Adam Proteau writes about number retirements for Dustin Brown last week and Chris Neil Friday night and the Anthony Duclair Foundation.
Welcome back to another edition of Screen Shots, a THN.com regular feature in which we examine a few different hockey topics and write about them in short bursts. Onward we go.
The Ottawa Senators are celebrating the career of retired winger Chris Neil by retiring his No. 25 Friday night in a pre-game ceremony. Neil becomes the fourth player to have his number retired by the Sens franchise – joining Daniel Alfredsson (No. 11), Frank Finnigan (No. 8) and Chris Phillips (No. 4) – and he spent his entire 15-season NHL career in Ottawa. That’s something we’re seeing less and less of in the modern-day NHL, but Neil can boast of spending all 1,206 career regular-season games in Senators colors.
Sens fans don’t have a lot of playoff success to recall in recent years, and Neil represents a time that wasn’t true – a time in which deep playoff runs were more of a possibility than they’ve been of late. Neil amassed 2,522 career penalty minutes, but he didn’t participate in many post-season games. The most he played in one playoffs season was 20 games, in the Senators’ memorable Cup run to the final against Anaheim in the 2006-07 post-season. But Neil is beloved in Ottawa because he was seen as a protector, someone who allowed star Sens players to play their game, their way. Whether or not you believe that is up to you, but clearly, Neil left a notable imprint on the franchise and the city.
Certainly, Neil, Alfredsson, Finnigan and Phillips will have their retired numbers flapping beside a new generation of successful Sens players, but it will likely be a while before we see another Senators player be honored as Neil is Friday night in Kanata, Ont. Enjoy Neil’s big night, Sens fans, and hope Ottawa improves quickly enough to get more retired numbers sooner than later.
Similarly, the Los Angeles Kings recently chose to honor longtime captain and two-time Cup-winner Dustin Brown last Saturday by retiring his No. 23. But Brown got something a little bit more than a jersey retirement ceremony: he got a life-sized statue of himself outside Crypto.com Arena.
Like Neil, Brown also played for only one NHL franchise, and Brown played 1,296 regular-season games – the most in Kings history. Brown is the seventh Kings player to have his number retired, joining stars Rob Blake (No. 4), Marcel Dionne (No. 16), Wayne Gretzky (No. 99), Luc Robitaille (No. 20), Dave Taylor (No. 18), and Rogie Vachon (No. 30). Brown becomes the third Kings star to receive a statue, joining Gretzky and Robitaille, and he forever will be known as the captain of the Kings’ two Stanley Cup-champion teams. Brown’s number goes into the Kings’ rafters because he was a complete player, but more importantly because he won not just one Cup – more than many elite players ever win – but two Cups.
Brown represents the Kings’ glory days, and his accolades are well-deserved. Congratulations to him and his family, which must be very proud of him.
Finally, let’s shine a little spotlight on the new charity spearheaded by Florida Panthers star forward Anthony Duclair. The Anthony Duclair Foundation, whose stated mission is “to ensure that Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) are granted safe and equal access to playing hockey in North America,” has raised approximately $200,000 – including a $50,000 donation from the NHL Players’ Association – since the charity’s inception.
It has been operating in South Florida, where Duclair works as a Panthers winger, as well as in Montreal, where Duclair and fellow BIPOC and Arizona Coyotes forward Bokondji Imama are focused on a hockey camp experience for BIPOC children this coming summer.
It’s been a difficult road of late for Duclair as an NHL player, as he’s rebounding from a torn Achilles tendon that has kept him out of the lineup for the entirety of this season. Duclair is projected to be ready for an on-ice return soon enough, but the work he’s doing with his charity to make hockey more inclusive is invaluable beyond NHL games. Three cheers to him and his fledgling organization.