page_title: Hartford Whalers
section_title: Notable players
hierarchical_section_title: Hartford Whalers / Notable players
caption_attribution_description: English: I SAID I TOOK IT!! Hartford Civic Center banners for the Hartford Whalers departed franchise. Taken by me, 2 October 2007.
context_page_description: The Hartford Whalers were an American professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League from 1979 to 1997. Originally based in Boston, Massachusetts, the team joined the WHA in the league's inaugural season, and was known as the New England Whalers throughout its time in the WHA. The Whalers moved to Hartford in 1974 and joined the NHL in the NHL–WHA merger of 1979.
  In 1997, the Whalers franchise relocated to Raleigh, North Carolina, where it became the Carolina Hurricanes.
caption: Whaler banners hanging from the Hartford Civic Center rafters in 2007. The numbers 2, 9 and 19 were retired while the team was still in Hartford and honor Rick Ley, Gordie Howe and John McKenzie, respectively. In 2006, the numbers 5, 10 and 11 were added by Hartford Wolf Pack management in honor of Ulf Samuelsson, Ron Francis and Kevin Dineen, respectively. These are joined by a banner commemorating the Whalers' only divisional title and a New England Whalers championship banner.
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