Ron to retire?

Over the past few days, we've seen a number of name-brand players step away from the game.
First,the love-or-hate Scott Stevens of the New Jersey Devils. The 41-year old, who was responsible for many Chuck Bednarik-on-Frank Gifford-like hits, was forced by a karmically appropriate concussion to hang up the skates after 22 NHL seasons.

Vincent Damphousse, who last played with the San Jose Sharks has also called it quits. He scored 432 goals and 773 assists for a total of 1205 points in 1378 NHL games over 18 seasons.

The Buffalo Sabres learned today that 42-year old James Patrick will not be playing any more. After being selected ninth overall in the 1981 entry draft, the defenseman spent 21 seasons in the League, playing for the Rangers, Whalers, Flames and Sabres.

Also, 42-year old Al MacInnis will be quitting after 23 seasons as a defenseman in the NHL. He played with Calgary from 1983 to 1994 and with St. Louis from 1994 until his retirement, which will officially be announced tomorrow. As a defenseman, he put up very good offensive numbers: 340 goals and 934 assists for a total of 1274 points in 1416 NHL contests.

Around these parts, we've been speculating for some time that our beloved Ron Francis would be hanging them up. The 42-year old has tallied 1798 points on 549 goals and 1249 assists in 1731 NHL games. Most of those games were with the Hartford/Carolina franchise. I'm guessing that with this wave of retirements, he'll follow suit and we'll immediately retire the #10 sweater. He has a home here and has said that he wants to live here permanently when he retires. It'd be nice to have him on board with the team in some capacity, but we'll have to wait and see. He is, by the way, an unrestricted free agent. Perhaps a full post on Ronnie Franchise is to come.