There are 11 players who wore the No. 13 in the NHL this season, but it wasn't always a popular choice. In fact, it was widely avoided until the European invasion that began in the 1990s. In honor of the unluckiest day on the calendar, Friday the 13th, we've identified the top 10 players of all-time to wear the bad luck numeral.

The Hockey News

According to the World Wide Web, where everything is 100% factual, businesses in the United States lose a combined $800 million on Friday the 13ths, a day when the superstitious avoid traveling, party planning, even leaving their homes.

One of the commercial enterprises that absolutely won’t suffer today, on Friday, June 13, is the National Hockey League. The cash registers and credit card machines will be humming at Staples Center this evening as the Kings and Rangers entertain us with Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final.

There’s been a lot of talk about “puck luck” in this series, with New York supporters claiming, until Game 4, they weren’t getting any of it. That changed massively on Wednesday when everything that could go right for the Blueshrits did, giving them the opportunity to extend the series.

So what to expect of Game 5, on this unluckiest of dates on the calendar? Should Alain Vigneault play a hunch and insert his No. 13, Dan Carcillo, into the lineup? What are the odds the Kings’ No. 13, Kyle Clifford plays the hero? Or the goat?

That both teams actually have a No. 13 is something a modern day phenomenon. A handful of players wore the numeral during the NHL’s infancy in the 1920s and early ‘30s, but the bad luck associated with the number caused it to disappear from the ice-scape almost completely until the mid-1970s. The exception was Jack Stoddard, a right winger who played 80 games for the Rangers from 1951-53.

Left winger Robin Burns donned it in 1974-75 for the Kansas City Scouts, then proceeded to go a combined minus-80 over two seasons. The Scouts meantime, only lasted those two years in Kansas before heading to Denver. Coincidence?

It wasn’t until 1983-84 that the stigma of the No. 13 started to disappear in the NHL, a year when Ken ‘The Rat’ Linseman wore it proudly for the Stanley Cup winning Edmonton Oilers. The barriers broke down in a far bigger way with the European invasion that began in the 1990s; most cultures outside North America have no issue with the numeral.

This season, there were 11 players in the league who sported No. 13.

In honor of today, here’s our ranking of the best No. 13s in NHL history.