Ducks notes, part I: Hedican close to retirement.
from Sunday's Ducks notebook, which didn't make it to the web in every market...
The Ducks head into the offseason with about as many bumps and bruises as you'd expect following 13 gritty Stanley Cup playoff games.
The most serious injury, however, belongs to a player who didn't appear in the postseason: Bret Hedican. A bad back caused the 38-year-old defenseman to miss the last 19 games of the regular season, plus both playoff series, and he is close to retirement.
"I can say fairly confidently it's time to move on in my life," Hedican said. "I think I've taken my body to the end of the road as an NHL defenseman."
Hedican was unofficially retired when he signed with the Ducks in October. He was thrown into an integral blue-line role when Francois Beauchemin suffered an ACL injury in November.
Hedican finished with a goal and six points in 51 games, but said Saturday "the coach and teammates didn't get to see me play at the level I can play.
"I knew I could help (in the playoffs) if I was healthy. That was the thing that was very difficult for me to get through."
Center Petteri Nokelainen confirmed he suffered a broken hand early in Game 7 against Detroit, and is probably going to have surgery within a week. Forward Erik Christensen said he will have surgery as soon as possible to repair a torn labrum that he played with all season.
About J.P.
J.P. Hoornstra has been covering the Anaheim Ducks since 2007. Eight months after the University of Wisconsin won its third NCAA hockey championship, he was born in a frigid Madison winter. He betrayed his blue-blooded beginnings by graduating from UCLA in 2003, and welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey.
Leave a comment