I read that Puck Daddy article and started to forward it to you….. but I somehow knew you would be on top of it….

I think the Wesley jersey retirement was appropriate for many reasons…. He and a few others could be seen as pioneers who brought hockey to virgin territory and were instrumental in making it work…..

True that if Wesley played his entire career for the Rangers or Bruins he may not have had his jersey retired…. he also wouldn’t have his name on the Stanley cup….

And hockey may not have survived in a place like Raleigh without guys like Glen Wesley……

Its not like the Canes were trying to get the entire league to retire the number/jersey. If a player means that much to a team and that teams fans then said team should be able to retire whatever number whenever they want to

(Crossposted from the Puck Daddy blog comments)

Ron Francis, Glen Wesley, and soon to be Rod Brind’Amour will have their jerseys hang in the RBC Center rafters because they basically BUILT hockey in North Carolina. I wouldn’t expect anyone outside of Carolina fans to understand Wesley’s jersey retirement; I doubt I would get it either if I wasn’t a fan.

Twenty or thirty years from now, when the Carolina franchise has more of a history (in Raleigh) behind it, will players like Brind’Amour and Wesley have their jerseys retired? Probably not. But for now, it’s a no brainer, because they are really the founders of this team in North Carolina. I think ultimately those three players (Francis, Wesley, Brind’Amour) will be remembered as the drivers of the success of not just this team but this entire sport in the Triangle area. There has really been no questioning here of the Wesley jersey retirement, because I think everyone in this community understands what he meant to the franchise. The epitome of class and dedicated on and off the ice, and most of his contributions on the ice cannot be quantified because he transitioned to a defensive defenseman role after moving from Boston.

Ultimately, I think being such a major cog in the forming of a team in a new area AND a franchise’s first Stanley Cup is what makes Wesley’s circumstance special.

i read this too, and kind of expected it from puck daddy.
its a good blog, but its not always fair. but how can you be, when you have to blog for the whole league.
i guess…

I think the problem is an outsider finds it too easy to look at the stats and make a determination of how good a player is. A quick look at Glen’s career plus-38 during his time on mostly mediocre Carolina teams (this doesn’t count Hartford) and plus-66 for his career and you’ll find the stat that reflects what he meant on the ice, not to mention his leadership and contributions to a new hockey market.