RETIRING NO. 37

Panthers founder and original owner H. Wayne Huizenga acknowledged the crowd at BB&T Center (now Amerant Bank Arena) as his no. 37 jersey was retired to the rafters. The 80-year-old businessman had willed the Panthers into existence in the early 1990s, successfully petitioning the NHL for an expansion franchise that was finally awarded to him on Dec. 10, 1992. The Panthers chose no. 37 for his jersey, in honor of the year he was born (1937).