts his team first. The Oshawa Generals named Tavares their team captain in 2008, while he also served as the alternate captain with the Canadian junior team in 2009.

Butch Goring

Robert Thomas “Butch” Goring is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders and Boston Bruins. He is a four-time Stanley Cup winner with the Islanders. Since retiring as a player he has served as head coach of both the Bruins and Islanders. He is also known as the Islanders’ television color commentator on MSG Network alongside Islanders play-by-play announcer Brendan Burke.

Goring was most recognizable on the ice for the Sven Tumba-endorsed Spaps brand helmet that he had worn since childhood and continued to wear throughout his entire professional career. He also developed a reputation for perhaps the poorest fashion sense in the league. In the 1970s, on a road trip with the Kings, a burglar broke into his hotel room and stole everything that belonged to his roommate but left all of Goring’s clothes hanging in the closet untouched.

Former Islanders’ teammate Mike Bossy stated on a 2010 episode of Off the Record with Michael Landsberg that Goring is quite likely the originator of the NHL’s tradition of growing a beard in the Stanley Cup playoffs, commonly called a “playoff beard”. Other former Islanders, including Dave Lewis and Clark Gillies, point to the tradition starting in the mid-1970s, before Goring’s time with the team, although Goring certainly participated in the tradition once he joined the Islanders.

Goring’s No. 91 was retired by the Islanders on February 29, 2020, ahead of a game against the Boston Bruins.

Brad Richards

Bradley Glen Richards is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre. Richards was drafted in the third round, 64th overall, by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft and played for the Lightning, New York Rangers, Dallas Stars, Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings during his National Hockey League (NHL) career.

Richards is a two-time Stanley Cup champion, having won in 2004 with the Lightning, where he was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player during the playoffs. He also won in 2015 as a member of the Blackhawks.

Sergei Fedorov

Sergei Viktorovich Fyodorov is a Russian former professional ice hockey player, also known as the head coach of CSKA Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). During his playing career, for which he is best known for his 13 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, Fedorov was primarily a centre, but occasionally played as a winger or defenceman.

Fedorov was one of the first hockey players to defect from his native Soviet Union in order to play in the National Hockey League (NHL). While playing with Detroit, he won the Stanley Cup three times, as well as the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player in 1994, becoming the first non Canadian to achieve the feat. After leaving the Red Wings in the summer of 2003, Fedorov played stints with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Columbus Blue Jackets and Washington Capitals before retiring from the NHL in 2009. He played in over 1,200 NHL games and scored 483 goals in the NHL. He is a three-time Olympian, the first European-trained player to win the Hart Trophy and is considered to be one of the best playoff performers in NHL history. In 2017, Fedorov was named one of the “100 Greatest NHL Players” in history.

Fedorov was considered one of the best players in the world from the 1990s to the early 2000s. He last played for Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL, where he was made captain in early September 2011. He was also an ambassador for Russia at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Fedorov was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 9, 2015, and to the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 2016.

Alexandre Daigle

Alexandre Daigle is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. A highly touted junior prospect, Daigle was drafted first overall in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft by the Ottawa Senators. After recording a modest career high of 51 points in three separate National Hockey League (NHL) regular seasons, Daigle briefly retired from hockey at age 25, but returned to the NHL two years later. Though he played 10 seasons in the NHL and four in the NL, he failed to live up to the high expectations put forth when he was drafted first overall, and is therefore regarded by many to have been a draft bust.

Kris Draper

Kristopher Bruce “Kris” Draper is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, also known as director of amateur scouting for the Detroit Red Wings, the team which he played 17 seasons for during his 20-year National Hockey League (NHL) playing career.

Draper is a four-time Stanley Cup champion (all with Detroit), a Frank J. Selke Trophy winner and has scored over 100 goals in his NHL career with the Red Wings. Draper was a member of the famous “Grind Line” in Detroit, consisting of himself, Kirk Maltby and either Joe Kocur or Darren McCarty. His 222 playoff games ranked him in the top of most career playoff games played.