NHL's Elite Athleticism Forces Bittersweet Endings for Recently Retired Veterans

Brandon Sutter retired from the NHL, joining a growing list of respected veterans who don't get a new contract and hang up the skates around this time before every season. Adam Proteau digs into the factors in play and who could be next.

This time of year provides great optimism for the hockey world. 

Before any games are played, every team and fan base has reason to believe good times are right in front of them, and although in-season competition will disabuse some of them of their happy thoughts, there’s always reason to look on the bright side of things for now.

That said, it’s not all rainbows and lollipops at the moment. For a certain class of player, this time of the season brings with it the news no elite athlete wants to hear. That message: the NHL on-ice game has run out of room for you, no matter what you may have done for it in the past.

Longtime NHL forward Brandon Sutter provides an example of one such player. After 770 career regular-season games – and following a two-year absence from pro hockey – the 34-year-old Sutter attempted a comeback with the Edmonton Oilers. He was released from his pro tryout agreement Sunday, and he announced his retirement as a player. Sutter referenced his health as a key reason for the end of his comeback attempt, and health is often the main reason players have no choice but to stop competing.

Other recent NHL player retirees, including Carl Hagelin, Joonas Donskoi, Patric Hornqvist and Jonathan Bernier, had to hang up their skates because their bodies could no longer hold up to the intense grind of NHL hockey. You can’t fault them for listening to their bodies and doing what is right to give them a high quality of life after their on-ice career comes to an end.

Some other players get squeezed out of the NHL simply because Father Time and the ever-increasing quality of competition push them out, such as Nick Holden, Michael Del Zotto, Nate Thompson, Michael Stone and Cory Schneider. 

But former Maple Leafs winger Wayne Simmonds might end up as one of those players. Though no retirement announcement has been made by Simmonds, he didn't sign a professional tryout, and there doesn't appear to be many teams stepping up to offer him NHL work anymore. At 35, Simmonds no longer has the foot speed to keep him in hockey’s best league. He’s more than likely going to remain in his hometown of Toronto, and he’ll always have a high profile because of all he’s done on the ice, but like most players, he doesn’t have the luxury of calling his own end to his NHL career.

Indeed, for every Simmonds, there are instances of younger players who are seeing the NHL game pass them by. Two more former Maple Leafs – wingers Nick Ritchie and Josh Leivo – are on the outside of the NHL looking in. Ritchie, who is only 27, was released from his tryout with the St. Louis Blues last week. The 30-year-old Leivo, who spent last season with the Blues, chose to sign with KHL Ufa in September. Together, Ritchie and Leivo have 746 NHL games under their belt, but none of that matters in the "what have you done for me lately" business of pro sports.

Of course, the sweet part of the bittersweet circle of life at the NHL level is that there are a slew of young players just beginning their time in the league. In no small part, because they’re cheap employees, they’re going to get a long look from their NHL team. But before they know it – and certainly, before they would ever admit it – the NHL level can slowly fade away from them the way it has faded away from many players this off-season.

This is why veteran players always advise young players to enjoy the time they do have at the best level of the sport. Only a microscopic fraction of them will get the chance to leave the game after winning a Stanley Cup championship. For everyone else, there will be a reckoning they can’t avoid. 

The aforementioned veterans are acutely aware of that fact now, and there will always be an annual stream of jettisoned talents at various degrees of their development. Father Time waits for no man – OK, maybe no man other than Jaromir Jagr – and all players are well-advised to prepare for that eventual reality and plan for a smooth transition to their post-playing careers.