Two Ivy Leaguers. A leader with a Ph. D. in winning. A team guy blessed with the nickname “Mad Dog.” We have four great Wolves for this edition of the Your Favorite Number series, presented by Jewel-Osco.
Over the course of the organization’s first 26 years, most Wolves jersey numbers have been shared by several great players. To celebrate their brilliance, we are creating highlight reels of Wolves who wore the same jersey number and asking you to vote for your favorite.
This week’s clips feature four Wolves who made a difference while wearing No. 25: Stephen Baby, Grant Lewis, Mark Matheson and Chris Butler.
The 6-foot-6, 235-pound Baby (pronounced “Bobby”) grew up in Chicago and was drafted by the Atlanta Thrashers in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft — months before he matriculated to Cornell University. After piling up 115 points in four years of collegiate hockey — and serving as Cornell’s captain for his final two seasons — Baby joined the Wolves after graduating in 2003. He spent three-plus years in a Wolves uniform and provided 28 goals and 32 assists in 169 games while helping Chicago reach the 2005 Calder Cup Finals.
Lewis, a Pittsburgh native, was selected by Atlanta in the second round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. Similar to Baby, Lewis preferred to continue pursuing his Ivy League studies. After four years as Dartmouth, where he amassed 77 points, the big defenseman turned pro just in time to be a part of the Wolves’ 2008 Calder Cup champions. He posted 2 goals and 14 assists in 43 regular-season games that year and finished his three-year Wolves run with 3 goals and 38 assists in 123 games.
Matheson spent four years playing against the Wolves with the Milwaukee Admirals before making the move to Chicago in 2010. “Mad Dog” promptly enjoyed the highest-scoring season of his career as he produced 9 goals and 24 assists in 70 games in 2010-11. Matheson wound up with 13 goals and 52 assists in 197 Wolves games before heading to Europe, where he enjoyed seven seasons split between Austria, Sweden, France and England.
Butler, a savvy two-way defenseman from St. Louis, already had six NHL seasons under his belt when he signed a contract to join the St. Louis Blues in 2014-15. He spent the ensuing three years splitting time between the Wolves and the Blues — with his finest work coming in 2016-17 when he captained Craig Berube’s team to the Central Division title. Butler posted 10 goals and 43 assists in 132 regular-season games for the Wolves. After the 2018-19 season, during which he played 13 games for the Blues, Butler retired after helping his hometown team hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time.
To vote for your favorite Wolves player who wore No. 25, visit one or more of the team’s social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) and make your opinion known!
If you missed any of the previous episodes, here they are:
Your Favorite Number 2
Your Favorite Number 3
Your Favorite Number 4
Your Favorite Number 5
Your Favorite Number 6
Your Favorite Number 7
Your Favorite Number 8
Your Favorite Number 9
Your Favorite Number 10
Your Favorite Number 12
Your Favorite Number 13
Your Favorite Number 14
Your Favorite Number 15
Your Favorite Number 16
Your Favorite Number 17
Your Favorite Number 18
Your Favorite Number 19
Your Favorite Number 20
Your Favorite Number 21
Your Favorite Number 22
Your Favorite Number 23
Your Favorite Number 24