nieuwendyk retire??

I dont have any information that says hes going to retire this year, but to me it seems like it would be the right time to go out. He just won the stanley cup andit it looks like he is having back problems. I think he might retire this year...let me know what you think.

I think that Joe doesn't care what I think.

But I hope he hangs around for a few more years.

Since he is a free agent, I assume he would at least put his name out there and see who bites and how much. With three Cups, Joe could be the perfect guy to make an underachieving, young team better. (End Islander fantasy mode.)

It's widely asuumed -- he has more or less said as much -- that he would like to end his career in Toronto, but whether that can arranged is unclear.

What Mike is suggesting might make sense, but very few pro athletes seem to go out on top. Most seem to hang around as long as they can (as long as someone is willing to pay them), which is usually past their prime. I don't blame them really. Even aside from the money (and Joe stands to make a heck of a lot of cash if he plays another couple years) there's the thrill of top level competition in a sport that you love. If it were me I'd keep playing until they threw me out of the rink. Although I have other problems with the guy, I really respect Rickey Henderson for playing ball in an independant league this year, playing for peanuts, just because he loves to play baseball.

Sometimes players will quit earlier in order to spend mroe time with their families. No idea if this applies to Joe.

While working on a long-overdue clean-up of my memorabilia file drawer, I came across Hockey News and SI articles written mid-way through Joe's rookie NHL season. A few tidbits for those whose memories may have dimmed or who were not yet into Cornell hockey at the time (1987-1988):

-Joe's 51 goals his rookie season put him in the company of only Mike Bossy (53) and Wayne Gretzky (51) as first-year players to hit 50. (Gretzky was technically not a rookie because of his WHA experience.)

-Among Joe's 32 goals scored in the first 42 games that season were four hat-tricks, two of them four-goal games.

-Among those who lost out to Joe for the Calder Trophy that year were team-mate Brett Hull, #1 draft-pick Pierre Turgeon, Ray Sheppard, and Hobey-winner Tony Hrkac.

-Joe was 21 years-old as an NHL rookie--"normal" for a would-be college senior.

-SI made specific mention of Joe's job on the power-play "to plant his 6' 1", 175-pound frame in front of the goalie and go for rebounds and deflections." How times have been changed by the weight room!

-Joe's Cornell coach, Lou Reycroft, was quoted in SI as saying: "By then [Joe's junior year], Joe was the best college hockey player I had ever seen."

-In both the Hockey News front-page picture and one of the SI pictures, Joe is sticking out his tongue while shooting or tipping the puck. It must work, but I'm surprised he hasn't lost it to a well-timed check.



Post Edited (06-15-03 11:49)

[Q]Among Joe's 32 goals scored in the first 42 games that season were four hat-tricks, two of them four-goal games.[/Q]

He followed that up with one of the relatively few 5-goal games in NHL history in his second season.

IIRC, Joe either led the league in ppg his first year or finished second to Tony Cicarrelli.

[Q]Joe is sticking out his tongue while shooting or tipping the puck. It must work, but I'm surprised he hasn't lost it to a well-timed check.[/Q]

He is also sticking it out on most (if not all) of his hockey cards from his first three seasons. At some point early in his career he did have it cut badly, and has since withdrawn it.



Post Edited (06-15-03 12:15)

Unfortunately, Selanne blew past the rookie goal-scoring record a few years later ... 1993 I believe.

Greg wrote:

IIRC, Joe either led the league in ppg his first year or finished second to Tony Cicarrelli.

Wasn't that Dino Cicarrelli, or were there more Cicarrellis that I don't remember?

Sully '00 wrote:
Wasn't that Dino Cicarrelli, or were there more Cicarrellis that I don't remember?

Well, there was Art Ceccarelli, but he was a pitcher.



Post Edited (06-16-03 09:50)

[q]Wasn't that Dino Cicarrelli, or were there more Cicarrellis that I don't remember?[/q]

Yep, you're right. According to the IHDB, there was a Mario who was a goalie, but no Tony.

Adam Wodon wrote:
Unfortunately, Selanne blew past the rookie goal-scoring record a few years later ... 1993 I believe.

You beat me to it. 92-93, a staggering 76 goals.