Larry Brooks of  the New York Post thinks that the Detroit Red Wings should retire Brendan Shanahan’s jersey and raise it to the Joe Louis rafters alongside Howe, Abel, Lindsay, Delvecchio, Sawchuck, Yzerman.

It’s an interesting question, and one that will be pondered quite a bit this season, I imagine.

He’s a sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Famer.  He’s a member of the Triple Gold Club, 3-time Stanley Cup winner and the only player in league history to amass over 2000 PIMs and 600 goals.  He played a massive role in breaking the 2004-2005 lockout with his “Shanahan Summit.”

Shanahan was the missing piece to the championship teams that won three Stanley Cups between 1997 and 2002, of that there is zero question.  He fought and bled for Detroit for 9 seasons.  Who can forget that moment when he came flying across the ice on March 26, 1997 to clothesline Patrick Roy mid-air?  Or when he banged in the Statue of Liberty goal?  Or when he iced the empty netter in Game 5, 2002 and then lept into Stevie’s arms?  Or that Irish Jig they played when he scored?

But does he deserve to have his number #14 raised?  The immediate answer is no, particularly given that the Red Wings recirculated the number fairly soon after he left (a decision that I found rather disappointing.  I thought they could have waited a bit).

Also consider that the Red Wings are not the Montreal Canadiens, who seemingly retire everyone’s jersey, or the New York Rangers, who just retired the number  of almost everyone on the 1994 Stanley Cup team.  Oh, Detroit could, of course, retire pretty much the entire 2002 team, with all of its Hall of Famers.  But they don’t.

If they retired Shanny’s number, then where would it end?  Would they also have to consider Larionov’s #8?  What about Draper, when he hangs them up?  Osgood?  My opinion is, if you have to ask, then don’t do it.  Sure, I’d love to see Shanny get that sort of recognition–he was one of my favorite players–and it’s simply unfortunate that he played for as many teams as he did.  If he had been in Detroit for just a few years longer, then I think there’d be a chance.  Hopefully they’ll recognize him in some other way, but not by hanging #14 from the Joe.  The next number that goes up there will be #5.

If you feel so inclined, here’s a link to a 2006 SI article by Michael Farber on the Shanahan Summit.

What do you think?  Retire 14 or no?

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