Number To Know — Oct. 3, 2014

Number To Know

18 — The number worn by Carolina newcomer Jay McClement, who is poised to be the 10th 11th Hurricanes player to wear the number in a game. It has been worn by more different players of any since the team moved from Hartford.

While the number has already been worn by nine 10 others, only two have worn it for more than 60 games:

• Robert Kron, the first to wear No. 18, played 237 regular season and five playoff games for Carolina and is still with the team as a scout. He also wore it from 1993-97 with the Whalers prior to relocation.
  
• Ryan Bayda wore it for 110 of his 179 regular season games (he previously wore Nos. 47 and 16 with the team) and all 15 postseason games he played in 2009.

Others who wore it are:
Mike Rucinski (two games; also wore No. 46)
Mike Zigomanis (40; also wore No. 46)
Mark Recchi (20 regular season, 25 playoffs)
Stephane Yelle (59)
Jon Matsumoto (13)
Adam Hall (six)
Radek Dvorak (60)

(edit:) Zack Boychuk wore No. 18 for one game, the season opener of the 2013 lockout-shortened season. Hockey-Reference.com, the site I used, didn't have him as wearing No. 18, but @zissou57 on Twitter recalled it and, sure enough, Boychuk did, too

What are the other most frequently worn numbers for the Hurricanes? The currently available No. 8 — best remembered as Matt Cullen’s number when he was in Carolina — has been worn by nine players, most currently Andrei Loktionov last season. Alexander Semin is the ninth player to wear No. 28, a number also worn by teammate Justin Faulk in 2011-12 but only previously worn in multiple seasons by enforcer Wade Brookbank from 2007-09.