opinions?

Not around the whole league. 99 was also the highest number you could go, wasn't it? I think it was. Then 68 would be kind of a strange number in the middle, but mainly, Gretzky was 'the great one'. No other number should be retired around the whole league, or at least none yet.

I think they should retire #22 across the NHL before they retire anyone else's.

Why 22?

Willie O'Ree. It would be the equivalent of 42 being retired in all of baseball in honor of Jackie Robinson.

Ahhhh I see. Didn’t realize that

Orr didn't get it, Howe didn't get it, Jagr won't get it

But he was even good, Retiring somebody because of their skin colour is racist, is it not?

I wouldn't pitch it like that, frankly because it isn't that within the context to which I am suggesting.

I am suggesting that a player who's impact on the game is being felt today, should have his jersey retired. The magnitude to which has impacted not only the NHL, but professional sports all around is why I think his number should be retired. As @krakowitz suggested, his impact on hockey is like that of Jackie Robinson.

Racist usually has a negative connotation to it. This is acknowledging the fact that he broke hockey's color barrier. If we're basing it off of just talent, Robinson shouldn't have had his number retired league-wide either. He was good, but not quite that good. The point is that he made a major change for the game, both on the ice and socially, and that is something that should be celebrated.

No way, the league shouldn't have even retired 99.

I like Jagr but no player deserves to have his number retired league-wide.. Maybe retire his number in Pittsburgh, Washington and NY because he was at his best.

Yea, but he wasn't as good as Jackie Robinson.... Robinson was good enough on his own merit to have is number retired. O'ree only played like 40 games for the Bruins.

Not only that but there was no "unofficial" ban on black players in the NHL like there was in the MLB, and there was no "black hockey league" either. So the circumstances are way different with O'Ree.

Besides, O'ree wasn't even the first black professional hockey player. That title goes to Herb Carnegie,

Not Washington. Yes, he was terrific with us, but he didn't live up to expectations for us. It was an ugly ending between the two sides. If Leonsis ever decided to retire Jagr's number, he'd be hated by 80% of Caps fans.

Well, Jagr was certainly good enough with Washington to have his # retired...

I could see Florida retiring his # too, sure he wasn't there long but he did lead the team in scoring as a grandpa..

He wasn’t there long enough anyways. Had he been there for 10 years, sure.