WILMINGTON, Mass. — It’s not easy living up to the legacy carved out by the likes of Dean Chynoweth, John Grahame, Ryan Hughes, Gord Hynes, Petr Kalus, Eric Nickulas, Martin St. Pierre and Mattias Timander.
Those are the eight men to wear No. 47 for the Bruins prior to rookie defenseman Steven Kampfer donning the number this season. None of them ever threatened to take it out of circulation by having it raised to the rafters alongside the likes of 4, 7 and 77, but suddenly the number is in high demand.
Kampfer finds himself potentially in competition for it with new addition Rich Peverley. The veteran forward, who was acquired from the Thrashers on Friday, had worn No. 47 in Atlanta. So will the rookie have to give up the number? Peverley insists he won’t try to pull rank and had No. 49 on his helmet for Sunday’s practice.
“I’m not going to try to steal away any numbers from anybody,” Peverley said. “I’m the new guy coming in. I just want to fit in.”
Kampfer is willing to give the number up if Peverley wants it, but it’s a limited-time offer that expires when the Bruins next take the ice against Calgary on Tuesday.
“I told him if he wanted it he can have it,” Kampfer said. “I know he’s worn it before. He said he didn’t really care about it, but I told him it’s open until Tuesday. If he wants it, he can have it. I have no real ties to the number.”
Kampfer wore No. 5 at the University of Michigan to honor boyhood idol Niklas Lidstrom, but was happy to take whatever jersey was handed to him when he arrived at his first pro camp this fall.
“It was one of those things,” Kampfer said. “I had it when I came in for rookie camp, then when acquired [Peverley] I saw that he was 47 [in Atlanta] so I figured if he wanted it he could have it. He’s been in the league a lot longer than I have. He’s obviously worn that number for a while now, so it’s his choice. If he wants it, he can have it and I’ll find another number.”
The number doesn’t have any special significance to Peverley either. He did become fond of it as he established himself as an NHLer in Atlanta, but figures he can get equally attached to No. 49 in Boston if he starts scoring some goals here as well.
“I don’t know, I was always given my numbers and 47 I kind of liked,” Peverley said. “I was just looking for something close to that I guess.”
Peverley still has a couple days to change his mind, and he won’t have to pay a premium to get Kampfer to switch.
“No, I’m not going to try to get anything like that out of it,” Kampfer said. “It’s not going to be one of those Bobby Abreu things where he’s got to give me $25,000 or something like that.”
Abreu got Yankees third-base coach Larry Bowa to give up his No. 53 when he was traded to New York in 2006. It was Rickey Henderon who wrote the big check though, paying Turner Ward $25,000 for his familiar No. 24 in Toronto. Giants quarterback Eli Manning had to send punter Jeff Feagles and his family on a Hawaiian vacation to get his No. 10, but Mitch Williams got a much better deal in Philadelphia, getting his number back from John Kruk for the low price of two cases of beer when he joined the Phillies.
Now that sounds more like a hockey deal.
