Here is why Mavrik Bourque wearing number 22 is significant

Dallas Stars’ Twitter was buzzing yesterday after a huge announcement from the team’s official Twitter account. They announced that prospect Mavrik Bourque will be wearing number 22 if he’s called up to the Dallas Stars this season. Now I know this is super premature but that is pretty significant. Not every prospect gets assigned a number because most of them will be heading back to their junior clubs. Here is why the Bourque announcement is pretty unique.

Bourque is one of the top prospects that the Stars have in their organization. He has so much offensive upside that he is considered number two in the top ten prospects list. He spent his first professional season with the Texas Stars last season where he had an up-and-down year.

Now let’s get to the reason why everyone should be excited about that news. The reason is Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill has a history of assigning low numbers to players on the main roster. There is a possibility that Wyatt Johnston could be changing numbers before the season starts since he wore 53 during his rookie season.

It was also reported today by Juraj Kralik that Stankoven was spotted wearing number 11 while practicing with other NHL prospects. Stankoven continues the trend of wearing a low number. Bourque and Stankoven could see some NHL action this season if there are any injuries.

Now Mavrik Bourque will have to earn his roster spot, it’s not a given he will be on the opening night roster this season. He will have to earn his spot like every NHL Prospect has to do when they report to training camp. Based on how he did last season, I expect him to end up playing in Cedar Park to start the season. Now if he gets called up to Dallas during the season because of an injury or a promotion, he will wear the number 22. We will see how Bourque and Stankoven do in a couple of weeks when Dallas Stars training camp begins.