Ottawa Senators: Thompson Becomes Part of Sens History
Whenever a free agent comes to a new team one of the more interesting things to find out is what jersey number they choose. For some players it’s obvious, a superstar will always choose the same number. For others it can be less obvious. With Nate Thompson coming to the Ottawa Senators he has chosen number 17.
With Thompson choosing number 17 he becomes the 12th player in Ottawa Senators history to wear the number. Throughout his career he wore number 44, but with Pageau already using that number he was forced to switch. The number 17 now becomes the 2nd most used number in Ottawa Senators history.
History
Let’s take a look at the history of number 17 in Ottawa. The first player to wear the number was Jody Hull. In the first season of the Sens history Hull wore the number 17 but just for three games. After that there were eight players who wore 17 for no more than a season before anyone of note took the number
The first player of note to wear 17 was defenceman Filip Kuba. Kuba was a member of the Sens from 2009 through 2012. He suited up with the Sens for the better part of four seasons. Playing in some of the Sens worst years in recent memory, Kuba was never a spectacular player in Ottawa. He was simply a decent player on a team that was either middling or bad.
Following 2012 no one wore 17 until 2015 when it was taken by David Legwand. Legwand played just one season for the Sens but it was one of the most memorable. He was a member of the squad that saw the spectacular Hamburglar year. However, he was never a great player for the Sens. The best part about Legwand was he was part of package that returned the pick that would become Colin White.
Next: Ottawa Senators: Karlsson is a Historically Great Defenceman
Wrap Up
The number 17 has been worn by many members of the Ottawa Senators but never anyone spectacular. Nate Thompson will look to buck the trend, otherwise he becomes just another footnote in the number’s history.