The Boston Bruins have retired thirteen jersey numbers, and the result is sharper than at any other club in the league: Boston has no single-digit numbers left. Numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 are retired; number 1 belongs to Jeremy Swayman and 6 to Mason Lohrei. The lowest number a new Bruin can be given is 12.
A fourteenth number is on the way. Patrice Bergeron’s 37 was announced in June 2026 and is raised to the rafters on 1 December 2026. Nobody will wear it again, but as of today it is not formally retired.
Which Bruins jersey numbers are retired?
Thirteen now, with a fourteenth announced.
| No. | Retired for |
|---|---|
| 2 | Eddie Shore (1 Apr 1947) |
| 3 | Lionel Hitchman (22 Feb 1934) |
| 4 | Bobby Orr (9 Jan 1979) |
| 5 | Dit Clapper (12 Feb 1947) |
| 7 | Phil Esposito (3 Dec 1987) |
| 8 | Cam Neely (12 Jan 2004) |
| 9 | Johnny Bucyk (13 Mar 1980) |
| 15 | Milt Schmidt (13 Mar 1980) |
| 16 | Rick Middleton (29 Nov 2018) |
| 22 | Willie O’Ree (18 Jan 2022) |
| 24 | Terry O’Reilly (24 Oct 2002) |
| 33 | Zdeno Chara (15 Jan 2026) |
| 37 | Patrice Bergeron – announced; ceremony 1 Dec 2026, not yet raised as of 16 Oct 2026 |
| 77 | Ray Bourque (4 Oct 2001) |
Three of those predate the modern era entirely. Lionel Hitchman’s 3 went up in February 1934 and Eddie Shore’s 2 and Dit Clapper’s 5 both in 1947, which is why no player appears on any of the three in records that begin with the 1950-51 season. Ray Bourque’s 77 is the odd one out: he wore Phil Esposito’s 7 until Esposito’s ceremony in December 1987, moved to 77, and had that retired in turn. One number displaced another.
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Has a Bruin ever worn a retired number?
Yes, and the clearest case is startling. Dit Clapper’s number 5 was retired in February 1947, and Guy Lapointe wore it for Boston in the 1983-84 season, thirty-seven years later. He is the only other player to wear the number in the club’s modern records. Larry Regan wore Milt Schmidt’s 15 in the late 1950s, after Schmidt’s playing career but decades before the number was raised in 1980.
Two more stayed in circulation until the ceremony. Rick Middleton’s 16 was last worn by Kaspars Daugavins in 2013 and raised in 2018. Willie O’Ree’s 22 was last worn by Peter Cehlarik in the 2019-20 season and raised in January 2022. Boston does not draw Toronto’s old distinction between honoring a number and retiring it; the numbers simply stayed available until somebody decided otherwise.
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Every Bruins number in use for 2026-27
Twenty-three numbers are on the roster, which is a thin list for the middle of October.
| No. | Player | No. | Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeremy Swayman | 45 | Jonathan Aspirot |
| 6 | Mason Lohrei | 47 | Mark Kastelic |
| 10 | JJ Peterka | 51 | Matthew Poitras |
| 11 | Casey Mittelstadt | 52 | Sean Kuraly |
| 17 | Will Borgen | 73 | Charlie McAvoy |
| 18 | Pavel Zacha | 75 | Connor Clifton |
| 27 | Hampus Lindholm | 84 | Tanner Jeannot |
| 28 | Elias Lindholm | 88 | David Pastrnak |
| 30 | Michael DiPietro | 91 | Nikita Zadorov |
| 39 | Morgan Geekie | 92 | Marat Khusnutdinov |
| 42 | Frederic Brunet | 93 | Fraser Minten |
| 44 | James Hagens |
James Hagens, the club’s first-round pick in 2025, took 44, a defenceman’s number in Boston history worn by Dennis Seidenberg and Aaron Ward. Henri Jokiharju wore 44 for one game in 2024-25 and switched to 20.
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Which Bruins jersey numbers are available?
Fifty-three, and none of them are single-digit. The lowest is 12, which carries more history than any other free number in Boston: Wayne Cashman wore it for nineteen seasons from 1965 to 1983, then Adam Oates in the 1990s, then Brian Rolston, and last Kevin Shattenkirk in 2024.
The full list: 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 29, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 38, 40, 41, 43, 46, 48, 49, 50, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68, 70, 71, 72, 74, 76, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 86, 89, 90, 94 and 95.
Three of those are available in name only. Number 40 has not been worn since Tuukka Rask left in 2022, number 46 not since David Krejci’s fourteen seasons ended, and number 21 was Don Marcotte’s for sixteen years. Boston has given none of the three to anybody since.
What happens to Brad Marchand’s number 63?
Nothing has happened to it, which is itself the answer. Marchand wore 63 for sixteen seasons from 2010 to 2025, and no Bruin took it for 2026-27. It sits on the available list with no decision attached, in exactly the position Rask’s 40 and Krejci’s 46 have occupied for years. Boston has no intermediate category for a number like this. Either it goes to the rafters, or it goes to a rookie, and the club has done neither.
Which numbers has no Bruin ever worn?
Ten: 0, 66, 69, 78, 85, 87, 96, 97, 98 and 99. Add the retired 2 and 3, which no player appears on in the modern records because they were taken out of use in 1934 and 1947, and twelve of the hundred numbers have been untouched in Boston since 1950-51. Number 99 has been out of circulation league-wide since the NHL retired it for Wayne Gretzky, and 66 is Mario Lemieux’s. The limit matters here more than at most clubs: Boston entered the NHL in 1924, and the sweater-number records begin in 1951, so twenty-seven seasons sit outside the source.
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Where does this data come from?
We compiled number histories from Hockey-Reference’s Bruins sweater-number records. The retired numbers were checked against the NHL’s list of retired numbers, and the current roster against the NHL’s Bruins roster.
Last updated: 16 October 2026.
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