COLUMN: All the players I watched growing up are retiring and it's making me sad
Aug. 18—As a Penguins fan, I've never really cared much for the Boston Bruins. But dang, the recent retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci have really gotten to me.
Both players could still be playing if they really wanted to, but the 37-year-old Krejci and 38-year-old defending Selke Trophy champion Bergeron have hung up their skates.
And it's got me thinking about all the players I watched growing up and how they are all retiring. Not just in the NHL, but in sports overall. Is this what getting old is like?
While my NFL knowledge is limited, I know that this upcoming season will be the first without Tom Brady (thankfully) in years. Love him or hate him, he finally joins guys from his era like Drew Brees, Calvin Johnson, Adrian Peterson, JJ Watt and Ben Roethlisberger.
Going back to hockey, there are so many examples that I can think of guys who I grew up idolizing and collecting hockey cards of who are now retired.
Not to turn this into a list but I'm talking— Henrik Zetterberg, Ryan Getzlaf, Joe Thornton, legends Patrick Marleau and Jarome Iginla, the Sedin twins, Dustin Brown, Duncan Keith, PK Subban, Keith Yandle, Hendrik Lundqvist, Craig Anderson, Zdeno Chara and many others I'm sure I'm missing. Oh, and add Bergeron and Krejci to this list now too.
For the Penguins specifically, don't even get me started on Patric Hornqvist, James Neal, Pascal Dupuis, or my favorite player of all time — Chris Kunitz. I'll cry.
Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and three-time Stanley Cup champion Phil Kessel are still currently sitting in free agency and may be forced to retire as well. Shea Weber, Carey Price, Jakub Voracek and Gabriel Landeskog may never play again. Dang.
My main observation with this, other than that it stinks, is that this will only continue. It's not like a one and done emotion where you can rip the bandage off and all those players you grew up watching are rightfully in the Hall of Fame.
Rather, it's a slow process where you watch Aaron Rodgers or Eric Staal somehow convince a team that they still have some gas left in the tank and sign another contract. There's no "one year" where it all ends and Patrick Mahomes and Connor McDavid can fully take over.
I've avoided talking about the elephant in the room until now — so let's get to who is left in the NHL. That being the magnificent trio of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin.
Ovi and Geno are 37 and "Sid the Kid" just turned 36.
I'm not going to get into how much these three players mean to me and so many other hockey fans. They have defined a generation of hockey and these three will go down as some of the greatest players in the history of not just hockey, but professional sports.
The day will come when the Penguins Twitter admin posts a long "statement from Sidney Crosby" because Sid doesn't use social media, and I'm going to ball my eyes out.
Retirements like Bergeron and Krejci really get me thinking about the careers of my favorite athletes. And as a Penguins fan, I'm blessed to not only have seen Crosby, Malkin and Kris Letang in the past, but also that I have the chance to see them some more before they're done.
Like I said in my Erik Karlsson column, I encourage all of yinz to go see these guys before it's too late. But not just Crosby and Malkin against Ovechkin. But to see guys like Marc-Andre Fleury, Steven Stamkos, Nicklas Backstrom, Joe Pavelski, Brad Marchand, Anze Kopitar, Jordan Staal and the inevitable return of Jaromir Jagr before it's too late.
Owen Krepps can be reached at 814-724-6370 or at owenk@meadvilletribune.com.
