One of the biggest rule changes for the upcoming NHL season includes each team having a "professional" emergency backup goalie ready to go in the event the starting goalie and backup goalie get injured, and according to one NHL Insider there's a twist. We already knew that each goalie can't have any NHL experience, or more than 80 games of professional games played outside the NHL.
The main bit of news, that is of concern to the New York Rangers, is the stipulation that will implemented around the league, and the impact it will have on an interesting piece of team lore. Let's get right into it.
NHL EBUGS will wear same jersey number?
Further to this, it sounds like every EBUG is required to wear No. 00 for their NHL team this season‼️
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) August 25, 2026
As a reminder: Everyone will carry an emergency backup home and road this season. Those goalies can't have NHL experience or more than 80 pro games. https://t.co/tiPr46b99v
According to Chris Johnston, each EBUG is going to have to wear No. 00, which I guess makes sense from a uniformity standpoint, and maybe prevent some hijinks that have occurred in the past, this ultimately could all be the fault of the Rangers ;).
My roommate is the emergency backup goalie for the @NYRangers and this is the jersey they stick him with 😂 pic.twitter.com/UzTGNvToFe
— Adam Kaiser (@akaiser) February 10, 2018
If this happens to be true, the new rule will take something away from former player and Team President John Davidson.
Davidson was a goaltender for the Rangers from 1975 until 1983, and he started 212 games for the team going 93-90-25 with a .884 save percentage and a 3.58 goals against average. His best stretch of play was during the 1978-79 and 1979-80 seasons as he went 11-7-0 with a .921 save percentage and a 2.28 goals against average during the team's run to the Stanley Cup Final, and he followed that up with a 4-5-0 record with a .927 save percentage and a 2.35 goals against average.
Davidson wore three different numbers with the Rangers, two of which were worn by players who later had their jerseys retired. That includes No. 30, No. 35, and No. 00. He wore the 00 during the 1977-78 season, and there's an interesting piece of pop culture associated with that.
"Double Vision" is a song that was released by Foreigner in 1978, and the inspiration for the song came from a game in which John Davidson took a tough shot off the mask. The team announcers kept talking about how Davidson probably was experiencing some double vision because of that, and a few months later a song was released.
Beyond the particulars of the game and the song being released, I think another fun element in all of this is the fact that Davidson was wearing "double zero" while all of this was going down. If it really is true that all EBUGs will be wearing 00 going forward, it will be a bit of a bummer that JD's place in history will no longer be unique.
As shared above, the Rangers once gave an EBUG a jersey that included a "McBackup" name bar and the No. 69... so it is quite possible this whole situation is entirely their fault. The NHL wants to keep things standard and avoid any potential shenanigans, and in the process some additional Rangers history is being impacted.
Add us as a preferred source on Google