After 14 seasons in the NHL former Devils captain Bryce Salvador has decided to call it a career.
.@NHLDevils captain @BryceSalvador is retiring today. He went through hell to get here: http://t.co/lDZXijqVK5 pic.twitter.com/CJpidZElTq
— The Players' Tribune (@PlayersTribune) September 2, 2015The 39-year-old has suffered several serious injuries over the last few seasons from concussions to most recently dealing with nerve damage and a bulging disc. Since the beginning of the 2010-11 season Salvador has played in just 176 regular season games and been forced to sit out 200.
Obviously it is tough to give up hockey but Salvador plays a very rugged, physical style and at this point his body can't hold up anymore. It just doesn't make sense to risk suffering another serious injury or re-aggrevating something and dealing with that the rest of his life.
Injuries aside I still think Salvador would have been smart to walk away from the game. He hasn't been very effective in recent years and at 39 it's not going to get any better.
As you can see Salvador's HERO chart isn't overly impressive. He can't score and he hasn't been good at a) generating shot attempts or; b) preventing shot attempts over the last three seasons.
Salvador was once an effective player and he had a long NHL career he should be proud of. In saying that - due to injuries and a decline in play - I think he's walking away at the right time.
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