NHL veteran Aaron Ward announces retirement
Aaron Ward thought he was prepared for retirement and that he had thought through it all, but when he finally made the official announcement, he found himself still unprepared for it. The 37-year old announced his decision to end his stellar NHL career this year on Tuesday, August 24th.
“I was sitting at breakfast with my wife (Kelly) and we were talking about it,” the defenseman said. “It's like getting married. You can talk about doing it all you want, but you never know how it feels until you actually do it.”
It wasn’t entirely his decision, though. He has been plagued with a knee injury this off season and underwent surgery again. The NHL Players’ Association announced in a statement earlier that following the surgery, Aaron would not be ready to play before the season begins. Considering his situation, it makes sense that Aaron would announce his retirement.
Aaron said that with the injury it was the right time. “I don’t think it would have been a good situation to come back.” Aaron also said that his family played a part in the decision to retire. He said that he had missed seeing all three of his kids when they started to walk adding that “it will be good to be at home more.”
Aaron was a stay-at-home defenseman and didn’t take part in the offense as often as other defensemen do. In his career, he has scored just 44 goals with 107 assists. His career high in goals came in the 1994-95 season with 11 goals and 24 assists. It wasn’t his offense that guided his NHL career, it was his defence, and in that, he was among the best the NHL has to offer.
In his 13 season NHL career, Aaron has won three Stanley Cup titles. Two of those titles came back-to-back with the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and 1998, and a third in 2006 with the Carolina Hurricanes. Aaron is a veteran of over 800 NFL games.
The start of his NHL career wasn’t smooth, though. Picked 5th overall in the first round of the 1991 draft, Aaron had to fight a long drawn out battle to earn his place in the NHL. Initially drafted by the Winnipeg Jets, Aaron was traded to Detroit in 1994 where he made his NHL debut with the Red Wings. He clashed many times with the Detroit General Manager and coach Scotty Bowman for a permanent position in the NHL. Aaron never proved to be the kind of prospect that many expected him to be, but no one could ask more from a professional ice hockey player.
Although he didn’t win any championship titles with the Boston Bruins, Aaron maintains that playing for Boston was one of the high points in his career. “I never had more fun playing in a city without winning anything than in Boston,” Aaron said. He said that the Boston team was a close-knit bunch and that it was fun being a part of the ‘rebirth of the Bruins.’ “Everyone was so excited,” he recalled.
His career on the ice might be at its end, but in one way or another, he will continue to be associated with the sport. Aaron is expected to continue his career as an analyst for broadcasters. He has already spent time with Versus and TSN as an analyst. Although hoping to see Aaron inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame might be pushing it a bit, but a career as a coach is certainly an option for the accomplished defenseman.
In the statement announcing his retirement, Aaron said that he was proud to have played for as long as he did with the NHL, adding that the game had left him with many fond memories over the years, especially winning the Stanley Cup with Carolina and Detroit. “Thank you to my family, fans, friends and teammates for all of the great years.”
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