Another NHL tough guy decides to retire

We all know times have changed in the National Hockey League… In the 2018-19 season, the NHL had fewer than 200 games with a fighting major, marking the first time in the modern era that the total dipped that low.

This is a new era.

And it’s also a new chapter for tough guy Zack Stortini, who has decided to retire from the NHL. The 33-year-old has ended his 14-year professional playing career to join Sudbury Wolves as an assistant coach.

Fresh off a Calder Cup championship with Charlotte of the American Hockey League, the Carolina Hurricanes’ top minor-league affiliate, Stortini might have been able to continue as a player, but decided the time was right to move on.

Stortini is a former third-round pick of the Edmonton Oilers, who has 257 NHL games, as well as 603 in the AHL in his career. He was known to be a hard-noser and to be a fighter. He played all but one game with the Oilers, and notched 41 points along the way.

In his NHL debut with the Oilers against the Calgary Flames, Stortini received a ten-minute misconduct penalty in the third period of his first game.

Check out some of his fights: