Retired numbers relate to tragedy, but the honoured numbers are just in recognition of famous players and can still technically be worn if the situation merits. Although they don’t have any honoured members for #8, if the Leafs traded for Ovetchkin, it’s entirely possible that he’d be allowed to wear the number with a patch denoting it’s a special number.

Also, the Leafs don’t want to wind up like the Habs, where virtually the entire team has “training camp numbers” because they’ve retired so many of the traditional 1-20 numbers.

Yeah, Graeme, I meant to write “charged” not tried, as I, too, couldn’t find anything on him being actually tried.

I don’t think he was even charged. I think there was talk about it but it never got that far. During the whole crisis, Shore went to Bermuda for three weeks– something he would have never done had he been actually charged. I think, as the Hockey Hall of Fame site says, the Police were investigating it and were thinking of preferring charges if Bailey died.

and was actually tried for attempted murder!

I think there was talk of Shore being charged but nowhere in anything I have ever read on the incident (aside from Bailey’s wikipedia page, where I think you took this) was Shore actually charged for anything much less put on trial. Bailey’s Hockey Hall of Fame page says Shore was certainly under investigation by Boston police for the incident and they would be preferring manslaughter charges if he died but that’s about as close as it came.

http://www.legendsofhockey.net:8080/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.jsp?mem=p197502&type=Player&page=bio&list=ByName#photo

What you don’t mention is that that minutes after Bailey was knocked to the ice, Leafs player Reg Horner decked Shore and knocked him out cold as well!

The Leafs don’t usually retire numbers, choosing to “honour” them instead. I am not sure what the distinction is exactly, but there is one. Maybe it’s fodder for another question/answer.