This week, we saw three players in the National Hockey League make retirement decisions. P.K. Subban, Keith Yandle, and Zdeno Chara, each “franchise defensemen” during their careers, retired from the NHL.
Subban with the Canadiens (Photo: Twitter).
P.K. Subban has decided after thirteen seasons in the NHL to retire. He had a very admirable career, one lots of hockey players looked up to. Being an African American in a predominantly Caucasian league, he showed younger audiences that with perseverance and dedication, anything is possible. He was very thankful to all the organizations he was a part of, including the Montreal Canadians, Nashville Predators, and the New Jersey Devils. In 832 games, he scored 115 goals and had 352 assists.
Yandle with the Philadelphia Flyers (Photo: NHL).
Keith Yandle has retired after 16 seasons in the NHL. Last season, Yandle was on a 989 consecutive game streak. His streak ended when he was scratched by the Philadelphia Flyers deep into the season. Yandle has spoken about retiring before, but he found it to be a difficult process because hockey is all he knows. In Yandle’s record-breaking 989 consecutive games, he scored 103 goals and 516 assists.
Illustration: Boston Bruins
Zdeno Chara is the last to retire. This is an end to his 24-season career. Born in 1977, in Trenčín, Slovakia, he moved to America after being drafted to the NHL. Over his 24 seasons in the NHL, he had many accomplishments and set records. Some facts about him: at 6’ 9”, he is the tallest player to ever play in the NHL; he was the captain of the Boston Bruins when they went to the 2011, 2013, and 2019 Stanley Cup Finals, in which the Bruins won the championship in 2011; and in 2009 he won the Norris Trophy as the best defenseman in the NHL. Charra signed a one-day contract with the Bruins this week so that he could official retire with the team where he spent most of his career.
All three of these defensemen will be missed on the NHL stage as we move into the new age of players. We are coming to the end of an era—who will replace them as legendary defensemen?
