Who Will Be Nashville's First Retired Number in the Rafters?

[markshiver]

Intriguing post by Colin Fitts. I like Pekka Rinne

http://thehockeywriters.com/who-will...comment-200364

[gainerama]

It will be Weber

[Dutch]

It will be Weber

Yes it will be, and I hope it will be nobody.

I think retiring numbers is stupid. There are better ways to honor former players.

[Pengwin7]

Rinne is 32. Weber is 29.
It'll be Rinne.

[Dutch]

Rinne is 32. Weber is 29.
It'll be Rinne.

No chance. Rinne better win a vezina before his number gets retired.

Don't get me wrong, he is good, but he hasn't been our franchise player like Weber is.

Weber + Rinne to Nashville is what Iginla + Kipper were to Calgary.

With Weber + Iginla being the face of the franchise, and rinne and kipper capable goalies most people won't remember 10 years from now (not literally but you know what I mean)

[Pengwin7]

Don't get me wrong, he is good, but he hasn't been our franchise player like Weber is.

I don't think it matters.
I think BOTH will be retired.

I grew up a Pistons fan.
In the late 80s they had a really good team, with Isaiah Thomas being the "franchise player".

But the Pistons still retired Vinnie Johnson's number 15 before Isaiah's... because Vinnie was part of a bunch of key players on that team... and he retired first.
Vinnie retired in 1991. The Pistons lifted his number to rafters in 1994.
Isaiah retired in 1994.
So Vinnie won the race to the rafters... only because he retired first.
And Vinnie... he wasn't even a "starter"... guy was their 6th man.

A team like Nashville is going to put up BOTH Rinne & Weber if they stay with the team for their career.
Whoever retires first will get their number up first.
And age suggest Rinne will retire first.

[Dakkster]

What about Legwand?

[MarmotKing]

No love for Radulov? lol

It will probably Rinne or Weber imo.

[glorybe23]

Weber + Rinne to Nashville is what Iginla + Kipper were to Calgary.

I like that comparison.

I don't think Kipper will ever get his number retired in Calgary, however Calgary has a few in the rafters already and Nashville doesnt. I could see Nashville pushing Rinne through (if he stays with the team for awhile) just to have an inaugural rafter night.

Supply and demand.

[Axeman33]

I'll say Rinne. I think he plays his entire career in Nashville. I wont be surprised to see Weber traded at some point. I know that doesn't always affect numbers getting retired but I think they will show the love to Rinne because of his long time service before Weber. Don't get me wrong, I think Weber is their franchise player today but I can still see them dealing him in a few years.

[Bass56]

What about Legwand?

He was drafted right after Lecavalier, but never really lived up to his pre-draft days hype.

He is a great player and I'm sure he was a good leader for the team during all those years, but I just don't see the justification of retiring his number; especially if his is the first one.

[Savvy1982]

I can see justification for both Rinne and Weber.

I could see Legwand being lifted to the rafters if he was a longtime team Captain or something, or even just a beloved player - like Linden in Vancouver -

Guys like Legwand can get their names in the rafters, but Legwand wont.

[Fast Tony DeNiro]

I could see Legwand happening eventually, but he probably won't be the first. He was the Preds' first ever draft pick, played there for 14 years or whatever, he was their leader for a lot of those years.

I think Peng is probably onto something. For most teams Rinne would not be worth a retired number. But in Nashville I could definitely see it happen. But he needs to keep up his level of player for a bit longer as he's really only had one or two elite seasons. Weber is the only lock.

[Rodgort]

Forsberg

[hockeymanG23]

Ryan Suter