30 replies to this topic

[Wings_Dynasty]

***I have been around this website long enough to know that if we start throwing current Wings around that this thread will fall into chaos. So limit replies to players not currently on the Wings.***

So I have been watching highlight videos on YouTube the last few days (especially awoods') and I have noticed that a lot of key players from the Wings' most dominant past (95-99) are still around. I was wondering who do you think is playing in the NHL now that maybe should have stopped a while ago before their career went from "legendary" to "ordinary."

My top choice is Martin Brodeur. I think he should have stopped playing the day after he broke the wins record. The Devils haven't been a real contender in a while and I think now that the organization needs to grow beyond his legend.

Anyone else come to mind?

Edited by Wings_Dynasty, 05 January 2012 - 09:23 AM.

[e_prime]

Not that Rick DiPietro has ever been "legendary" (other than in the injury department) but he needs to retire.

[VM1138]

Apparently the NHL thinks Lidstrom needs to. Their new poll on who should win the Norris doesn't even include him as an option. Shocking.

On a serious note, Brodeur and DiPietro should. I can't beleive DiPietro got hurt again yesterday off-ice? How does any human get hurt that much, especially an athlete? Makes me wonder if he really gets hurt or he just can't play through any kind of discomfort. I hope someone writes a book about how dysfunctional the Islanders are.

I can tell you who shouldn't retire: Selanne. The guy just keeps playing at a high level.

[Hatethedrake!]

Scott Gomez should retire. He's useless and makes way too much money.

[Sprsquirt7]

I think that having someone retire simply because they aren't super elite anymore is complete bs. I for one know that if I made it to the nhl and was able to play there id play as long as I possibly could. The idea that their legacy is getting tarnished is a fan created dilemma that shouldn't even come into the picture when someones personal choice to retire is on the table. Of course if that is something the player feels its a totally different story.

[e_prime]

I think that having someone retire simply because they aren't super elite anymore is complete bs. I for one know that if I made it to the nhl and was able to play there id play as long as I possibly could. The idea that their legacy is getting tarnished is a fan created dilemma that shouldn't even come into the picture when someones personal choice to retire is on the table. Of course if that is something the player feels its a totally different story.

Agreed. Think about when Steve Y. would have retired and everything we would have missed if this had been his criteria for defining his career... Certainly there are players out there that can't adjust their game to a different role on the ice and they shouldn't handcuff teams by pretending they're something they aren't anymore.

Count me as one of the many who thought that Jagr coming back was a big question mark that wasn't going to pan out, but he certainly seems to understand his role and is playing quite well. Is he the super elite forward of yesteryear... No, but he's making an impact and isn't a distraction.

[Kira]

I have to go along with DiPietro. That guy has had more bad luck than a bar has bottles of booze. Rick, for the sake of your body, give it up.

[toby91_ca]

I have to go along with DiPietro. That guy has had more bad luck than a bar has bottles of booze. Rick, for the sake of your body, give it up.

Yup, he's had some terrible luck, but not sure I'd go with retirment, especially since he can collect on his contract for many years to come.

It's pretty funny though, at 30 years old, he's played about the same amount of games as 21 year old Stamkos. I know goalies play less games and wouldn't have come in as a starter the same time Stamkos started, but it still looks crazy. My guess is that if he was healthy, his games played would be double.

[dats13owns]

Jonathan Ericcson

[malts85]

Andrei Markov is another player who seems to be constantly injured and usually the same problem, his knee. Whether he should retire I don't know but I don't think the Canadiens should be using him as a building block for their team.

[achildr1]

Corey Perry, Sidney Crosby, Logan Couture, Joe Thornton, and Ryan Kesler.

I just don't ever want to see their faces ever again. Perry, Crosby, and Couture faces are like splinters in my eyes that just have to go away.

[ami]

it took 10 posts to come up with right names. too long, i hoped for about 3-5...

[GMRwings1983]

Definitely Fatso.

He hasn't looked good since the lockout and since Stevens, Rafalski and Niedermayer left. You can also throw the trap in there, which made him look better than what he really was.

He's been especially underwhelming in the playoffs since the lockout. I figured after last season's no-playoffs disaster, he'd retire, but he's still around.

