Detroit Red Wing Darren McCarty Retires!

Darren McCarty, seasoned veteran of the NHL with 15 NHL seasons to his credit, longtime Detroit Red Wing and the winner of four Stanley Cups; one of which was bagged with his Stanley Cup winning goal back in the 1997 finals, foiling Philadelphia, and broke Detroit's 42-year drought with a game winning goal as a Red Wing, officially declared his retirement Monday.

In brief, 13 of his NHL seasons were spent with the Detroit Red Wings. He hit the ice for 758 games with 127 goals, in addition with 288 points and racking up a total of 1,477 penalty minutes. Amongst all the penalty minutes he did spend some time hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup up in Joe Lewis Arena in 1998, 2002 and 2008.

All those penalty minutes weren't spent in vain, for one of his most notorious fights was during the epic fight: Darren McCarty vs. Claude "The Turtle" Lemieux, where he preceded to drum the snot out of Lemieux, who ultimately surrendered to McCarty's blow's and "Turtle Headed" as to avoid McCarty's devastating damage.

The Colorado Avalanche, Detroit's arch nemesis had not seen the last of the Red Wings McCarty, and the embarrassment he bestowed on them on a later date when he jukes the turret plagued Patrick Roy, one of the NHL's largest goalies at the time, with his first hat-trick as an NHL player.

McCarty was quoted as saying to the NHL Players' Association, "I'm very proud to have played for as long as I did, with so many great teammates and to have been a part of all those strong teams, especially the four Stanley Cup-winning teams in Detroit,"

This Red Wing bruiser was chosen as their right wing in a 46th overall pick in the 1992 draft and made his NHL debut during the 1993-94 season. Known as one of Detroit's enforcer's on the famous grind-line, playing in 67 games as a rookie and became a favorite of the fanatical fan base of the Detroit Red Wing's infamous "Wing-Nuts." McCarty had also tallied the best in a postseason that tallied 49 points in 174 career playoff games, six of which were game-winning goals placing him on the shoulders of the above mention rabid fan base.

McCarty made like a tennis-ball in a signing back in 2005 with the Calgary Flames, where he then left the Flames only to return to his rookie-roots with Detroit to finalize his fascinating career after only playing in 13 games before becoming a free agent.

In a more elaborate time-line, McCarty's list of accomplishments are listed as follow:

1991-92 OHL - Jim Mahon Memorial Trophy (Top Scoring Right Winger)

91-92 OHL - First All-Star Team

NHL Debut: October 5, 1993 at Dallas

First Point: October 8, 1993 at Los Angeles

First Goal: October 21, 1993 vs. Winnipeg (Bob Essensa - G)

Scored in his playoff debut vs. San Jose on April 18, 1994

Scored game-winning goal :39 into OT vs Colorado March 26, 1997

Scored game-winning and Stanley Cup-clinching goal vs. Philadelphia June 7, 1997

ESPY Award: 1998 NHL Play of the Year

First career natural Hat Trick: Game 1 Round 2 May 18, 2002 against the Avalanche
(Patrick Roy - G)

2003 NHL Foundation Player Award

Stanley Cup Champ:

1996-97 Stanley Cup (Detroit)
1997-98 Stanley Cup (Detroit)
2001-02 Stanley Cup (Detroit)

McCarty said in closing, "It was a great ride. I appreciate what the game has given me and I'm happy with what I was able to accomplish as a hockey player, but now I'm excited for the next chapter."

Any player that can hold his own as McCarty has with brawn as well as brains and his scoring ability throughout his career as a Detroit Red Wing will be dearly missed and doubt that this will be that last Detroit Red Wings will see of him out on the ice, for I predict that a banner with his name and number may sometime grace the rafters of the Joe Lewis Arena sometime soon.

Sources:
http://www.darren25mccarty.com/
The NHL Players' Association