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Report: Sakic to retire Thursday thumbnail

Report: Sakic to retire Thursday

July 7, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

It looks like it’s the end of the road for Joe Sakic. One of the greatest players of our generation appears to be ready to call it quits.

According to TSN, the Colorado Avalanche have called a 3 ET press conference this Thursday where he’s expected to announce his retirement after 20 seasons spent with the Quebec/Colorado franchise. It’s also been posted on their official team site.

If it really is happening, then the NHL is losing one of its classiest and best superstars. In 20 seasons after being drafted by the Nordiques 15th overall in the 1987 Draft, all Sakic has done is become the all-time franchise leader in games (1,378), goals (625), assists (1,016) and points (1,641)- placing eighth on the all-time NHL scoring list.

We’re talking about one of the most amazing careers. Ironically, the classy Nordiques/Avs captain just turned 40 today. The Burnaby, British Columbia native also holds franchise playoff marks in games (172), goals (84), assists (104) and points (188).

That includes two Stanley Cups (1996, 2001) with him following up a Conn Smythe performance in a ’96 sweep of Florida by leading Colorado to the second in seven games over defending champion New Jersey- topping off a special season in which he won his only Hart (54-64-118, +45 in 82 GP) by posting 26 points (13-13-26) which paced all scorers.

Not only was Classy Joe a two-time Cup winner and 13-time All-Star elected to the first All-Star Team three times but he also helped lead Team Canada to its first men’s hockey Olympic Gold medal in 50 years at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games- posting four goals and three assists for seven points including scoring twice in Canada’s 5-2 championship victory over Team USA, garnering MVP honors.

He truly did it all also taking home 2003-04 All-Star Game MVP after netting a hat trick in the Western Conference’s victory. Not surprisingly, Sakic’s also a former Lady Byng winner (Most Sportsmanlike) winning it in 2000-01 along with the Cup, Hart and Pearson. When it comes to one of the brilliant hockey careers, there just isn’t anything he didn’t accomplish. If he played mostly in the shadow of bigger superstars Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman and Jaromir Jagr, it didn’t go unnoticed. For him to still win regular season MVP the year Super Mario returned beating him out along with Jagr proved just how special a player he was.

Consider too that when he first got to Quebec, they weren’t that good finishing dead last in the old Adams Division five consecutive seasons (1987-88 thru 1991-92) becoming one of the worst teams. Before he officially became captain in 1992 supplanting Mike Hough, Sakic demonstrated true leadership ripping into former 1991 No.1 overall selection Eric Lindros, who spurned the Nordiques holding out to eventually force a trade to both the Rangers and Flyers. Yes. This really happened. An arbitrator eventually ruled in the Flyers’ favor allowing Quebec to get back a king’s ransom that included future star Peter Forsberg and checking center Mike Ricci along with Ron Hextall, Chris Simon, Steve Duchesne, Kerry Huffman, two first round picks (Jocelyn Thibault, other traded) plus $15 million. The Ranger offer was John Vanbiesbrouck, Doug Weight, Tony Amonte, Alexei Kovalev and three first round picks (’93, ’94, ’95) plus $12 million.

Here’s what Sakic said about the odd situation prior to the arbitrator ruling in the Flyers’ favor:

“We only want players here who have the passion to play the game. I’m tired of hearing that name. He’s not here and there are a lot of others in this locker room who really care about the game.“

Once the Lindros situation was behind them, Quebec began to turn it around with Sakic leading them back to the postseason in 1992-93 for the first time in six years. After missing the following season, they returned to the playoffs in a shortened 1994-95 boasting the East’s best record earning the No.1 seed. However, they were eliminated by the defending champion Rangers in a hard fought six-game first round series. It was the final time they’d call Quebec home with the team being sold where they were relocated to Denver, becoming the Colorado Avalanche.

There, they went onto become Stanley Cup champs- defeating President’s Trophy winners Detroit in a grueling six-game series that featured an ugly incident between Claude Lemieux and Kris Draper with the former Devil checking the Detroit pivot from behind leading to multiple injuries (concussion, broken jaw, broken cheekbone, broken nose). Following the series, the Avs swept the underdog Panthers with Uwe Krupp’s triple overtime goal giving the franchise its first championship. Fittingly, Sakic led all scorers with 18 goals (six game-winners) and 34 points to win playoff MVP.

During their Colorado years, the Avalanche went onto become one of the league’s signature franchises winning eight divisions (nine dating back to Nordiques 1994-95), two Conferences and two Cups, also making the postseason the first 10 seasons in the Rocky Mountains with the streak finally ending in 2006-07. Under Sakic’s leadership, they failed to qualify only twice since 1993-94.

This past season, Sakic was hurt most of the season due to a herniated disc only playing in 15 games while still posting a respectable two goals and 10 assists for 12 points. There was hope he’d return for one more season due to Canada’s participation in the 2010 Winter Games which will be played in Sakic’s backyard at Vancouver. Unfortunately, that won’t happen nor will their first round pick Matt Duchene- who idolized Sakic- get the chance to play with his hero.

It truly is the end of an era. One for a player we won’t soon forget with the Hockey Hall of Fame awaiting.

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