After 18 seasons in the National Hockey League, defenceman Darryl Sydor has announced his retirement. At 38, Sydor looks back on a career that saw him play in 1,291 games with Los Angeles, Columbus, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Dallas, and St. Louis. He finished his career with 98 goals and 409 assists.

Sydor wasn’t an offensively-minded defenceman, but his contributions were certainly felt by any team fortunate enough to have him in their roster. He brought a lot of heart with him everywhere he went.

Sydor won a Stanley Cup in 1999 as a member of the Stars in Dallas and added another one with Tampa Bay five years later. He spent the majority of his career with the Stars, piling up nine years as a key component on a team that managed considerable success.

Sydor is an Edmonton native and is likely to take on a front office position somewhere. Along with Richard Matvichuk, his Cup win brought a lot of pride to the Alberta city even as the Dallas/Edmonton playoff rivalries built over the years.

Most of all, however, Sydor will be remembered for his level of professionalism. A classy player through and through, he may well represent part of a dying era in pro sports. He may not be Hall-bound in the near future, but he certainly deserves to be mentioned with the utmost respect. A master of the intangibles, Sydor will be remembered for his guts more than anything.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

After 21 NHL seasons, Rod Brind’Amour is retiring. He’ll be taking on a front office job in the Carolina Hurricanes organization.

Brind’Amour met with Canes GM Jim Rutherford to discuss the future and it was mutually decided that there was no longer a place in Carolina for the centreman.

The situation is not unlike the situation in Dallas with Mike Modano, except in the latter case it appears that there are more than a few bad feelings involving the lack of front office position for Mo’ and a dose of bad timing. With Brind’Amour’s situation, however, the player simply didn’t want to suit up for another franchise.

“The only question would be how much do I want to play” for another team, Brind’Amour said. “When I knew for sure the direction the team was going and I wasn’t going to be a part of it as a player, and (Rutherford) said, ‘We want you to come on and do whatever — we’ll figure that out. Just be a part of our organization.’ I said, ‘I’m done. It’s over. I don’t want to go play anymore, and certainly don’t want to play anywhere else.”

Going into the final year of his contract, Brind’Amour would have made $3 million. With the option on the table to buy him out for $2 million, the organization is going to pay him $1 million this year and another million the following year on top of whatever salary he lands for his cushy office job in Carolina.

On top of it all, Brind’Amour is set to get married in a few weeks.

Brind’Amour’s legacy as a player is assured. Known as a workout monster to the end, he’s the team’s leading scorer since the team left Hartford in 1997 and will finish up with 452 goals and 732 assists in 1,484 regular season games. Brind’Amour will go down as one of the game’s best two-way players and absolutely owned the faceoff circle throughout his career.

Brind’Amour has been the type of player to put the organization first, so he’ll be a perfect fit in the front office. He’ll join Ron Francis, Glen Wesley and Tom Barasso as former players with management positions, so the club’ll have a good group to go with into the next several years.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Scott Niedermayer is ready to leave hockey on top of the world. Just four months after helping Team Canada seal the deal with Olympic gold, the superstar defenceman is hanging up his skates for good.

The Anaheim Duck will be finishing off an 18-year career in style, going out after winning four Stanley Cups and a small pile of medals and trophies. He now says that he’s “100% committed” to his decision to retire.

The plan currently is for Niedermayer to stick around the Ducks organization as a consultant to GM Bob Murray, continuing to help a team that he pulled out of obscurity upon his arrival. Niedermayer, together with Chris Pronger, helped Anaheim to its Cup victory in 2007 by logging nearly 30 minutes a game and finishing up with a Conn Smythe for his efforts.

He’s come a long way from his time on the New Jersey Devils, too. Niedermayer came into the league with a lot of hype and he earned every bit of it, controlling the New Jersey blueline with the elegant grace of a seasoned veteran.

Niedermayer will be remembered as a pure powerplay quarterback and as a class act. He helped both the Ducks and Devils motivate their defensive groupings from the back and helped control the offense at the same time, proving his versatility every single game. The fact that he has only missed the NHL playoffs twice as a player is a testament to his skill and leadership.

