Canadiens defenceman Chris Wideman retires from hockey
After missing the entire 2023-24 season with a back injury, Montreal Canadiens defenceman Chris Wideman has made the decision to hang up the skates.
Wideman announced the news that he would not be returning to professional hockey in an article on La Presse, a French media outlet based in Quebec.
"The 34-year-old veteran has not lost hope of one day getting rid of the pain with which he has been dealing for more than a year. But he is under no illusions: he will no longer play in the NHL. When his contract expires on June 30, he will retire." Simon-Olivier Lorange of La Press said.
Wideman told Lorange that he played last season with lumbar disc problems and it started to affect his daily life at home, including with normal activities such as picking up his son.
"My son weighed around 25 lbs and I struggled to hold him in my arms for more than a minute without discomfort," Wideman said.
He went on to add, "I reached a point where I couldn't continue. I talked with the medical staff about what my life after hockey could look like if I didn't stop. There were a lot of doubts about how it would affect me in the long run. When we started talking about it, it became real. Life is long after a career ends."
Later on in the article, Wideman got emotional when discussing how far he's come in his career. Wideman said that going through the difficult moments, including pain, sleepless nights and demons, was worth it.
"I look at where I end up, and even though there were so many difficult moments, I can still say that it was worth it,» he concludes. All the difficulties, the pain, the sleepless nights, the doubts, the demons It was quite a fight. But it was worth it." Wideman said.
Wideman, 34, was drafted in the fourth round, 100th overall by the Ottawa Senators in 2009. The St. Louis native appeared in 291 games in the NHL across parts of six seasons with the Ottawa Senators, Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers and Montreal Canadiens where he had 78 points (20 goals, 58 assists), 252 penalty minutes and was a minus-27.
Source - La Presse: The end of Chris Wideman's 'eventful journey'
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