The Florida Panthers organization announced that the club will retire the number 37 jersey for their original owner H. Wayne Huizenga. The banner honoring Huizenga will be raised on January 19 during a pregame ceremony prior to the contest between the Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights. The only other number retired in franchise history was number 93 for original team president Bill Torrey on October 23, 2010.
The announcement on Sunday came on the 25th anniversary of the club's inauguration as a National Hockey League franchise. The decision came as a major surprise to people in attendance at The Breakers in Palm Beach as the NHL awarded a team to South Florida for Huizenga and a team to Anaheim for the Walt Disney Company headed by Michael Eisner on December 10, 1992.
Huizenga was the majority owner of the Panthers from 1992 until after the end of the 2001-02 season. The Florida Panthers played their first five seasons at Miami Arena and moved to a new arena in Sunrise prior to the 1998-99 NHL season. The team won the Eastern Conference Championship and lost in the Stanley Cup Finals during their third season of existence back in 1996. Huizenga sold his majority share of the team to Alan Cohen in 2002 and became a silent minority owner for several years.
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