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Behind the Numbers |
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Chris wore #77. He explains why he wears #77 in the following quote: "No special reason in particular. I wore it in junior. My cousin wore that number when he played for the Oshawa Generals when he played junior and I used to watch him a lot when I was younger. I guess I always told myself if I ever got to play in the OHL I’d wear number 77 as well. And fortunately I got to play there and I just carried it on through to the NHL."
Chris wore #27. He wore No. 27 for the final game of the World Championships because his No. 77 jersey went missing in the laundry room of Hartwall Arena. Canada won over Sweden 2-1, to capture the hockey gold!
Chris wore #55. He wore #55 because he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers and Paul Coffey already occupied the #77 he wanted. He didn't choose #66 because that was Mario Lemiux's number and he didn't choose #99 because it was his childhood hero, and "The Great One", Wayne Gretzky's number. With the liking of double numbers #55 was next up!
Chris wore #77. He wore it for only short period of time with the Philadelphia Flyers, becuase Paul Coffey got traded in the off-season and Chris picked the number right up. Then Chris got traded to the Lightning.
Chris wore #20. He only wore it for 2 games and it was because the Lightning were on the road and the only jersey they had was the person Chris got traded for, Mikael Renberg's #20 jersey. They just removed the Renberg and added the Gratton.
Chris wore #77 again in Tampa. After getting traded back to Tampa from Philly and after the two road games which he wore #20 on, Chris got the Good Ol' #77 back! While Chris was gone for the 1 1/4 of a season, nobody came into the Lightning oraganization and took it.
Chris kept the number 77 through his entire stint with the Buffalo Sabres and has continued with it while on the Phoenix Coyotes.
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