Best NHL Player From Each U.S. State & Revisiting Coleman Blockbuster
Also, some "Today in Hockey History", greatest Montreal Canadien to wear each jersey number, top 10 Colorado Rockies, and more.
Welcome to the THW Hockey History Substack newsletter, with all the best from our extensive archives.
In today’s edition, we have a couple “Today in Hockey History” posts, the best NHL player from each U.S. State, the greatest Montreal Canadien to wear each jersey number, a look back at the blockbuster that brought Blake Coleman to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and more.
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Now on to the good stuff…
Today in Hockey History: Feb. 14
Valentine’s Day has been quite an eventful date in National Hockey League history. One of the greatest goal-scorers to ever skate experienced some highs and lows. The fans in Motown had plenty to cheer for over the years. In addition to a trio of first NHL goals, this date in 2004 proved to be a memorable one. Let’s take our daily trip back through the decades and relive the best moments Feb. 14 has given us.
Best NHL Player From Each U.S. State
The game of hockey still remains fourth among the major sports behind basketball, baseball and football in the United States, but the game has grown nationwide over the past few decades. George “Gerry Peirce Geran, a native of Holyoke, MA, was the first-ever American-born player to play in the NHL when he dressed for the Montreal Wanders during the league’s inaugural season of 1917-18.
Since Geran’s debut, 1,274 players born in the United States have skated in at least one NHL game. Those players have come from 40 states and the District of Columbia. We are going to take a cross-country trip to highlight the best player to come from each of those states. The only criterion is we are going by the state the player was born in, not where he was raised or played his youth hockey. Let the debates begin!
Greatest Montreal Canadien to Wear Each Jersey Number
Assembling a list of greatest players to ever wear a number is not easy with a franchise as old and as storied as the Montreal Canadiens. It will also leave great players off the list, players who also enjoyed Hall-of-Fame careers. Debates over these lists will rage on, but one thing Habs fans can agree upon – these players provided fans memorable moments and quirky trivia items to last a lifetime. Here are the greatest players to have worn each number for the Canadiens.
Today in Hockey History: Feb. 13
The theme of Feb. 13 throughout NHL history has been bypassing the glory and helping your teammates find the back of the net. In addition to a ton of assists being dished out, there were some memorable one-on-one battles between shooter and goaltender. The THW time machine is fired up for our daily trip through the decades.
Revisiting the Lightning’s Blockbuster Trade for Blake Coleman
For the Tampa Bay Lightning, the 2019-20 season was a make-or-break moment for a franchise that had become known as good enough to make deep runs in the postseason but not good enough to win a Stanley Cup. After the well-documented 2019 Postseason collapse, it became clear that the team would have to find a way to win it all soon, or risk seeing another talented player core torn down after coming up empty-handed one too many times.
Given this atmosphere, Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois decided it was time to go all-in and buff his already impressive roster at the 2020 Trade Deadline. After standing pat with a group that looked unbeatable in 2019, BriseBois took an aggressive approach by cashing in a bevy of Tampa Bay’s picks and prospects in order to bring back players that could make the difference for a Stanley Cup push.
Colorado Rockies – The 10 Best to Wear the Jersey
Enough time has gone by that a large number of today’s hockey fans do not realize that the New Jersey Devils were once the Colorado Rockies. And even before that, the franchise began as the Kansas City Scouts. After the team’s inception into the NHL for the 1974-75 season, their time as the Scouts lasted for all of just two seasons before poor attendance and debt among owners contributed to the club relocating to Denver, Colorado.
As we look back on a team that has not been in existence for nearly 40 years, it is important for the sake of hockey history to recall the 10 best Colorado Rockies players.