For the Ducks, the problem is not only an emotional one but a practical one. How will they cope with losing two star defenders in two years? How will they rebuild from having two of the best players leave the fold in relative succession? The torch will be passed, that’s for sure, and it’ll be time for youngsters to step up.

Even though his departure leaves a significant hole behind, Niedermayer’s loyalty will never be in doubt. Whether skating smoothly in a Team Canada jersey or a Ducks sweater, he’ll always be remembered as one of the finest defenceman in hockey’s modern era and a surefire entry to the Hall of Fame.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

San Jose Sharks captain Rob Blake is set to retire after 20 years in the National Hockey League. As one of the NHL’s top defenders, Blake will make his announcement on Friday.

Blake had hinted at retirement after his Sharks were swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champ Chicago Blackhawks. He noted that he had made a decision regarding his future but wanted to wait a few weeks to make sure that he was making the right call.

With a few weeks having elapsed, it looks like Blake’s storied career is coming to an end. On a more practical level for the Sharks, his departure means that the team will have to do a little more reshuffling this summer. Patrick Marleau and starting goaltender Evgeni Nabokov are both eligible for UFA status come July 1 and there’s little indication as to the team’s future direction.

On its larger level, the Blake retirement means an end to one of the league’s finest defensive careers. Closing the book on it at 40, he has to be satisfied with a career that involved tenures in Colorado, Los Angeles and San Jose. He made seven All-Star teams and collected the Norris Trophy as a King in 1998.

Blake is 10th on the career scoring list with 240 goals as a defenceman. He won a Cup with the Avalanche in 2001, adding a gold medal with Canada the following year and moving on to help the Sharks post tremendous regular season records in both of his seasons there.

Blake’s role as a leader goes without saying, as he and Chris Pronger are perhaps hockey’s most respected voices along the blueline. His physical impact on the game will be missed, too, as will his calm control of tricky defensive situations. Blake can retire now and safely say that he left the game when he was still among the best at his position.

A shoe-in for the Hall of Fame, Blake finishes his career with 537 assists and 777 points.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

In a day that might be more remembered for Tiger Woods news, Dallas Stars forward Mike Modano stole the show in the eyes of this sports fan.

At the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Modano fought back tears and finally let them go with about five minutes left in the game. Better still, Modano showed his guts and determination in scoring the game’s tying goal with 1:47 to go in regulation and added a shootout goal later on.

Modano was a bright spot in what will amount to a lost season for Stars fans. While he hasn’t announced his retirement from the game formally, the tears streaming down his cheeks and the general attitude of the night certainly seemed to indicate that Mo might be done in Dallas. And there doesn’t seem to be any reason to believe that he’ll appear in any other jersey, either.

Modano, who turns 40 in June, told reporters that it “certainly felt like the end.” While he added that his father doesn’t want him to hang up the skates just yet, most signs are pointing to this season being Modano’s last in the National Hockey League.

With 16 years spent in a Stars uniform (he lost a 17th due to the lockout), Modano has become THE sports figure in Dallas. No other Dallas franchise boasts a 16+ year figure and no other Dallas franchise boasts such a classy ambassador to the game. Mike Modano sold hockey like no other American player. Period.

There will be no successor to Modano in Dallas, at least not for a while. Stars fans will, as they wave goodbye to one of the game’s finest, have no choice but to wait to see what’s next.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Keith Tkachuk is going to call it quits at the end of this NHL season. After 19 seasons in the National Hockey League, Tkachuk is calling the 2009-2010 season his last.

“I have been privileged to have a long career in this terrific league and play for first class organizations,” Tkachuk said. “My thanks go out to my current and former teammates, the St. Louis Blues, Phoenix Coyotes/Winnipeg Jets and Atlanta Thrashers organizations and most of all to my parents, my wife, Chantal, my kids, Matthew, Braeden and Taryn, along with all of my other family members for all of the support they have given me throughout my career.”

“Keith is a true warrior who had an excellent career, and I was hoping this day would never come,” said John Davidson, the Blues president of hockey operations. “The NHL is losing an individual who gave a lot of time and dedication to the game and I wish him and his family a happy retirement and the best of luck.”

