Players who retired surprisingly early

[Nick Hansen]

Most guys seem to play as long as humanly possible but a few seemingly don't.

For example, didn't Scott Niedermayer realistically have a couple of good years left, being part of the Canadian NT for the Olympics the very same year? That's my feeling but otoh he retired on a high note and I am sure he's all fine with it which is what matters in the end.

Any other players?

Click to read more...

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Jason Allison

 

[Tuna Tatarrrrrr]

Patrick Roy, he retired at the age of 37, maybe it's not so early but he was still elite at this age and the best goalie in the NHL. He could have easily played at this level for another 2-3 years at least and make the all time wins record more hard to reach for Brodeur if not impossible. But with shootout wins, Brodeur would still have surpassed him no matter what...

 

[JMCx4]

Keeping with the Les Canadiennes theme ... Ken Dryden retired in 1979 at Age 31. He played just 8 pro seasons, winning 5 Vezina Trophies and playing on 6 Stanley Cup winning rosters.

 

[Tuna Tatarrrrrr]

Keeping with the Les Canadiennes theme ... Ken Dryden retired in 1979 at Age 31. He played just 8 pro seasons, winning 5 Vezina Trophies and playing on 6 Stanley Cup winning rosters.

Yep Dryden is a great response here, crazy to think that if Dryden still played for 8-10 more years then the legend of Patrick Roy could possibly not exist.

By the way, it's Les Canadiens de Montréal.

 

[JMCx4]

... By the way, it's Les Canadiens de Montréal.

Je suis désolé. I obviously need to brush up on my Canadian French before my next visit.

 

[sr edler]

Speaking of revered heroes of Les Canadiens de Montréal, Valeri Bure played his last NHL game @ age 29.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

jacques lemaire always felt to me like he should have been one of those henri richard/cournoyer/savard guys who played forever. if he'd been on the '86 team it would have felt right to me. he would have been way too old to have hung around with robinson and gainey for '89 though.

and speaking of lemaire, we talk about dryden winning almost every year in his career. but lemaire is bill russell-esque. eight cups in twelve seasons. started off his career with back-to-backs and skated off on four in a row.

 

[sawchuk1971]

how about mike bossy.....only played 10 years and retired at 30 years of age...

 

[MasterMatt25]

how about mike bossy.....only played 10 years and retired at 30 years of age...

He had back problems I believe

 

[sawchuk1971]

He had back problems I believe

yes....i just read off from wikipedia that bill torrey wanted to trade bossy to the canadiens but mike declined it...

 

[Babych44]

Steve Larmer retired healthy and still producing at 33 years old

 

[Khomutov]

Vladislav Tretiak

 

[MadLuke]

Speaking of revered heroes of Les Canadiens de Montréal, Valeri Bure played his last NHL game @ age 29.

After a 50 points season in less than 70 games in the DPE has well....

Lock Out + injuries it seem:

An unrestricted free agent following the 2004 playoffs, Bure did not play anywhere in 2004–05 as the entire NHL season was canceled due to a labour dispute. He signed a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Kings for the 2005–06 season when the league resumed operations.[34] He never played a regular season game for the Kings. A back injury suffered during the pre-season, initially just described as "soreness", kept him out of the regular lineup.[35] The injury ultimately required surgery, and a second surgery on his hip caused Bure to miss the entire season.[36] At the age of 31, he opted to retire following the surgerie

 

[Nick Hansen]

Steve Larmer retired healthy and still producing at 33 years old

Was he really healthy? Went from playing all games to playing 68 and 47 games in his last two seasons after having been moved from Chicago to NYR. Probably a case of where his family was rooted in Chicago and the money he could earn as a declining player in another city wasn't enticing enough and injury problems starting to appear.

 

[crobro]

Guy Lafleur
Guy Choiunard
Rick Vaive
Gilbert Perrault
Mike Rogers

 

[MarkusNaslund19]

Was he really healthy? Went from playing all games to playing 68 and 47 games in his last two seasons after having been moved from Chicago to NYR. Probably a case of where his family was rooted in Chicago and the money he could earn as a declining player in another city wasn't enticing enough and injury problems starting to appear.

The 47 was the lockout year IIRC

 

[Sprague Cleghorn]

Syl Apps, Bill Durnan

 

[member 83027]

Chuck Lefley retired at the age of 27. He played overseas for a couple of seasons and then made a comeback but separated his shoulder in training camp and just couldn't overcome that and the layoff from the NHL.

 

[cupcrazyman]

Ken Dryden only 7 full seasons with Montreal

 

[Vanzig]

Now some of these Players Retired early because of Injury but

-PIERRE LAROUCHE (31 Years Old) 50+ Goals/100 Pts+ man had a Point a Game Career with a “395-427-822” in (812 Games).

- TIM KERR (33 Years Old) had 4 Season with 50+ Goals, but his Wife & Son Died plus he had over 15+ Major Surgeries in Career.

- PETE PEETERS (33 Years Old) “Only Goalie to have 2 Streaks of 25+ Games UNBEATEN STREAKS (With 2 Different Teams).

- MIKE BOSSY (30 Years Old)
- BOBBY ORR (30 Years Old)

 

[reckoning]

Tom Edur retired in '78 at age 23 to devote his life to the Jehovah's Witness religion. He wasn't a superstar, but he was Pittsburgh's top-scoring defenceman his final season, and could've had a long career if he wanted. The Oilers tried to convince to sign with them when they joined the NHL in '79.

 

[streitz]

Was he really healthy? Went from playing all games to playing 68 and 47 games in his last two seasons after having been moved from Chicago to NYR. Probably a case of where his family was rooted in Chicago and the money he could earn as a declining player in another city wasn't enticing enough and injury problems starting to appear.

....

He played 47 games out of a total of 48. It was a lockout season.

 

[The Panther]

The guy I always mention is Jim Peplinski.

Integral part and team leader of 80s' Flames' team. Won Cup in 1989 (though scratched by Terry Crisp in final game), aged 28. Came back the next season, played 6 games, and retired, in good health.

(He did have a short comeback attempt five years later, which also lasted six games.)

I remember reading in the Calgary newspaper that Peplinski was receiving invitations to old timers' games when he was 34 (the minimum age was 40).

 

[MS]

Was he really healthy? Went from playing all games to playing 68 and 47 games in his last two seasons after having been moved from Chicago to NYR. Probably a case of where his family was rooted in Chicago and the money he could earn as a declining player in another city wasn't enticing enough and injury problems starting to appear.

As already noted, the 47 game year was the lockout year. Additionally, the 68-game year was because of a contract holdout.