Who Wore It Best: Number 37

The well worn 37:

Chris Drury

Drury was drafted by the Nordiques right before they moved in the 1994 draft. He didnt start playing in the NHL until they moved to Colorado when he was 22 years old. He started his rookie season in 1998-1999 season and played in 79 games. He was traded with Stephane Yelle for Morris, Shantz, and fellow number 37 McAmmond. Drury in his 4 years with the Avalanche, appeared in 314 games tallying 85 goals, and 137 assists in that time. He later went on to have varying success with the Rangers, Sabers, and Flames before retirement.

Jordan Krestanovich

Krestanovich was also drafted by the Avalanche franchise. In the 1999 draft, he was picked in the 5th round. Krestanovich did not play much for the Avs but got 8 games in his first season in 2001-2002 season where he registered 2 assists. Two years later he got another call up for 14 more games but not registering any points. In his time with the franchise, he played in 22 games and registered 2 assists.

Dean McAmmond

McAmmond was drafted in the first round of the 1991 draft by the Chicago Blackhawks. He did not have much success with them before being traded to Edmonton where he played for 6 years before being traded back to Chicago. He hopped around a couple times in the coming years before landing in Colorado for one season where he played 41 games in the 2002-2003 season. He tallied 10 goals and 8 assists in that time. Colorado later traded him to Calgary for a 5th round pick. He hopped around a bunch more before retiring.

Dennis Bonvie

Bonvie was never drafted but was signed for his rookie season by Edmonton. He signed with a couple teams throughout his career mostly being an AHL/NHL tweener as in 9 years, he only played in 92 games. His last year was spent with the Avs in 2003-2004 season where he only played in one game and not garnering any points. He retired after that season at age 30.

Paul Healey

Healey was drafted in 1993 by the Flyers in the 8th round. He struggled to crack a lineup and was only a depth call up a couple times but again, like Bonvie, spent his late year at age 3o in the 2005-2006 season with the Avs where he played in 2 games and didnt register a point in either contest.

TJ Hensick

Hensick was drafted by Colorado in the 2005 drafted in the 3rd round. He spent most of his time in the NHL with the Avs but was mostly a call up except for one season his sophomore year where he appeared in 61 games. Throughout his career with the Colorado organization, he appeared in 99 games where he put up 35 points. He was traded to St Louis in 2010 where he played a couple games. He then spent the rest of his professional career playing in Europe or in the AHL.

Ryan O’Reilly

ROR was taken in the 2nd round of the stacked 2009 Avs draft. He entered the NHL in his D+1 season which is extremely rare for a 2nd rounder. He and Duchene had their rookie seasons in the 2009-2010 season and both had success. ROR ended up playing in 81 contests registering 26 points. He would go on with the Avs to have more and more success throughout his tenure. He didnt spend long in 37 however, he switched to the number 90 in 2012. Eventually, though, he would start demanding more and more money. He was a very good player, but the organization did not feel that he was worth what he was demanding. So they decided to trade him to the Buffalo Sabres for a 2nd round pick, JT Compher, Nikita Zadorov, and Mikhael Grigorenko. He is currently playing for the St Louis Blues. In his time with the Avs, ROR played in 427 contests in an Avs sweater and tallied 90 goals and 156 assists as well as winning the Lady Byng trophy when he was 22 in 2014.

Colin Smith

Smith was drafted in 2012 by the Avs in the 7th round. Smith played a lot in the AHL and had some decent success there. He was called up for only one game and didnt register any points. His only NHL game to date remains that sole one with the Avs. He left the organization in a trade to Toronto for Shawn Matthias in 2016.

JT Compher

Compher was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the second round. He was acquired by the Avs in the ROR trade and is still on the team to date. Compher finished his NCAA career and came to the Avs after that playing on their AHL squad and having a lot of success there with Greer and Grimaldi. He was brought up at the end of that season an played in the final 21 games of the 2016-2017 season. The next season he came in and appeared in 69 games. He did not play the full season because of an injury but was a big part of the middle 6 core of the Avs this past season. So far to date Compher has appeared in 90 games and registered 16 goals and 12 assists for a total of 28 points. He is expected to play for the Avs again next season with big expectations to improve his play.

 

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