Tkachuk was a divisive player at times in terms of what many fans thought of him. Drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, Tkachuk piled up 1,063 points (538 goals, 525 assists) in 1,200 games. He was an agitator, for the most part, but also boasted an underrated set of hands that made him a threat in front of the net.

Unfortunately, Tkachuk’s career was also peppered with contract disputes and disciplinary issues. He was stripped of his captaincy in Winnipeg at the start of the 1995-1996 NHL season after a contract dispute, but he was eventually restored to the post at the start of the following season when the Jets moved to Phoenix.

Tkachuk also struggled with injuries after being traded to the St. Louis Blues in 2001 and he failed his physical with the team after showing up to camp overweight at the start of the 2005-2006 season.

Even so, Tkachuk’s impact on the game was a significant one. While I don’t think most people would consider him to be a Hall of Fame-ready player, Tkachuk was largely a role player who had the ability to get nasty when the job required it of him. He could also put the puck in the net, having scored at least 20 goals in his first 12 season in the NHL.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

When I think back to those players who have served as a motivation to me as a smaller guy on the ice, I think of two players in particular: Theo Fleury and Michael Peca.

Peca announced his retirement Tuesday, ending a 13-season NHL career and conversations with his family that began several months ago. At 35-years-old, he put the cap on a career filled with energy and fearlessness.

“I truly have enjoyed my entire career as an NHL player,” Peca said in a statement.

With career stops in Vancouver, Buffalo, Toronto, Long Island, Edmonton, and Columbus, Peca made an impact on each team he played for. He won gold with Team Canada in 2002 at the Olympics and was a part of two Cup finalist teams in the Oilers and Sabres.

He also won the Selke trophy twice and reached 20 goals four times to finish a career with a total of 176 goals and 465 points in 864 NHL games.

At the end of the day, the decision to retire came down to a decision to stop moving his family around. Peca noted that he felt he could still lace the skates but that he was putting his family first to give them some consistency in a league that offers constant change to players like Peca.

“Today, I can honestly say that I am able to walk away from the game as a player knowing that I always left everything I had on the ice,” he said. “I appreciate everything hockey has given me and I hope that I earned the respect of my great teammates and opponents by playing the only way I knew how to.”

Watching Peca stream down the ice or create an opportunity through an open ice hit that a guy his size really had no business making will always be something I’ll remember from his career. He was an impact player. He knew his role on the teams he played for and he understood where he fit in the grand scheme of things as a hockey player.

Even while it’s a little frustrating to see him go when he could obviously still lace the skates for an NHL team, it’s somehow satisfying to see a guy take his family and put them first. Peca is a class act, a punishing hitter and one of the game’s best defensive forwards. He’ll be missed.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Former Maple Leafs goaltender Curtis Joseph will formally announce his retirement Tuesday afternoon at the Air Canada Centre, ending a career that leaves him with 454 wins.

Joseph served as backup to Vesa Toskala last season in Toronto but left the team after they signed 25-year-old Jonas Gustavsson.

Joseph has an impressive career under his belt and should leave the game with his head held high. He is fourth in all-time wins, trailing only Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy and Ed Belfour in that category. Joseph played in 958 regular season games, suiting up for 19 seasons with six different teams. He played for St. Louis, Edmonton, Detroit, Phoenix, Calgary and Toronto.

Joseph’s best days were probably in the time between 1998 and 2002, as he suited up as a workhorse in goal for the Maple Leafs. He posted 17 shutouts in 249 games during that period, helping the Leafs make the conference finals twice.

A quality individual on and off the ice, Cujo’s presence in the National Hockey League will be missed. He always came to play and gave it his all each and every single time he stepped between the pipes.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

After 21 seasons in the National Hockey League, Brendan Shanahan announced his retirement on Tuesday.

In a release to the league, Shanahan said: “I would like to thank my family and all of the friends who have helped me achieve and maintain my childhood dream of playing in the National Hockey League. I am enormously grateful to all of my coaches and teammates I’ve had the privilege of learning from, and playing alongside of, throughout my career.”

