A Prince George Cougars’ legend is hanging up his skates.
Dan Hamhuis announced on TSN 1040 Vancouver radio today (Aug. 13) he’s retiring from professional hockey after 16 seasons in the NHL.
BREAKING: As per his @TSN1040 interview, @PGCougars’ alumni & co-owner Dan Hamhuis is retiring. The 37-year-old defenceman from Smithers, B.C. played 1,148 NHL games over 16 years, recording 356 points with NSH, VAN & DAL | #CityOfPG @PGMatters pic.twitter.com/LwjClGSZ3c
— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) August 13, 2020
The 37-year-old played 1,148 games as a defenceman between three clubs, the Nashville Predators, who drafted him 12th overall in 2001, Vancouver Canucks and the Dallas Stars, recording 59 goals and 356 points since he stepped onto the big stage in 2003.
"I’m happily going into retirement now from hockey and I feel really at peace with it," Hamhuis told TSN hosts Matt Sekeres and Blake Price this afternoon (Aug. 13).
“I’ve put a lot of thought into it for about the last five or six years kind of wondering when my last day of hockey might be and I paid attention to a lot of guys that I played with and how they went out. Watching Henrik and Daniel [Sedin] do it what they did a couple of years ago [...] they had a pretty good sense it was going to be their last year and talking to a lot of people, they say that, if you have that option, it’s a real luxury to be able to go out on your own terms. That’s what I wanted to do at the start of this past season. I thought I wanted to make that decision just being my age, and the age of my kids was a huge factor in that as well. I didn’t want to close any doors at that time so I was kind of in between one-third coming back to play for the Predators if a contract was available, one-third retiring and one-third giving my family a cool experience and going to play hockey in Europe. When February came around this year, it just kind of felt a little more clear to us.”
Dan Hamhuis has announced his retirement from the @NHL after 16 seasons.
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) August 13, 2020
Congrats on an amazing career, Dan! Thank you for letting us be a part of your story. 💛#ForSmashville | #Preds pic.twitter.com/Pzv5cPIXWG
Happy retirement, Dan. Thank you for the memories! pic.twitter.com/DSnH5eEdVF
— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) August 13, 2020
He suited up his entire junior career for the Cougars from 1998 to 2002, combining for 156 points in 247 games and earning the WHL and CHL top defenceman awards in his final season along with conference and league first-team all-stars.
The Smithers product is currently one of six co-owners of northern B.C.'s WHL franchise.
Hamhuis represented Canada on eight occasions, including a gold-medal victory over Sweden at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.
He has six other international medals to his extensive resume, including two World Championship golds (2007, 2015) and two silvers (2008, 2009), and a World Junior Championship silver (2002) and bronze (2001).
Though he never won a Stanley Cup, he went to the Finals with Vancouver in 2011, where he tallied six points in 19 playoff games with a +5 rating only to lose to Boston in Game Seven.
This past year, Hamhuis played 60 games for the Predators and recorded just eight points, all assists in that span.
He made the 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers roster in the Edmonton bubble, but never played a game in Nashville's play-in series against Arizona.
