Today Carolina Hurricanes’ forward Justin Williams announced that he will be taking a break from the NHL and will not start this upcoming season for Hurricanes. Williams played in all 82 games for the ‘Canes last season, in which he produced 23 goals and 30 assists. He then appeared all 15 of the team’s playoff games, through which he tallied four goals and three assists. Drafted 28th overall of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft by the Philadelphia Flyer, Williams has played in 1,244 career NHL games, over which he has recorded 312 goals and 474 assists. The 37-year-old right wing spent the past two seasons with Carolina, and he served as the team’s captain last season. He had previously spent two full seasons and two half seasons with the team, which started when he was traded to them from the Philadelphia Flyers midway through the 2003-04 season. He then spent another two and a half seasons (not including the lockout season, which he spent over in Sweden) with them before he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings midway through the 2008-09 season. He has played for a total of five organizations over his 18 season NHL and North American professional career (meaning, not including the lockout season spent over in Sweden).
This news came a quite the surprise to many who weren’t expecting to see that on their Twitter feeds this morning. However, while it was surprising because of that, it’s not shocking he’s stepping away for a bit given his age. The longer he went without a contract this summer, the more likely it seemed that he would be retiring, at least to me. But, he is NOT officially retired, he just said that’s he’s stepping away for a little bit because he’s “unsure of his aspirations with regards to hockey”. I see this as a similar situation to what happened with Mike Fisher and the Nashville Predators in 2017-18, except unlike Fisher, Williams did not say he was officially retiring. If Carolina is doing well around the trade deadline, I think he’ll sign a contract and join the team for their playoff run, and then he’ll most likely officially retire at the end of next season. If not, I bet we see him announce that he is officially retiring from the game around that same time. But, I’m guessing Carolina will do well this season and he’ll be back for one more run.
I admittedly don’t know much about Williams as a player and I don’t want to just reiterate something someones else has already said, so I won’t get into that. However, I do know that he’s a big game player, earning the nickname “Mr. Game 7”, and that he was an overall great player and a phenomenal leader, and he was also a good guy off the ice. He was front and center of the ‘Canes resurgence and return to the playoffs last season, and he was a huge part of growing their audience and making them relevant again, as he was behind the idea of the Storm Surges. He was really invested in growing the Hurricanes’ fan base, and he truly loves the game, so you know this was a tough decision for him and that he really isn’t sure what he wants, because he never would’ve stepped away otherwise. Should this be the end of the line for him, I offer my sincere congratulations on a great career, Justin!
Hockey Addict 