Say it isn’t so, Captain Joe.
But sadly it looks like it is. Joe Sakic reportedly is set to retire.
The remaining piece of past Colorado Avalanche Stanley Cup teams, is reportedly calling it quits after 20 NHL seasons.
Yesterday, the club announced Joe Sakic will make a “special announcement regarding his hockey career” Thursday in a news conference at the Inverness Hotel — and multiple reported sources said Sakic will announce his retirement.
“He is a top-10 player of all-time,” said Mark Rycroft, former Avalanche teammate of Sakic. “He is also the greatest clutch scorer of all time.”
The 13-time All-Star has been the face of the Avalanche franchise since its 1995 Denver arrival, and for 20 seasons Sakic has been one of the leagues elite talents.
Sakic turned 40 yesterday and after speculation that he may return for one more season died down, it looked as though his retirement was imminent over the past couple weeks.
“There has never been such a mellow, more down-to-earth guy who is also a super star,” Rycroft said. “And he was like that always.”
Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Patrick Roy helped bring Colorado its first professional sports championship in 1996, and the trio helped build an NHL dynasty that kept the club competing for championships for nearly a decade.
Sakic’s brilliant career included two Stanley Cup titles (1996, 2001) and an Olympic goal medal for his home country Canada in 2002.
He also won the Conn Smythe Trophy as Stanley Cup Playoffs MVP in 1996.
“There is nothing that he hasn’t done in hockey,” Rycroft added.
If Sakic does retire, Colorado now has to figure out how to replace the man responsible for 13 years of winning hockey in Denver.
But Rycroft said it won’t be easy, and added: “[Mario] Lemieux, [Wayne] Gretzky, Sakic — some guys you just can’t replace.”
Sakic is the Avalanche’s all-time leading scorer with 625 goals and 1,641 points in 1,378 games.
