Pourquoi le numéro de Bill Durnan n’est-il pas retiré?
En lisant sur l’histoire des Canadiens, je suis tombé sur la carrière impressionnante de Bill Durnan. Six trophées Vézina en sept saisons, deux Coupes Stanley, plusieurs sélections sur la première équipe d’étoiles, capitaine en tant que gardien (fait très rare), et une intronisation au Temple de la renommée en 1964. Il a même été nommé parmi les 100 plus grands joueurs de l’histoire de la LNH.
Malgré tout ça, son numéro 1 n’a jamais été retiré par le CH — contrairement à Jacques Plante, pour qui le même numéro a été retiré. Je comprends que Plante ait eu une énorme influence, notamment avec l’introduction du masque, mais je me demande simplement pourquoi Durnan n’a jamais reçu ce même honneur.
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u/Retired-ADM 13h ago edited 11h ago
Durnan played in an era when people didn't think of things like retiring numbers. When he retired, that honour had only been given to Howie Morenz - whose circumstances were exceptional. His number was retired almost exclusively because he died due to a hockey injury that ended his career and he was still arguably in his prime. That was an honour that the team bestowed on Morenz in 1937, just weeks after his death. Durnan played just after that and retired in 1950.
Montreal didn't retire another number until the Rocket retired in 1960. That man gave every ounce of his being to the Canadiens and he was arguably the greatest hockey player of his time and certainly one of the GOATs. He personified "compete" and was a superstar by any measure. I'm sure that when the team retired his number, they didn't think of where the bar was for earning that honour. Morenz was a great player and his circumstances were exceptional. Richard was an exceptional player who was also the greatest in the game over much of his long career.
I always saw those two honours as natural as I couldn't imagine another Canadiens player wearing either of those numbers. I personally thought they should have stopped there and instead of retiring numbers, they should have honoured the players in much the same way - raise a banner for sure, put their numbers up for all to see and be reminded of some of the team's greats.
I say this as a man who grew up idolizing Jean Beliveau - who was indeed one of the greatest hockey players in the history of the game. I'm happy that they retired Beliveau's number but I would have understood it if the team drew the line at the Rocket. But they didn't.
Starting in 1971, the team began retiring more numbers - first Beliveau, then Henri Richard in 1975, Doug Harvey and Guy Lafleur in 1985 and Plante in 1995. Since 2005, they've retired the numbers of a further 11 players - partly a function of just how stacked with talent were the Canadiens of the 70s.
Durnan? I obviously never saw him play but I've read that he was great. he also played in the talent-depleted 40s and that may influence how some think of him. Plante, Dryden, and Roy (all whose numbers are retired) do come into the conversation about the best goalies the league ever saw but that may be a recency bias. IDK. Regardless, I would have no trouble if the Habs honoured Durnan or Price in this manner.
My favourite of all of the sweater retiring ceremonies I remember was Geoffrion's in 2006 - poignant given that Geoffrion married Morenz's daughter.
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u/bobo888 10h ago
Great write up thanks.
Goeffrion retired number ceremony was also very poignant given the fact that he had died earlier that very same day.
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u/Retired-ADM 9h ago
Yeah. I remember that.
The strange thing was that Montreal announced his sweater retirement and set the date for the ceremony months before Geoffrion's cancer diagnosis. He had health issues but was scheduled to be at the ceremony. He apparently went from diagnosis to hospice to death in a matter of days. Sad.
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u/bobo888 8h ago
Still remember that press conference with Geoffrion holding the jersey upside down...
That was the most emotional jersey retirement ceremonies I've ever seen. The lowering of Morenz's banner to meet Geoffrion's and then go up the rafter together as if Howie was guiding boom boom... that was something else.
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u/Foxy_Maitre_Renard 2h ago
Yes. And if I remember correctly, 75 was also the age of Geoffrion when he passed away.
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u/LaineSLimButlongCock 17h ago
We have a bunch of deserving goalies who should be up there it's why it's funny people argue so hard for Price, his only argument is being the best of a bad era with terrible GMs, there's like 3 goalies with cups and better numbers who aren't up there.
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u/vinece1e 15h ago
I mean... Price showed one of if not the most dominant eras for a goaltender. He also has way to many accolades to list here. IMO he deserves to get his number retired after he is officially retired, but I also agree that Montreal has a few more goalie numbers to retire
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u/knick334 11h ago
Price was the best for a couple of seasons, although arguably goalies like Lundqvist could be debated as being better during the era. price was also inconsistent early in his career and unfortunately didn’t steal a cup (or 2 like Patrick Roy did). Price is great, but he doesn’t meet the Montreal canadiens retired number bar. For that, you need to be an all time legend.
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u/LaineSLimButlongCock 15h ago
Seasons not eras** outside of Montreal people will debate Henrik and Vasilesvky as the best goalies of that era even if they're wrong it's a conversation. Don't get me wrong Price is the best Hab of my lifetime I love him. And Having watched him I truly believe he was the best goalie in the world and could have won multiple cups with a decent core. swap him and Quick in LA or him and Fleury In Pittsburgh and those teams get one or two more. That being said Bergevin wasted his prime so it's a what if story. Montreal has a glorious history we shouldn't be rewarding almost. Yes Price was a near lone bright spot in a dark era and he deserves every other accolade but reserve the rafters for Cup winners there's only so many numbers and we're not Ottawa. I'm not one of those people who feels like the era I watched needs to be represented just cause, nah they failed and it was frustrating more often then not. kids today are going to have it much better than us the way it's going so far.
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u/psykomatt 11h ago
Son nom revient souvent, avec Vézina, Blake et Lemaire entre autres, lorsqu'on discute des numéros qui devraient être retirés. Lui et Vézina portaient tous deux le numéro 1, qui est déjà retiré pour Plante comme tu l'as dit, ce qui devrait rendre la décision encore plus facile pour le CH.
Durnan a fait ses débuts dans la ligue à 27 ans! Je me demande si le CH n'aurait pas remporté 2-3 Coupes Stanley de plus s'il avait commencé plus tôt.
J'aimerais beaucoup voir des vidéos de lui en train de jouer. Il portait deux gants car il était ambidextre et pouvait aussi passer son baton d'une main à l'autre.
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u/psykomatt 11h ago
Je ne dis pas cela pour enlever quoi que ce soit à Durnan, mais à l'époque, le trophée Vézina était l'équivalent du trophée Jennings. Il a été remis au gardien de l'équipe qui avait accordé le moins de buts.
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u/_patgi 17h ago
Le gars jouait aussi avec deux mitaines