Shocking retirement announcements in hockey (a la Andrew Luck)

[VMBM]

Alexander Almetov decided to quit hockey one week into the 1967-1968 season. He was 27 and had been a World Championship all-star as recently as March 1967.

I'd still say that the biggest "Soviet shocker" was the retirement of Vladislav Tretiak at 32 in 1984; there's nothing suggesting that he could not have played at the top level for many more years. He was just tired of those 11 month training camps and heavy schedule plus maybe frustrated that he didn't get his wish to play for the Montreal Canadiens.

 

[alko]

Palffy retiriing mid-season @ a PPG clip?

Pálffy going mid-season while scoring still point-per-game.

e: Late.

That WAS a bomb-shell announcement. Especially here in Slovakia. You should know, that here it wasn't first posted in some Internet media. The first and therefore more bombastic news came in a printed media - Dennik Sport. Nobody ever discussed such option days before.
Still remember the day. Was sitiing in a Taxi about 6 morning and there came the news: According do Dennik Sport, Zigmund Palffy retired! That are this WTF moments, you remember for life.

 

[Theokritos]

I'd still say that the biggest "Soviet shocker" was the retirement of Vladislav Tretiak at 32 in 1984; there's nothing suggesting that he could not have played at the top level for many more years. He was just tired of those 11 month training camps and heavy schedule plus maybe frustrated that he didn't get his wish to play for the Montreal Canadiens.

32 is closer to a normal retirement age in Soviet hockey though. 27 on the other hand is exceptionally young and Almetov's contemporaries were stunned by it. Boris Mayorov for example wrote that Almetov retired "unacceptably early". Also, the timetable is this: Almetov played in Game 1 in mid September, then he disappeared from the game rosters for a month, then in mid October his retirement is announced. You can bet Tarasov spent the month in between furiously trying to convince Almetov to continue because it was such a shock.

 

[brachyrynchos]

I was a bit shocked when Steve Larmer retired after the shortened '94-95 season. He was healthy throughout his career which added to his mileage but he could still play. Larmer is quoted as saying something along the lines of 'with the lockout I realized there was other things in life than hockey'.
Milos Holan's heart was always in the game, diagnosed with Leukemia at the start of the '95-96 season he still played a bit that year with Anaheim before getting a bone marrow transplant. Around 3 years later he gets invited to camp for both Anaheim and Atlanta but doesn't make the cut. Plays 2 years back home in the Czech Republic and one in Germany before hanging up the skates. From what I've read, Holan was a solid prospect and a good kid that had a good career ahead of him. It looked dire for him at one point, really bad. The good news is that he's healthy and still a part of the game, head coach of HC Dynamo Pardubice at the young age of 48.
Brett Lindros was brought up earlier, what's unfortunate in his case is that reportedly already had 5 concussions in junior by the time he was rushed into wearing an Islander sweater.
Eric Mestery was drafted by Washington in 2008 (2nd rd 57th overall). The 20 year old 6'5 defenseman retired two years later in '10 after playing with Tri City supposedly because his passion for the game was no longer there and it was no longer fun. I think he decided to follow through on getting a degree but I'm not sure...he did play briefly a few years later at one of the less prominent minor leagues. Yeah, he wasn't likely to be a star but I found it odd that he decided to call it quits.

 

[mrhockey193195]

I know it never happened, but there were rumors in the late 90s that Lidstrom would head back to Sweden and/or retire from hockey entirely.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

I know it never happened, but there were rumors in the late 90s that Lidstrom would head back to Sweden and/or retire from hockey entirely.

i think honestly every swedish star has had those rumours. i definitely remember both forsberg and naslund, and the sedins. they may all have just been contract negotiation ploys but i guess the shadow of mats naslund and loob, and to a lesser degree kenta nilsson, eklund, and eventually kenny jonsson, provide a nice hammer.

 

[ShelbyZ]

I have to go with Patrick Roy's as well.

