It's Time for the Flyers to Retire Pelle Lindbergh's Number

It's a bit early for this article to come out. Normally, there will be an article about the need for the Philadelphia Flyers to retire Pelle Lindbergh's number sometime around mid-November near the anniversary of his death. Stories will be written about the tragedy of his death, the young man's life that was lost, the future of the Flyers that suddenly and shockingly was taken from us, and the sad void that remained afterward.

However, this NHL year is different. Life is fragile and we, too often, take it for granted. It wasn't that long ago that the hockey world was shaken to its core when we all learned the tragic and sad news about the death of Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew. Both perished in a senseless accident just a day before their sister's wedding.

While the hockey world mourned the loss of a great player, teammate, and man, for Philly fans the deaths were compounded. Gaudreau was from South Jersey. He was one of us. The team recently welcomed his father as a way of showing their love for him and his family. As of right now, there have been no plans for either the Columbus Blue Jackets or Calgary Flames to retire his number, but it probably is not far away. Due to the way he played, it is also likely that he will be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame someday.

Flyers are no stranger to tragedy

Gaudreau's death also strikes another chord with Flyers' fans. We've been here before. Too often. Barry Ashbee, a popular teammate on the early Flyers' teams got hit in the eye and couldn't play anymore. Shortly afterward, he developed and died from leukemia. In 1999, promising young defender Dmitri Tertyshny died in a fatal boating accident. In 2011, former Flyer Brad McCrimmon was a head coach for a KHL team that perished in a plane crash.

Sadly, we know tragedy. We've experienced too often. Lindbergh's fatal accident in 1985 is just another one of them. Like many of these accidents, we often wonder about the inevitable "what if", as in "What if he survived? What if he had a full career?" etc.

Considering all of this, it's time to retire Lindbergh's #31. Ashbee's hangs there in the rafters, and he had just as short of a career as Lindbergh. Lindbergh's number hasn't been donned since his death; so in effect, it's been retired already. It just needs to be recognized as such.

More to the point, Lindbergh, much like McCrimmon, has yet to be inducted into the Flyers own Hall of Fame. Retiring Lindbergh's jersey could easily be the catalyst for giving him such an honor.

If you go to the Wells Fargo Center, you will see, somewhere out there, at least one fan wearing a Lindbergh jersey. He still matters to us. His death still haunts us. Honoring our goalie is a way to help trying to move on. It will be 40 years next year. It's finally time to honor Lindbergh. Now is just as good a time as any.