That was a great article.

I’m particularly intrigued by the fact that the Flyers have unofficially retired his number, while not actually raising it to the rafters. A political decision? Not enough games? Maybe they will let someone wear his number down the line… I hope not though.

While it doesn’t actually discuss the number being pulled out of circulation, the most detailed article I know of describing what happened and the how the Flyers still feel about it is actually an official article from the Flyers… they wrote a recap of the memorial ceremony they had the game right after the accident as part of the series they did on memories from the Spectrum. You may have seen it before, but here’s the link just in case. Given the emotion that article says they still feel about it, I don’t think that number will ever be worn by another Flyer.

Spectrum Memories: Pelle Lindbergh memorial

It’s very possible that the Flyers may have wanted to retire the number, but faced opposition from anti-drunk driving groups. There’s still plenty of people with internet petitions calling for the number to be officially retired. Who knows, maybe they’ll finally do it next year for the 25th anniversary of the crash.

Barry Ashbee has his number retired and that had nothing to do with is stats it was done to honor Mr. Ashbee after an injury prematurely ended his career. Serving as a precedent I don’t see why the Flyer’s wouldn’t retire Pelle’s number.