The Case for ... No. 13
The road tohistory began with a father’s fib. Devils winger Mike Cammalleri first went out for hockey in the Toronto area when he was seven, a year younger than the minimum age, but no one ever asked and his dad never told. At the end of tryouts the coach tossed a box of jerseys onto the floor: Congrats, everyone made the cut. Now pick a number.
Cammalleri’s father suggested that young Mike keep a low profile and choose last. “So I sat there, nervous and anxious,” Cammalleri says. “Sure enough, the last number there was 13.” From watching Don Cherry’s Rock’em Sock’em Hockey videos, he knew that Canucks defenseman Lars Lindgren wore the same number—and that one video showed Lindgren accidentally shooting the puck into his own net, the sort of bad luck that explains why hockey players have traditionally shunned the big one-three. In fact, in the NHL every number between 1 and 20 has been officially retired by at least one team, except for 13. “I think I was pretty upset for a couple weeks,” Cammalleri says about getting stuck with the number, “but I’ve worn it ever since.”
• GALLERY: The 13 Best Athletes to Wear No. 13
Almost. He went with another number for two of his 14 seasons in the NHL: 2011–12, when he was traded to Calgary, where center Olli Jokinen already had the number, and last season, when he signed with New Jersey, where former team owner John McMullen was rumored to have banned unlucky 13 for superstitious reasons. That blockade survived McMullen’s sale of the franchise in 2000 and even his death in ’05. But when GM Lou Lamoriello, caretaker of the custom, left for Toronto this off-season, the number became available, and Cammalleri donned Jersey’s first number 13 jersey. “You grow an affinity for the number,” he says. “It becomes part of an identity in a way, something you can relate to.”
Not many others can relate, though. The first 13, according to Hockey Reference.com, was Montreal’s Edmond Bouchard, who played during the Warren G. Harding Administration, and only 92 other NHLers have dared to wear the number since. The list includes Ray Ferraro, who stumbled into the 13 club upon being traded to the Blues in 2001 after wearing four other numbers for five other teams. Then there are dreamers like Shawn Heaphy (Calgary) and Joey Tenute (Washington), whose lone NHL appearances came with 13 on their backs. Valeri Bure, brother of Pavel, and Jared Staal, brother of Eric, Jordan and Marc, never achieved the success of their siblings but at least managed numerical noteworthiness.
The well-traveled Bill Guerin is the only player to have worn 13 for six teams. His mother, who hailed from Nicaragua, considered it lucky. His wife was born on March 13. Now one daughter, Kayla, wears it for her college lacrosse team, and his son, Liam, wears it for hockey. “It’s supposed to be bad luck, but it’s not,” the Penguins’ assistant GM says. “I love Friday the 13th. We celebrate it in our house.”
GALLERY: Greatest NHL Players By Jersey Number
Greatest NHL Players By Jersey Number
00 — John Davidson
1 — Terry Sawchuk
2 — Doug Harvey
3 — Pierre Pilote
4 — Bobby Orr
5 — Nicklas Lidstrom
6 — Toe Blake
7 — Phil Esposito
8 — Alex Ovechkin
9 — Gordie Howe
10 — Guy Lafleur
11 — Mark Messier
12 — Dickie Moore
13 — Pavel Datsyuk
14 — Brendan Shanahan
15 — Milt Schmidt
16 — Brett Hull
17 — Jari Kurri
18 — Serge Savard
19 — Steve Yzerman
20 — Luc Robitaille
21 — Stan Mikita
22 — Mike Bossy
23 — Bob Gainey
24 — Chris Chelios
25 — Joe Nieuwendyk
26 — Peter Stastny
27 — Scott Niedermayer
28 — Steve Larmer
29 — Ken Dryden
30 — Martin Brodeur
31 — Grant Fuhr
32 — Claude Lemieux
33 — Patrick Roy
34 — Miikka Kiprusoff
35 — Tony Esposito
36 — Jussi Jokinen
37 — Patrice Bergeron
38 — Pavol Demitra
39 — Dominik Hasek
40 — Henrik Zetterberg
41 — Jason Allison
42 — Sergei Makarov
43 — Martin Biron
44 — Chris Pronger
45 — Jonathan Bernier
46 — David Krejci
47 — Alexander Radulov
48 — Scott Young
49 — Brian Savage
50 — Corey Crawford
51 — Brian Campbell
52 — Adam Foote
53 — Jeff Skinner
54 — Paul Ranger
55 — Larry Murphy
56 — Sergei Zubov
57 — Tyler Myers
58 — Kris Letang
59 — Chad LaRose
60 — Jose Theodore
61 — Rick Nash
62 — Carl Hagelin
63 — Mike Ribeiro
64 — Nail Yakupov
65 — Erik Karlsson
66 — Mario Lemieux
67 — Max Pacioretty
68 — Jaromir Jagr
69 — Andrew Desjardins
70 — Braden Holtby
71 — Evgeni Malkin
72 — Sergei Bobrovsky
73 — Michael Ryder
74 — T.J. Oshie
75 — Leroy Goldsworthy
76 — P.K. Subban
77 — Ray Bourque
78 — Marc Pouliot
79 — Andrei Markov
80 — Nik Antropov
81 — Marian Hossa
82 — Martin Straka
83 — Ales Hemsky
84 — Mikhail Grabovski
85 — Petr Klima
86 — Nikita Kucherov
87 — Sidney Crosby
88 — Eric Lindros
89 — Alexander Mogilny
90 — Ryan O'Reilly
91 — Sergei Fedorov
92 — Rick Tocchet
93 — Doug Gilmour
94 — Ryan Smyth
95 — Alexei Morozov
96 — Tomas Holmstrom
97 — Jeremy Roenick
98 — Brian Lawton
99 — Wayne Gretzky
Of all the triskaidekaphiliacs, none enjoyed more success than Maple Leafs center Mats Sundin, who scored 1,349 points in 1,346 games during an 18-year career that included, what else, 13 years in Toronto. Sundin, who was born on Feb. 13, always considered the number lucky, even if others didn’t. “I’ve heard my whole career that I should not wear 13, because it’s going to bring the bad luck,” Sundin said. Not so. A bronze likeness of the Swede, who retired in 2009, stands outside the Air Canada Centre, and his sweater hangs from the rafters, thanks to the Maple Leafs’ tradition of “honoring” jerseys.
Maybe he’ll soon have help changing perceptions. Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk, 37, has won three Selke and four Lady Byng trophies during a 14-year career wearing 13 and seems a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame when he retires. And now that Cammalleri has broken through for the Devils, only one team has never had a player wear 13—the Wild. But hope exists. In Iowa, where Minnesota’s AHL affiliate plays, defenseman Gustav Olofsson, a former second-round draft pick from Sweden, wears 13 in tribute to Sundin.
Oh, and because it was available.