Saturday, October 18, 2008

Antti Pihlstrom - LW - Nashville Predators

Photo by Jay LaPrete


Columbus Blue Jackets' Sheldon Brookbank, right, and Nashville Predators' Antti Pihlstrom, of Finland, chase a loose puck during the first period of a preseason NHL hockey game Sunday, Sept. 16, 2007, in Columbus, Ohio.

Pihlstrom signed a two-year contract with Nashville as a free agent on June 1, 2007.

P.J. Stock - C - Boston Bruins

Photo by Getty Images

P.J. Stock was originally signed as a free agent by the New York Rangers on November 18, 1997. He then moved on to Montreal signing with them as a free agent on July 7, 2000. Then in December he was traded to Philadelphia by Montreal along with Montreal's 6th round choice (Dennis Seidenberg) in the 2001 Entry Draft for Gino Odjick.

Stock returned to New York by signing as a free agent with the Rangers once again on August 23, 2001. He finally found The Number when he was claimed by Boston from New York in the Waiver Draft on September 28, 2001.

Despite his smallish stature, Stock's hard-nosed style of play, made him a fan-favorite with every team he played with.

Julien Vauclair - D - Ottawa Senators

Julien Vauclair played exactly one game in the NHL. On October 25, 2003 Vauclair put on The Number and logged 12 minutes and 48 seconds of ice time for the Ottawa Senators against the Montreal Canadians.

Vauclair was drafted in the 3rd round (74th overall) by the Ottawa Senators in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft.

Here Vauclair delivers a check against the Buffalo Sabres in a preseason game.

Kyle Wellwood - C - Toronto Maple Leafs


Kyle Wellwood sports The Number in this November 24, 2006 game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC.

Wellwood got the scoring going on this night at 1:03 of the first period on his fifth foal of the year (assists going to Nik Antropov and Alexei Ponikarovsky). The Maple Leafs went on to thump the Capitals 7 to 1.

Wellwood was drafted in the 5th round (134th overall) by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. He was waived by the Maple Leafs in June of this year only to be signed the next day by the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks however waived Wellwood yesterday.

Mikhail Yakubov - C - Florida Panthers

Photo by Graig Abel

As the hockey season gets on its way once again this year, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some guys who have sported The Number on their sweater. Here is Mikhail Yakubov of the Florida Panthers skating against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the NHL game at Air Canada Centre on April 11, 2006 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Toronto won 6-5.

Yakubov was drafted 10th overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. He is currently playing for Cherepovets Severstal in Russia.