Yzerman retired with the additional distinction of having been the longest-serving team captain in NHL history. Nicklas Lidstrom, the former captain of the Wings

On Thursday, May 31, 2012, Nicklas Lidström retired after his 20th consecutive NHL season, and 6th year as captain of the Detroit Red Wings.

In addition, Gretzky's jersey number 99 was retired league-wide at the 2000 NHL All-Star Game.

* Theoren Fleury, retired NHL hockey player, humanitarian, spokesperson, and author

* Paul Boutilier, retired National Hockey League ( NHL ) hockey player, Stanley Cup Champion

* Norm Ferguson, retired NHL hockey player, member of Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame

* John Jr. Hanna, retired NHL hockey player

* Al MacNeil, retired NHL player and head coach, Stanley Cup Champion

* Kevin Morrison, retired NHL hockey player

# 99 was retired by the NHL, league-wide, in 2000 to honor Wayne Gretzky.

The following month, top scorer Ryan Smyth was traded to the Los Angeles Kings and Joe Sakic, the only team captain the Avs have ever known, retired after 20 seasons in the NHL.

The final game of the season, a 7 – 1 loss to the Calgary Flames, marked Trevor Linden's last NHL game, as the former Canucks'all-time leading scorer retired.

The original Hart Trophy was retired to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1960, and the NHL began presenting a new trophy, which was dubbed the Hart Memorial Trophy in its place.

* Bill Lindsay, retired NHL player

* Steve Coates ( born 1950 ), retired NHL hockey player and Philadelphia Flyers announcer.

* Larry Playfair – retired NHL player

* Birthplace of retired NHL hockey player Kent Nilsson.

Gordon " Gordie " Howe, OC ( born March 31, 1928 ) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player who played for the Detroit Red Wings and Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League ( NHL ), and the Houston Aeros and New England Whalers in the World Hockey Association ( WHA ).

While the Red Wings still held his NHL rights even though he had retired eight years earlier, the Whalers and Red Wings reached a gentleman's agreement in which the Red Wings agreed not to reclaim him.

Mark Messier retired only 11 NHL games behind Howe at 1, 756 ( and counting minor league action and playoffs, 2, 048 total professional games ), but this is over five seasons away from 2, 478 total professional games ( including minor league action ), almost a thousand games ahead of the active career leader at the end of 2012 ( Roman Hamrlik ).

* Dallas Drake, retired NHL player who last played for the Detroit Red Wings.

On July 3, 2006, Yzerman officially retired, finishing his career ranked as the sixth all-time leading scorer in NHL history, having scored a career-high 155 points ( 65 goals / 90 assists ) in 1988 – 89 which has been bettered only by Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.

* Chad Kilger, retired NHL player

Paul Tetsuhiko Kariya (; ( Kariya Tetsuhiko ; born October 16, 1974 ) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey winger who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League ( NHL ).

All teams now have an NHL shield panel on the front of the jersey near the collar, and a rounded hemline at the bottom of the jersey which goes up at the hips, providing more mobility.

This jersey was also a basis for the uniforms worn by Wayne Gretzky's team of NHLPA All-Stars, nicknamed the " 99ers ", for their exhibition tour in Europe during the 1994 – 95 NHL lockout ; a picture of Gretzky in this jersey was used for the cover art of a video game bearing his name.

The road jersey from 1995 – 2003, which became the team's home jersey in 2003 when the NHL decided to switch home and road jerseys, is predominantly burgundy and dark blue in color.

The third jersey was not worn by the Avalanche for the 2007 – 08 or the 2008 – 09 seasons after the NHL switched to the Reebok Edge jerseys.

The Hockey News voted the team's jersey as the best in the NHL.

Rick Nash, David Vyborny, Ray Whitney, Chris Clark, Fredrik Modin, Steve Mason, Geoff Sanderson, R. J. Umberger and Sergei Fedorov are some of the more prominent NHL figures to have donned a Columbus jersey.

The Ducks are one of three NHL teams to feature their team name spelled out in a scripted form on the front of their jersey rather than a logo.

The new team jersey shows only minor modifications from 2006 – 07, including a small NHL crest just below the neck, and a smaller ducks logo on the chest.

It was the only time in the modern NHL days when a mainly black jersey was not worn with black pants ; instead, the pants were purple.