There were a few things that made it shocking:

-He was obviously still playing at a high level. Despite the rumors that came up here and there during the season that it may be his last, given the competitor he was, I figured Roy would want to come back and go out on a higher note than a 7 game 1st round exit

-He still had a team option year (that Colorado would've obviously exercised) to come back in 03-04 for an $8.5M salary

-His exit came at a pretty terrible time for the team in terms of options to replace him. He had apparently been contemplating retirement for around a year. Had he decided to retire after the WCF barrage against the Wings in 2002, the Avs end up playing a game of musical chairs with the Wings and Leafs for Joseph and Belfour. Joseph and Belfour probably end up with the two Western clubs, while the Leafs have to settle for Byron Dafoe.... If he comes back for another season, the Avs are probably rebounding to get under the cap like a lot of other teams, and replacing Roy isn't as big of a deal. Instead, he did it in 2003, when the goalie market was pretty thin and people weren't as high on Aebischer. IIRC, Cechmanek (who probably wouldn't have been a fit anyway) was traded right before the announcement. Looking back on the UFA market, you had the Flyers also needing a starter while the best options were guys like Jeff Hackett, Garth Snow and Felix Potvin....

Then again, Roy's retirement was a final shot in the Avs-Wings rivalry since it pushed Ken Holland to welcome back Hasek partly because he was worried Dom might end up in Colorado if the Wings declined and let him hit the free agent market... Which created the tense Joseph-Hasek debacle for a season.

 

[brachyrynchos]

I know it never happened, but there were rumors in the late 90s that Lidstrom would head back to Sweden and/or retire from hockey entirely.

Glad Lidström stuck around. If you don't mind me asking, what were the rumors and reasoning? Did he just want to be closer to home?
A bit off topic, but supposedly Jágr was rumored to have difficulty adjusting his first year...not sure just how much he contemplated going home to play. The Penguins ended up making what I consider one of the more underrated trades...Jim Kyte to Calgary for Jirí Hrdina, who was ready to go back to Czechoslovakia rather than report to Pittsburgh. Hrdina was a well respected Czech player who had just won the cup with Calgary and just the guy to help both Jagr and Pittsburgh.
More off topic-Smith was the one who had quickly built a stellar relationship with Christer Rockstrom who pointed Neil Smith in the direction of Lidstrom who was under the radar at the time. Fast forward a few years Smith became GM of the Rangers...
'Neil Smith tried bringing Nicklas Lidstrom to the Rangers' 11/10/15 SNY: Former Rangers GM Neil Smith was with the Red Wings when they drafted Nicklas Lidstrom in the 3rd round in 1989. Shortly after Smith joined the Rangers as GM and reportedly spent the next few seasons trying to acquire Lidstrom. Smith told Craig Custance that he 'tried various times' to acquire Lidstrom from Red Wings GM Bryan Murray but 'for whatever reason I couldn't get him. Murray said he got some calls on Lidstrom early on but after seeing him once knew he was never going to trade him.
Cheers.

 

[ShelbyZ]

Glad Lidström stuck around. If you don't mind me asking, what were the rumors and reasoning? Did he just want to be closer to home?

That was basically it. There were always rumblings that he wanted his kids to be raised in Sweden and be around their extended family, etc. It was something like he wanted his kids to start and finish school in the same place and not have to move them somewhere in between.

Once Holland made him one of the highest paid players in the league, those rumors seemed to stop.

It was serious enough though that an insurance policy in case Lidstrom made good on the threat to go back home was one of the justifications for acquiring Chelios and extending his contract through 02-03.

 

[mrhockey193195]

That was basically it. There were always rumblings that he wanted his kids to be raised in Sweden and be around their extended family, etc. It was something like he wanted his kids to start and finish school in the same place and not have to move them somewhere in between.

Once Holland made him one of the highest paid players in the league, those rumors seemed to stop.

It was serious enough though that an insurance policy in case Lidstrom made good on the threat to go back home was one of the justifications for acquiring Chelios and extending his contract through 02-03.

Interesting. I never actually heard that at the time when the Chelios trade happened, nor did I put two and two together on my own, but that makes sense.

 

[ShelbyZ]

Interesting. I never actually heard that at the time when the Chelios trade happened, nor did I put two and two together on my own, but that makes sense.

I actually just stumbled upon on it trying to find an old Detroit Free Press article about the 99 deadline for the Wings for the Ranford thread.

It became clear in the past few days that defense-man Uwe Krupp probably will be nothing more than a $4-milliort-a-year spectator during the playoffs. His ailing back hasn't responded to rest and rehabilitation. Adding Chelios, with the likelihood of adding a couple of years to his contract, would negate the loss of Krupp. There are legitimate concerns that Chelios' best days are behind him. But joining a championship team is sometimes akin to bathing in therapeutic waters. A new player emerges. Larry Murphy was mocked and ridiculed in Toronto before he joined the Wings just before the trading deadline two years ago. The move invigorated his career. Most important, Chelios remains a premier player, still capable of logging big minutes when necessary. He's a proven leader who should easily fit into the locker room hierarchy of Steve Yzerman, Brendan Shanahan and Nick Lidstrom. And just as Ranford is insurance in case Chris Osgood is lost during the playoffs, Chelios is insurance should Lidstrom leave the Wings and return to his native Sweden after this season, as he has said he might.

 

[mrhockey193195]

It doesn't add much context for Lidstrom, but here is a short blurb on his page from the "Hockey Scouting Report 1998-99" by Sherry Ross:

The Intangibles
With all due respect to Chris Pronger, Lidstrom has matured into the best two-way defenseman in the NHL. Detroit lost Vladimir Konstantinov after his near-fatal limo accident prior to last season, and Lidstrom shouldered the emotional and physical burden of stepping up for the loss of his former partner. Lidstrom has made noises about this being his final NHL season, supposedly to return to his native Sweden. If that is indeed the case, watch for this quiet, classy defenseman to go out with a career year.

 

[Jets4Life]

As a St Louis Blues fan ------ Chuck Lefley at the age of 27 only 1 year after setting the Blues season record for Goals scored.

Lefley played in Finland for a year, then came back, and eventually retired after the 1980-81 season.

 

[crobro]

Pierre Larouche and Mike Rogers retirements caught me off Gaurd

 

[Hobnobs]

Brian Rafalskis retirement was pretty shocking. He had just scored 48 points in 60ish games. Then he never came back...

Theo Fleury was surprising to me at the time. I thought he would rehab and get back on his feet. Damn shame if you ask me.

 

[sr edler]

No way any of Forsberg or Lidström would ever return home to play in Sweden while in their primes.

Forsberg was a bachelor through his entire professional career (until the very end of it) and was also the super competitive type, and had no family reasons to take into consideration.

Lidström was a hockey card collecting nerd living in a suburbia mansion with his big family.

Both were playing on very successful teams in NA where they were both very well liked and respected. Both were paid boatloads of money. SEL at the time was also not a very sexy product.

Seems more like a domestic fantasy fabricated by tabloid journalists.

Okay, we all know Andrew Luck, right in the prime of his career but battling injuries, retired from the NFL.

I don't follow domestic mainstream sports journalism a lot, but American football is of very small interest to a general European audience. I think the biggest thing regarding American football over here is whether or not Beyonce is going to perform on Super Bowl.

Never heard the name Andrew Luck in my life.

 

[JackSlater]

No way any of Forsberg or Lidström would ever return home to play in Sweden while in their primes.

Forsberg was a bachelor through his entire professional career (until the very end of it) and was also the super competitive type, and had no family reasons to take into consideration.

Lidström was a hockey card collecting nerd living in a suburbia mansion with his big family.

Both were playing on very successful teams in NA where they were both very well liked and respected. Both were paid boatloads of money. SEL at the time was also not a very sexy product.

Seems more like a domestic fantasy fabricated by tabloid journalists.



I don't follow domestic mainstream sports journalism a lot, but American football is of very small interest to a general European audience. I think the biggest thing regarding American football over here is whether or not Beyonce is going to perform on Super Bowl.

Never heard the name Andrew Luck in my life.

If Lidstrom had really wanted to play in Sweden, you'd think he would have done so during the 2005 lockout. He didn't play any domestic hockey during that season, but did he relocate to Sweden once the season was cancelled? I never heard so. I do recall hearing during his last few playing years that Lidstrom wanted to move back to Sweden once he retired and raise his kids there, which was odd in retrospect as Lidstrom's kids weren't all that young at the time.

 

[McGarnagle]

Not retirement per se since he ended up coming back, but Tim Thomas's little hiatus in 2013 came out of nowhere and was really weird

 

[Fire Sweeney]

Jimmy Carson doesn't really fit the thread because he had a gradual slow-down of his pro-career. He might have the most downward-inclined slope of any NHL career:

-- most goals as a teen in NHL history
-- age 20: traded for Gretzky
-- age 25: traded for Dixon Ward
-- age 26/27: in IHL

His decline is entirely due to him basically giving up on his NHL career when he started studying to become a financial advisor in his early 20's, following 50-goal, 100-point seasons. He in fact decided he was quitting at that moment but milked a few hundred thousands more which is probably what I would advise if I was a financial advisor.

