A Series: Looking into Avalanche and Nordiques Player Numbers: Number 37

Thus far in the Colorado Avalanche and Quebec Nordiques history there have been 11 men that have chosen to wear the Number 37 jersey. Only two of these guys wore it for more than 100 games while wearing the Number 37 in the Avalanche/ Nordiques uniform, and only one guy has his name on the Cup - for now.

Richard Zemlak (87): Richard was drafted in the 10th round by the Blues in 1981. He played 20 games, had 2 assists and had 47 penalty minutes.

Shawn Anderson (91): Shawn was drafted fifth overall by the Sabres in the 1986 Draft. He would only play 31 games for the Nordiques. The defenseman had 3 goals,10 assists, 21 penalty minutes and was a +2.

Don Barber (92): Don was drafted in the sixth round by the Edmonton Oilers in the 1983 Draft. In 1992 he played for three NHL teams. He only played 2 games for the Nordiques, he had no points, no penalty minutes and was a -1.

Martin Rucinsky (92): Martin was drafted in the first round, 20th overall, by the Edmonton Oilers in the 1991 Draft. He found his way to Quebec in exchange for Ron Tugnutt and Brad Zavisha. Although he stayed with the Quebec Nordiques- Colorado Avalanche organization until he was part of the Roy deal in 1996, he only wore the Number 37 for his first season as a Nord. That season he played 4 games, had 1 goal, 1 assist, 2 penalty minutes and was a +1.

Chris Drury (99-01): Chris was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in the 3rd round in the 1994 NHL Draft. However, he didn't make his NHL appearance until 1999. He played 314 regular season games, had 85 goals, 137 assists and 189 penalty minutes. He played 80 playoff games, had 26 goals, 24 assists and 22 penalty minutes. Chris was traded from the Avalanche, along with Yelle, to the Calgary Flames for McAmmond, Shantz, and Morris. Drury retired in the summer of 2011.

Jordan Krestanovich (02, 04): Jordan was drafted in the 5th round by the colorado Avalanche in the 1999 Draft. He played 22 games in his two seasons with the Avalanche. He had no goals, 2 assists and 6 penalty minutes in that time.

Dean McAmmond (03): Dean was drafted by the Blackhawks in the first round of the 1991 Draft. Dean was part of the Drury trade. Poor guy didn't have much of a chance winning fans over. He played 41 games, had 10 goals, 8 assists and 10 penalty minutes.

Dennis Bonvie (04): Dennis has the distinction of having a lot of penalty minutes. A lot. In his career he had a total of 4,804 career penalty minutes. He played one game for the Avalanche in 2004. He had no points, no penalty minutes, was a +/- 0.

Paul Healey (06): Paul was drafted by the Flyers during the 8th round in the 1993 Draft. Paul, like Dennis, played 2 games for the Avalanche. Like Bonvie he had no points in those two games, unlike Dennis, he had 14 penalty minutes.

T.J. Hensick (08-09): T.J. was drafted by the Avalanche in the 3rd round of the 2005 NHL Draft. Although he played on the Avalanche from 2008 until 2010, falling one game short of playing 100, he only wore the 37 until 2009. During the 2010 season he made the change to Number 7. He played 92 games with the number 37. He had 10 goals, 22 assists and 16 penalty minutes during the regular season. He played two playoff games and had one assist.

Ryan O`Reilly (10-12): Ryan was drafted by Colorado in the second round of the 2009 NHL Draft. Ryan surprised everyone by making the Avalanche right out of his first training camp. His first game made he made Avalanche history: he was the youngest player to ever lace up his skates and play a game for the Avalanche. Thus far Ryan has played 236 regular season games for the Avalanche with a total 39 goals, 68 assists and 46 penalty minutes. He has also had 6 playoff games, and in those he scored one goal, and had two penalty minutes.