More Than Just A Porn-Stache

If some people around the league think of Mike Gartner as the guy who played over 1400 NHL games and never won the Cup, I'm here to tell you he was so much more than that.

Mike Gartner was a elite quality finisher and an electrifying skater. Had he played on teams with a better cast around him (sadly, that counts for his time here too) he could have been a top 15 all-time scoring list candidate. Instead, he resides at the #27 spot.

To prove my point about how lethal he was as a goal scorer, the all-time list illustrates it perfectly. To find the next player on the list with more goals than Gartner (708) you'd have to scroll up the list all the way into the top 10 with Phil Esposito (717) and then you'd have to scroll up four more places to find the guy after that. That's world class.

Conversely, when you look at the list to find guys who have gathered points with fewer assists as part of the total, you'd have to plunge all the way down the list to #45 (Teemu Selanne). Conclusion? Gartner was there to put the puck in.

His offensive consistency was unparalleled. He holds the record for most 30 goal seasons which he accomplished in 17 of his 19 seasons in the league. He was as adept at being where the rebounds and scrambles started for tip-ins as he was for his dazzling speed on breakaways.

So, in recognition of all this, on December 28, the Washington Capitals will raise his #11 jersey to the rafters. And, in spite of all I just pointed out...

I'm not sure about how to feel about this.

For 20 years since he last played in Washington they've seen fit to issue #11 to scrubs like Tim Bergland and Jeff Nelson yet suddenly NOW it's worthy of all-time retirement?

The Capitals rarely seem to "get it" when it comes to this kind of thing. As much of a fixture as Yvon Labre has been in the organization, the fact that his number 7 is retired is laughable and mildly embarrassing. In fact, the only retired number the Caps have that I'm totally comfortable about is Rod Langway's #5. (Dale Hunter supporters crush me on this routinely).

Yes, I'll cheer loudly and appreciatively for a guy who deserves the applause richly. But it just seems like this ceremony just arrived out of the blue.

Perhaps the organization could take a pointer from one of the most history rich hockey organizations in the NHL, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Although they were the first to retire a number after Ace Bailey's tragic encounter with Eddie Shore, they have the fewest number of retired numbers in the league. Instead, they've chose to "honor" 13 players in the rafters while their numbers remain in circulation.

I wish this was how the Capitals did it. With guys like Olaf Kolzig and Peter Bondra coming up for consideration, I'd just like to have them be gracefully recognized without all the hand-wringing about their worthiness for retired number status.