 

[Normand Lacombe]

If Lidstrom had really wanted to play in Sweden, you'd think he would have done so during the 2005 lockout. He didn't play any domestic hockey during that season, but did he relocate to Sweden once the season was cancelled? I never heard so. I do recall hearing during his last few playing years that Lidstrom wanted to move back to Sweden once he retired and raise his kids there, which was odd in retrospect as Lidstrom's kids weren't all that young at the time.

I seem to recall the height of the Lidstrom retirement rumors was following the 2002 Stanley Cup. Remember reading a piece in the Hockey News after the Finals that Lidstrom was seriously considering retiring in order to raise his children in Sweden.

 

[ricky0034]

Brian Rafalskis retirement was pretty shocking. He had just scored 48 points in 60ish games. Then he never came back...

Theo Fleury was surprising to me at the time. I thought he would rehab and get back on his feet. Damn shame if you ask me.

Rafalski left quite a bit of money on the table to retire too instead of just sticking around and hitting LTIR if need be which made it more surprising,he wasn't on one of those front loaded deals and had a year left on his contract at 6 million which was 9.3% of the cap at the time

 

[Leksand]

Brett Lindross. Never reached stardom though.

Is Luck a bigger star than Lindros was? Honest question. Who would you compare him with in today’s NHL. Crosby is Brady obviously, if anyone is. My point is, what level of accomplishment as a player are we looking for?

 

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

Rafalski left quite a bit of money on the table to retire too instead of just sticking around and hitting LTIR if need be which made it more surprising,he wasn't on one of those front loaded deals and had a year left on his contract at 6 million which was 9.3% of the cap at the time

I remember everyone thought it was a strange move for Rafalski to make, and it really helped the Wings cap situation at the time for reasons I cant remember

 

[JackSlater]

Is Luck a bigger star than Lindros was? Honest question. Who would you compare him with in today’s NHL. Crosby is Brady obviously, if anyone is. My point is, what level of accomplishment as a player are we looking for?

Before his retirement, Luck had the second best betting odds in terms of who would win the next season's MVP. His situation is maybe like if Karlsson suddenly retired during the pre-season to the 2017-2018 season.

 

[brachyrynchos]

Great feedback regarding Lidstrom, thanks! I'm looking at where Lidstrom was after the '02 season and I think it kinda makes sense that he contemplated returning to Sweden. He had 3 Cups, 2 Norris, 1 Conn Smythe, and had been a perennial all star...what else was there to do? I don't mean that in an egotistical way but more from an achievement standpoint, had he left I'm guessing that he wouldn't look back and have any regrets having both team and individual success, his health, and financial security. And the only thing that was pretty much left was the Olympic Gold which Lidstrom went on to win in '06.
Bengt Åke Gustafsson returned to Europe for good after the 1988-89 season with the Capitals (72-18-51-69), he did play another 10 years with Sweden and Austria. He left to be closer to home and family, He had offers to come back, but stayed put.
Doug Cress Washington Post 2/13/92 'Gustafsson Knows When He's Well Off'
Gustafsson: "...some of the offers I have taken quite seriously. I was considering a proposal from Detroit a couple of years ago. I mean the money was really, really good. Bryan Murray was coaching Detroit, and I had enjoyed playing for him for 7 or 8 years in Washington. It was a tough decision". He would've been a nice addition to the Red Wings but I would have liked to have seen him stay with the Caps. The money and work was there if he returned but made the choice to be closer to what matters most to him and there's no fault in that. 629-195-359-554 +45, 18-5-10-15 playoffs, all with Washington.
Bossy was a real bummer, It wasn't until after the fact that I heard the level of discomfort he dealt with on such a regular basis, what's frustrating is that he still wanted to play but physically couldn't, perhaps modern procedures would have helped him.
Yeah, I guess Todd Bergen and Keenan was kinda of a similar situation to Pavelich and Sator in New York...good players with the wrong coach (or right coach wrong player) Pavelich went on to play in Europe and had a brief NHL return with San Jose. Bergen hung up the skates for good in '87 after a year with Springfield (AHL), he did have abdominal injuries but was said to have been somewhat turned off by the game due to his time in Philly. 14-11-5-16, with at least a point in 10 of those 14 games.