He wears a Ducks jersey with the number 93 on the back, referring to the year the Ducks became an NHL team.

The name " Whalers " was selected after the Hartford Whalers of the NHL, with the Marlton team's jersey featuring the NHL team's logo but turned upside down to make the W an M. The team was restarted in 1998 as a roller hockey team, abandoning the upside down W for a sharper angrier whale logo similar to that used by the OHL Plymouth Whalers.

Kölzig had been with the Washington Capitals franchise since they selected him in the 1989 Draft ; he was the first South African-born player to be drafted to the NHL ; he was the last remaining Capital to have worn the original red, white and blue uniform and the blue jersey from 1995.

The first third jersey in the NHL was a gold Pittsburgh Penguins home jersey used in the 1981-82 and 1982-83 seasons, then as the only home jersey in the 1983-84 season.

The following teams announced the use of third jerseys for the 2008 – 09 NHL season: Atlanta Thrashers, Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks ( a vintage jersey for the 2009 NHL Winter Classic at Wrigley Field ), Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings ( for the 2009 Winter Classic ), Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Flyers, Phoenix Coyotes, Pittsburgh Penguins, San Jose Sharks, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks.

In addition, the Bruins and Flyers donned vintage jerseys for their game as part of the 2010 NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park on January 1, and the Flyers then changed to the Winter Classic white jersey as their away sweater for the 2010 – 11 season ; new third jerseys for the 2009 – 10 NHL season were worn by the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild and the Nashville Predators.

The Wings finished first in the Western Conference and tied for first in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres, but the Sabres were awarded the Presidents ' Trophy by virtue of having the greater number of wins.

In North America the town is known for its excellent hockey players, a number of whom play with the NHL.

This culminated in the worst record in the NHL, winning just 23 games, putting the Penguins in line to draft ' can't-miss ' Russian phenom Alexander Ovechkin with the number one pick.

Fellow Canadians Joe Thornton ( then of the Boston Bruins ) and Joe Sakic ( Colorado Avalanche ), who each wore the number 19 for their respective NHL clubs and who were now eligible to wear it for team Canada due to Yzerman's enforced absence, both refused the number out of respect for their injured countryman.

To help compensate for this increased expense, many NHL clubs cut back on the number of players they kept under contract for development, and players under AHL contracts could now also demand much higher paychecks to remain with their clubs.

In addition, both the NBA and NHL both operate four best-four-out-of-seven rounds during the playoffs ; thus, 16 is the minimum number of games that a team could possibly play in the playoff series ( neither league has ever had a team play that few games, though ).

The WHA hoped to capitalize on the lack of hockey teams in a number of major cities, and it also hoped to attract the best players by paying more than NHL owners would.

In February of 1946, the NHL officially stated that the trophy was to go to the team that allowed the fewest number of goals during the regular season.

The NHL had increased the number of games played that year from 24 to 30, but the players didn't receive an increase in pay.

The Tigers management, stating that the players ' contracts stated that the players were under contract from December 1 to March 30, regardless of the number of games, refused to pay the money and passed the issue to the NHL.

As of the end of the 2005 – 06 NHL season, he holds the record for most number of playoff games played without playing for a Stanley Cup-winning team, at 186 games.

It was the first number to be retired in the NHL.

** No NHL team has retired the number, which is not frequently issued.

At the 2009 NHL General Managers ' Meeting it was discussed whether the rule should be eliminated as a solution to the increasing number of injuries on defensemen who are being hit hard by forechecking forwards.

There is a number of former and current hockey players in NHL who were born Poprad.

TSN also launched a number of digital specialty channels in 2001 ; including a local version of ESPN Classic, and the NHL Networka network devoted to ice hockey and the National Hockey League.

The all star NHL player Alexander Edler also wore number 23

* The NBA and NHL both operate four best-of-seven rounds during the playoffs ; thus, 28 is the maximum number of games that a team could possibly play in the playoff series ( neither league has ever had a team play that many games, though ).

Other types of pools may have a greater number of teams, which may dilute the average talent making it more or less fun depending on the league, but also represents more closely the actual NHL, which currently has 30 teams.

In addition to its work on Football Manager, the studio has also created a number of other sports management simulations including NHL Eastside Hockey Manager and Championship Manager Quiz, and is the former developer of Championship Manager.

* The number worn by Ray Bourque in the NHL from 1987 to 2001.