NHL pause ends Justin Williams’ career?

The veteran NHLer reflects on his incredible career and talks retirement

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
NHL pause ends Justin Williams’ career?
Zuma Press

With the NHL season officially on pause several prominent veteran players are pondering their playing future. Players like Justin Williams, Joe Thornton, Zdeno Chara, Mikko Koivu and Patrick Marleau, what happens with them? Do they return next season? Do they hang up the skates for good?

Williams, captain of the Carolina Hurricanes, was on Pierre LeBrun’s “Two-Man Advantage” podcast yesterday and got a bit emotional when talking about whether or not he’ll retire this offseason.

Check it out:

”Right now, that’s what’s going on with me, I’ll be comfortable - certainly not happy - if the season doesn’t progress. But confident in the fact I’ll be okay regardless. If that was my last game, which I really don’t want to think about it, then that was my last game and I’ll deal with it. It would be awful, but there’s a lot worse things out there. Life will go on. But I want to play some meaningful hockey games (this season), that’s what I came back to do, that’s what I love doing.”


For what it’s worth, the Hurricanes are currently in a Wild Card playoff spot and are slated to face the Washington Capitals if the league were to go directly into the Stanley Cup Playoffs once the season resumes. The Hurricanes, again for what it's worth, managed to get past the defending Cup champion Capitals in last season's playoffs. 

If this is indeed the end for Williams, he’ll go down in history as one of the most clutch playoff performers of all time. There’s a reason he’s known as “Mr. Game 7”. He is tied with Glenn Anderson for most Game 7 goals in history at seven, and is the all-time leader in Game 7 points. Put bluntly, the guy is just a pure winner. 

He’s put up 320 goals and 797 points in 1264 games split between the Hurricanes (twice), Capitals, Los Angeles Kings and Philadelphia Flyers. More impressive though is his 50 goals and 101 points in 155 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He’s a three time Stanley Cup champion (’06 Hurricanes, ’12 Kings, ’14 Kings) and a Conn Smythe (’14) winner.

For the full interview with Williams, check out the link below: