Canadian Brendan Shanahan retired from the NHL on Tuesday, ending a brilliant 21-year career that may be remembered as much for what he did for the game away from the rink as for his accomplishments on the ice.
A fierce competitor, the 40-year-old leaves the ice as the 11th leading goalscorer on the all-time list (656) with three Stanley Cups and a trophy case full of individual honors.
“I would like to thank my family and all of the friends who have helped me achieve and maintain my childhood dream of playing in the National Hockey League,” he said in a statement.
“I am enormously grateful to all of my coaches and team mates I’ve had the privilege of learning from and playing alongside of, throughout my career. While I always dreamed of playing in the NHL, I can’t honestly say that I would have ever imagined that I’d be this fortunate and blessed,” Shanahan said.
His greatest contribution, however, may have been organizing what became known as the “Shanahan Summit” during the 2004-2005 NHL lockout, bringing together many of hockey’s greatest minds to find ways to make the game more attractive.
It sparked a number of rule changes and improvements that helped open up the game — bringing back speed and creativity to a sport plagued by clutching, grabbing and fighting.
“I think the game is as good now as it ever has been in the form of speed and skill and the rules that allow the players to play, the rules that allow the game to be entertaining for the fans,” Red Wings general manager Ken Holland told NHL.com.
“Some of the suggestions they made coming out of that summit are things ... implemented into the Gary Bettman/Colin Campbell rules package that really has opened up the game,” Holland said.
Taken with the second overall pick in the 1987 NHL draft by New Jersey, Shanahan started as well as finished his career with the Devils and in-between had stints with the St Louis Blues, Hartford Whalers, Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers.
A rugged power forward, Shanahan is the only player in the NHL to accumulate at least 600 goals and 2,000 penalty minutes.
One of the NHL’s all-time great clutch performers, Shanahan ranks fifth with 109 game-winning goals, while his 237 power play goals are also tied for fifth.
An eight-time all-star, he appeared in the playoffs in 19 of his 21 seasons.
Shanahan is also one of only 22 players, and one of just four Canadians, in the “triple gold” club of players who have won the Stanley Cup and Olympic and world championships.
“There weren’t a lot of the players in the game that were big and strong and could score and was tough,” Holland said.
“You had a guy on your team that’s a physical presence with a scoring touch. He could go into the hard areas, he had a weapon of a shot. He provided a lot of different dimensions. I think that’s what special players do, they provide more than one dimension. He was a star player that had different dimensions,” Holland said.
RSS