For Chara, Subban and Yandle, retirement isn’t the end
It’s funny to me how – in the weeks leading up to training camp – there’s always an avalanche of players announcing that they are retiring from hockey. Like they didn’t know the day was coming. Or they simply didn’t want to accept the inevitable.
And I get it. I’ve been there. My last professional game was in April of 2019, yet I waited until August to announce my own retirement. And I only did so when I had a new job lined up in broadcasting. Even though I knew I was done playing, I didn’t want to put myself in a bad spot by announcing it too early.
For all I knew, an NHL team might have come along with an offer I couldn’t refuse. I mean, with my middling career, it wasn’t likely. But stranger things have happened. And I did receive a few exploratory phone calls from NHL teams that summer. But in my heart of hearts, I knew I was done. It was time.
I always look on with wonder when players like Zdeno Chara, Keith Yandle, and PK Subban hang on until the very last moments of summer to make their retirement official. And what’s interesting about these three is that each had very different circumstances.
It seemed like a foregone conclusion that Yandle was going to hang up the skates after finishing out his one-year contract for the 2021-22 season with the Philadelphia Flyers. He ended with an NHL-worst minus-47 rating and posted just 19 points in 77 games.
After playing in 989 consecutive games over 13 NHL seasons, Yandle saw his ironman streak come to an end when then-Flyers interim coach Mike Yeo chose to healthy scratch the veteran defenseman on April 2, 2022.
Yandle finished his career with 619 points in 1,109 regular season games: impressive numbers for a defenseman. I don’t think anyone was surprised when Yandle decided to retire at the age of 35. That’s pretty normal for a hockey player.
But normal doesn’t define someone like Chara, who managed to extend his NHL career until he was 45 years old.
When Chara announced his retirement on Tuesday, I have to admit that I was somewhat surprised. I thought there was a chance Chara would continue to train and wait by the phone for an NHL team to reach out. He’s always been such a fierce competitor and I wasn’t sure if he’d be able to call his shot and walk away.
For Chara, I’m glad that he was able to sign a one-day deal with the Boston Bruins. He spent 14 seasons there and captured the Stanley Cup in 2010-11 as the team’s captain. It was the right way to end a Hall of Fame career.
But as for Subban: his retirement caught me off guard. He’s only 33 years old. And despite his point totals trending downward over the past few NHL seasons, I thought for sure there would be an NHL suitor for the 2022-23 campaign.
Granted, I didn’t expect Subban to make anywhere close to the $9 million he was raking in over the past eight seasons. A deal similar to the one Phil Kessel signed with the Vegas Golden Knights for $1.5 million seemed equitable for the 2012-13 James Norris Trophy winner.
But Subban is a unique case. He’s not like most hockey players in that he has job options away from the ice. With all the work Subban has already done with ESPN on-air, I have zero doubt that a lucrative career in broadcasting beckons.
If that’s the case, Subban had leverage this offseason to make the right decision for his future. He didn’t need to take a contract at league-minimum or sign a PTO with hopes of making a team out of camp.
On a personal level, I hope Subban ends up in the media. He has personality galore. But he also has a willingness to go out on a limb and try things. That’s a rare quality for a hockey player. Most want to stay as far away from the spotlight as possible.
That’s not Subban. And at times during his career, he got a ton of heat for it. Despite fans clamoring for NHL players to show more personality, Subban was a lightning rod for criticism.
Every fashionable suit he wore. Every interview. Every time his love life hit the pages of a tabloid. People screamed that Subban was doing it all for attention.
Even when he pledged $10 million to the Montreal Children’s Hospital. Ten. Million. Dollars. Naysayers tried to spin it like Subban was just seeking publicity.
What a joke. People simply couldn’t accept the fact that a hockey player might have interests outside the sport. Or be talented at things other than hockey. Fans claim that they want players to outwardly be themselves. But only if that version is acceptable within hockey culture. Which can best be described as one word: boring.
I’m not even sure how we got to this place in hockey. Wayne Gretzky hosted Saturday Night Live years ago and no one batted an eye. He wasn’t considered selfish. In fact, Gretzky was praised for growing the sport.
I can’t help but wonder: if Subban was the best hockey player on earth, would his persona have been more palatable to the vocal minority of fans that continually heaped criticism on the defenseman?
In today’s world, I don’t think so. And I find that sad. My hope is that Subban can eventually win over these same people. That they can understand it’s okay to have interests away from your day job – even as a high profile athlete.
It’s pretty remarkable that three of the NHL’s best defensemen over the past decade retired on the same day. Each made their mark on the game in different ways.
Subban is destined to be a media darling if he so chooses. Yandle could do the same. And Chara would be a welcome addition to any NHL front office.
Ask any former player: walking away from the game isn’t easy. It’s hard to write that final love letter to a sport that’s given you so much. But once the ink dries, it’s a huge sigh of relief. For Chara, Subban, and Yandle, new adventures await. I’m excited to see what they do next.
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