At 40 years of age, Shanahan ends a career that features many highlights both on and off the ice. 23rd overall in points, he boasts three Stanley Cup rings and 656 career goals.

To start the season, Shanny was attempting to land a spot on the roster with the New Jersey Devils. Cut from training camp, the desire to play appeared to be strong but it was not to be.

Shanahan has many moments to look back on with fondness and he really was the type of player that all fans of hockey grew to love. Whether he was making a fool out of Patrick Roy with the famed “Statue of Liberty goal” or mocking the Ottawa Senators for riding exercise bikes during post-game interviews, his will be a legacy as entertaining as it is effective.

With 109 game-winning goals, Shanahan built a reputation for being one of the league’s fiercest clutch performers. He was a force to be reckoned with in the post-season, too, piling up 12 game-winners in the playoffs to go with his overall total of 134 playoff points.

It was his years with the Red Wings that will be remembered most, though, as Shanahan won his three Cups with the club and scored at least 30 goals in seven of his nine season in Detroit.

So what’s next for Shanny? Many pundits and players are thinking that he’ll continue to serve in some capacity in the NHLPA. Some have even slated him for a possible new executive director, while others see him as a tremendous candidate for a general manager. Regardless of Shanahan’s role, his impact on the game of hockey goes without saying and will doubtlessly continue as long as he’s invested in it in some capacity on or off the ice.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

When you think of Theo Fleury, what comes to mind? It’s probably one of two images;

1. Theo Fleury sliding across the ice in Calgary on his knees after scoring a big playoff goal, waiving his arms…the little guy with the big heart!
2. Theo Fleury arguing emphatically with a coach or referee, in either a Rangers or Blackhawks uniform…the loose cannon, wondering what antics we will witness next (no, not Sean Avery…we’re talking about Theo Fleury).

…whichever image you just saw in your head, you can’t argue that he put up some very good numbers over what some would call a tarnished career.

So is Theoren Fleury worthy of being inducted into our sacred Hockey Hall of Fame? Let’s take a closer look at some of his numbers in comparison to some other Hall of Fame players.

Fleury played 1084 games totaling 455 (53rd all time) goals and 633 assists (64th all time) for 1088 points (56 all time). His points per game were 1.004 which puts him at 49th career all time… not exactly a slouch. If based on points per game, certainly better than some other Hall members (forwards). Cam Neely (the epitome of power forwards…respectfully), Glenn Anderson (although he has more cups), Joe Mullen, Maurice Richard, Bill Cowley, Jean Ratelle, Jaques Lemaire, Frank Mahovlich, Lanny McDonald…shall I continue? There are many more.

You could argue that many of these players brought more than simply “numbers” with their game, but you could also argue that Fleury played with one of the biggest hearts we ever witnessed.

Continuing with some other facts about his career;
• He played in 7 all-star games
• Was a 50 goal scorer in 90-91 (51)
• Was a 40 goal scorer 4 times in his career
• 39th all time in game winning goals (67)
• Had 35 career short handed goals (9th all time)

Oh yeah, and he was only 5 foot 6, 182 pounds!

Now we come to the issue of how he left the NHL after his brief stint in Chicago. Yes, he was unstable. Some might even call him a detriment to the league, an embarrassment or a liability. I can’t argue with some of those viewpoints, but knowing what we do now about his past, about the anguish he went through, can’t we call it a wash for his behavior we were witness to? I think it’s the least we could do!

Fleury hasn’t been the only player with substance abuse issues over his career (Fuhr…Hall of Fame member) and he made amends with the NHL and retired on good terms. He may not have been the greatest ambassador for the game toward the end, but should we let that ruin a stellar career? A career that gives hope to the little guy, especially in today’s NHL, where you can thrive even if you’re small in stature?

In my opinion, let the numbers speak for themselves. Fleury was a spirited hockey player. A blue collar, hard working player that came to work with his metal lunch box and left filthy from his efforts. Nobody questioned his work ethic and he succeeded in spite of everyone telling him that he was too small for the big game.

…I will always see image number 1

Posted By Pat Lynch