[toby91_ca]

Definitely Fatso.

He hasn't looked good since the lockout and since Stevens, Rafalski and Niedermayer left. You can also throw the trap in there, which made him look better than what he really was.

He's been especially underwhelming in the playoffs since the lockout. I figured after last season's no-playoffs disaster, he'd retire, but he's still around.

I agree that he has reached the point where he should retire at the end of the year, but to say he hasn't looked good since the lockout is a bit off. I mean, he had seasons of 43, 44, 45 and 48 wins, he's had 41 shutouts since the lockout and he's won 2 vezina trophies.

[GMRwings1983]

I agree that he has reached the point where he should retire at the end of the year, but to say he hasn't looked good since the lockout is a bit off. I mean, he had seasons of 43, 44, 45 and 48 wins, he's had 41 shutouts since the lockout and he's won 2 vezina trophies.

The Vezina trophies were mostly reputational wins (especially 2008), and I'm talking about his playoff performances in those years more than anything else.

Without "the trap" and those three defensemen who left, he's been exposed in big games.

Edited by GMRwings1983, 05 January 2012 - 04:35 PM.

[cnot19]

Marty's later years are hard to gauge, hes still a top 3 goalie of all time, however not all hall of famers have enjoyed the great ends to their career like lidstrom and teemu. However, while Marty;s numbers have dipped, the defense New jersey ahs put on the rink in the past couple years has been terrible. The defense this year make Ericssons mistakes look good. They cant defend and are constantly turning the puck over, its been this way since theyve lost their great core of dmen. His game shows that being the wokrhorse all those years has taken an effect on his body. Hes been burnt out for much of the devils latest playoffs appearances, highlighting the need for a good backup in todays league.

Edited by cnot19, 05 January 2012 - 05:10 PM.

[miller76]

I think John Madden, Adrian Aucoin, Andrew Burnette, Hal Gill, Khabibulin, Gonchar, Ray Whitney, Andy Sutton, Pandolfo, Sellanne, and Jody Shelley (cause he is irrelevant.) all need to call it a career.

[irishock]

Apparently the NHL thinks Lidstrom needs to. Their new poll on who should win the Norris doesn't even include him as an option. Shocking.

Lmao, and the leading vote getter in the poll was "other". I think we all know who the fans mean by "other".



Crosby should retire. That guy will never be the same with his fear for big hits. He'll just come back and get another concussion.

[Electrophile]

I think HWSNBN should retire, but not for the reasons some of you may think. Yes, I can't stand him, yes I think he's overexposed and over-hyped (in terms of marketing exposure), and yes I think he's basically a chickens*** douchecanoe. However, none of those are valid reasons to hang 'em up.

What is, in my opinion, is the fact that he's only played 8 games this season and missed a huge chunk of time last season, all due to concussions. I'm sorry, but your health should come before personal athletic accolades. He's got a Stanley Cup, he won an Olympic gold medal.....he's basically got nothing left to prove career-wise. He did in a shorter length of time, what some players never achieve in a 20 year career. Continuing to play when your brain is one good hit away from turning into runny scrambled eggs is not only stupid, it's suicidal. Eric Lindros played long after he should have quit, same with Pat LaFontaine, and both suffered from similar problems.

For the record, I'd say the same if we were talking about Hank, Pavs, Nick, or any Red Wing. So I'd put the same metrics on someone from my own team. I really, really, don't like the guy.......but I don't dislike him enough to want to see him keep playing and potentially turn himself into a vegetable. My hatred can only go so far before my line in the sand is reached.

[P. Marlowe]

I think it's quite cocky for fans to have opinions on when players should retire. I find it disrespectful. Many of the veterans mentioned here have played over 15 years the game we all love in the best league in the world. It's not our business when they decide to quit. It always made my blood boil when I read other teams fans writing that Chelios, Hasek, Osgood, Draper etc. should retire when they still were productive players.

Some veterans are forced to retire when they can't get a roster spot anymore but Ray Whitney, Teemu Selänne and Nikolai Khabibulin are having great seasons. They are in no hurry to quit.