Less than four days after trading Jeff Carter, the Flyers announced that Wayne Simmonds will wear his old number this year. Additionally, Jakub Voracek will wear #9, Brayden Schenn #10, and Kris Versteeg #32. A bit of a shakeup there, with Versteeg giving Schenn his old number, and Voracek going from wearing #93 in Columbus to #9 here.
Admittedly, this is pretty trivial stuff. But I presume there is a non-trivial segment of the fanbase – and other fanbases as well – who will be offended at the organization giving away Carter’s number so soon. It’s a respect thing for those people.
For example, the Flyers haven’t given anybody Pelle Lindbergh’s old number 31, even if the circumstances surrounding his departure were much more tragic. The Flyers also haven’t given anybody Simon Gagne‘s #12 since his trade.
However, BIlly Tibbets was given Rod Brind’Amour’s number 17 after a little more than a year later, while both Mark Recchi and John LeClair saw a one year moratorium on their numbers after departing. It seems that the Flyers normally give the big names of their franchise at least one year before their jersey numbers are worn again.
Nobody will be confused into thinking the Flyers should retire Carter and Richards’ numbers, but giving them both the same treatment as Gagne, Brind’Amour, Recchi, and LeClair wouldn’t be out of the question. Now, obviously, maybe it was just a coincidence that nobody wore those numbers for at least a year, while Simmonds wants to and should be allowed to.
So the question is, do you care that Wayne SImmonds is wearing Jeff Carter’s number less than four days after he was traded?
