Brenden Morrow expected to announce his retirement on Thursday
After 991 games and 15 seasons in the NHL, Brenden Morrow is expected to announce his retirement on Thursday, according to Mike Heika.
To close out his career, the 37-year-old Morrow played all six games of the 2015 Stanley Cup Final as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning, fifteen years after his first trip with the Dallas Stars.
“When you get the opportunity you’ve got to take advantage and don’t have any regrets,” he said before the series with the Chicago Blackhawks. “You can’t just expect to get back there.”
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Drafted 25th overall in 1997, Morrow spent nine games in the IHL before coming up to the Stars for good. He recorded seven 20-goal seasons and hit the 30-goal mark twice. His evolution into a heart and soul player was capped off by one week in 2006 when he inked a six-year, $24.6 million extension and was named team captain, replacing Mike Modano.
Morrow came up big several times for the Stars in the playoffs, like his 2008 series-winning goal in the fourth overtime against San Jose Sharks, his second OT goal of the series:
“That was as fitting as anything I’ve ever seen in sports, that Brenden Morrow got the game-winner,” said then-Stars head coach Dave Tippett. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen somebody have a series like that. That’s him taking the team on his back and carrying us.”
(That series is also remembered for Morrow’s thundering hit on Milan Michalek.)
Dallas would fall short in the Western Conference Final and Morrow finished that playoff year with 15 points and led the Stars in goals with nine.
Morrow’s 835-game tenure in Dallas came to an end in 2013 when the Stars dealt him to the Pittsburgh Penguins. He would then join the St. Louis Blues for the 2013-14 campaign before moving on to the Lightning last season for one last ride.
While Morrow didn’t end up with a Stanley Cup ring, he’ll leave the game with a nice trophy case from his time in junior and representing Canada. Not only did he win a Memorial Cup in 1998 with the Portland Winter Hawks, but he took home gold medals at the World Cup of Hockey and World Championships in 2004 and 2010 Olympics, as well as silver at the 1999 World Junior Championships and 2005 Worlds.
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
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