Former Ottawa Senators and Nashville Predators defenseman Mark Borowiecki has retired from the NHL after 12 seasons.
One of the most beloved teammates across the NHL is officially hanging it up.
NHL defenseman Mark Borowiecki announced his retirement on Wednesday, stepping away from the game after 12 big-league seasons spent with his hometown Ottawa Senators and Nashville Predators.
Borowiecki was drafted by the Senators in the fifth round of the 2008 NHL draft and managed to carve out quite the run for himself in the ensuing years. In 458 regular-season games, Borowiecki racked up a total of 15 goals and 41 assists for 56 points while averaging 14:50 in nightly ice time.
Borowiecki's last NHL game came on Oct. 22 against the Philadelphia Flyers, when he was injured on an awkward hit and was stretchered off the ice. He was determined to have no major injuries.
While perhaps not remembered for being an offensive dynamo, Borowiecki was a hitting machine. He unleashed 1,831 hits on his opponents throughout his career, including the third most among defensemen since the 2013-14 season and second-most from 2013-14 to 2021-22. He also collected 848 penalty minutes in those 12 seasons.
The 33-year-old from Ottawa also managed to stick around in hockey for as long as he did thanks to his reputation as a positive influence in the locker room and to the community.
Regardless of what was going on around the team at any given moment, Borowiecki was known to always be a calming presence that made coming to the rink a more enjoyable experience.
Borowiecki's leadership extended beyond the confines of hockey on numerous occasions as well, with the hard-nosed defender participating in a number of charitable initiatives and always seeming to make time for any fan who approached him.
In 2019, he appeared with former Sens netminder Anders Nilsson at Ottawa's Capital Pride parade in 2019, saying at the time, "It's a fundamental value of ours that everybody deserves to be loved and be in a healthy loving relationship."
He and his wife, Tara, also became the honorary captains of the Capital City Condors, special needs adapted hockey teams in Ottawa, after former Senator and honorary captain Kyle Turris was traded to Nashville in 2017.
When Borowiecki joined the Predators in the 2020-21 season, he presented $2,000 cheques to the Nashville LGBT Chamber and the Oasis Center's "Just Us" Program.
He was Nashville's nominee for the 2022 Masterton Trophy, awarded annually to the player who best exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey, opening up about his struggles with mental health and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
"Having a chance to reflect on my life, I’m old enough now and played long enough to realize it’s good to be vulnerable in hopes of helping others, whether it’s guys in the league, guys coming up in the AHL, or younger kids playing hockey," Borowiecki told nhlpa.com in April 2022. "Whatever it may be, if I can pay forward the help, support and love I’ve had in my career, it would certainly be very fulfilling for me."
Borowiecki has also done work with Solder On, a Canadian Armed Forces program that supports veterans and serves members to adapt and overcome their physical or mental health injuries through physical activity.
And let's not forget the time he stopped an attempted robbery while out for a walk in Vancouver, wrestling away what was taken by the alleged person.
With his NHL playing career now behind him, 'Boro Cop' can enjoy a well-deserved retirement and the best of success in whatever comes next.