Mark Messier Retires

[POJO_Risin]

Here's to you Cappy...

After remarkable 25-year career, Messier calls it quits
Sep. 12, 2005
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports

NEW YORK -- Mark Messier was 30 and already a five-time Stanley Cup champion when it was time to leave the hometown Edmonton Oilers.

That was the summer of 1991, three years after Wayne Gretzky's stunning trade to Los Angeles and a year removed from the Oilers' fifth title in seven years. The dynasty was over and Messier was the latest big star about to be shipped out.

Glen Sather, the man who built the team and ran it from the bench during the glory years, asked Messier where he wanted to go. The answer was the New York Rangers, a team that hadn't won a Stanley Cup since 1940.

On Monday, the stone-jawed captain said goodbye, announcing his retirement after a 25-year career and six championships -- including the one in 1994 that ended the Rangers' drought. He is second only to Gretzky on the NHL's career scoring list.

It took only three seasons for Messier to deliver with the Rangers and cement himself as one of the greatest leaders in team sports.

"I knew all the past history of the teams in New York ... but I don't think anything can really prepare you for going to play in New York until you get there," Messier said during a conference call. "I felt that I was fairly confident in what it took to win a Stanley Cup."

Messier embraced the challenge, and when it appeared another chance was going to slip away he pulled a page out of the Joe Namath handbook and guaranteed a victory.

With the Rangers trailing New Jersey 3-2 in the 1994 Eastern Conference finals, Messier promised New York would force a seventh game. He made good on his word by posting his fourth and final playoff hat trick in a 4-2 victory.

New York won Game 7 in double overtime to advance to the finals, which ended with a seventh-game victory over Vancouver.

"He had the biggest influence on my career by far of any player that I played with," said Boston defenseman Brian Leetch, a Rangers player from 1988-2004. "I wish everyone could have had an opportunity to be in the locker room with him and see his dedication to his teammates and to winning."

Messier became a star in Edmonton in the 1980s and a headliner on Broadway in the '90s. But the end of his career couldn't come close to matching the early part. His final seven seasons all finished without a postseason appearance -- three in Vancouver after his first departure from New York and four more in his second stint with the Rangers.

"That is something that is always going to be a disappointment for me, but I think there are so many good things that happened in the playoffs previous to that that it will diminish those feelings," Messier said.

Sather, now the Rangers GM, left room for Messier to come back but talks never got that far.

[POJO_Risin]

On Jan. 12, exactly 37 years after Namath fulfilled his promise and lifted the Jets in the Super Bowl over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts, the Rangers will retire Messier's No. 11 before a game against the Oilers. It will join Rod Gilbert's No. 7, Ed Giacomin's No. 1 and teammate Mike Richter's No. 35.

That will give him a chance to better show his emotions. Messier said he made the announcement on a conference call because, "no one wants to see a blubbering idiot at the podium."

Messier all but said goodbye on March 31, 2004, following the Rangers' final home game before the lockout that wiped out all of last season. He isn't sure he would've played anyway.

In fact, he said the desire to return was stronger now than this time last year. But he leaves in good health and is looking forward to spending time with his young family. He has an 18-year-old son playing hockey in Texas and a 2-year-old child and a 3-week-old baby at home.

"There was nothing left for me to really achieve," the 44-year-old Messier said. "It was time for me to move aside and go into something else."

He doesn't have anything set up yet, but Messier said he is willing to listen to any offers that will keep him closely tied to the game he loves.

"As tough as it was to make the decision, I think it's the right one and I feel good about it," the two-time MVP said.

Messier teamed with Gretzky to win four championships in Edmonton and won another in 1990 without him. The 16-time All-Star is the only player to captain two franchises to the Stanley Cup.

He trails only Gretzky in playoff goals and assists, but topped the Great One by adding the postseason guarantee that took him to heightened status in Manhattan.

"He was an exceptional leader who was unselfish, hardworking and dedicated. He truly loved the game," Gretzky said. "He was the best player I ever played with."

Messier leaves with 1,887 NHL regular-season points, 970 fewer than Gretzky and 37 more than third-place Gordie Howe.

Messier always did things on his terms, and his retirement is no different. After a year off, he wasn't spurred to play again even though he is only six goals away from 700 -- a mark reached by only six players -- and 11 games short of tying Howe's record of 1,767.

He also scored one goal and had 10 assists in 52 games in the WHA with Indianapolis and Cincinnati when he was 17.

"I never thought about any individual records," Messier said. "Coming back to break any records, especially that record, wasn't all that appealing to me."

Edmonton general manager Kevin Lowe, Messier's longtime teammate on the great Oilers teams, tried to convince him to return.

"I don't know that I ever really considered it," Messier said. "I was definitely open to listening to his offers but I knew in my heart that if I was going to play it was going to be in New York."

Messier scored 109 playoff goals, 13 fewer than Gretzky, and set up 186 others -- 74 fewer than Gretzky, now the Phoenix Coyotes' coach.

Their second partnership lasted just one year as Messier left the Rangers for Vancouver as a free agent following a surprising run with Gretzky to the 1997 Eastern Conference finals.

When Sather took over as Rangers GM in 2000 he brought Messier back.

"I think he brought emotion to a different level," Sather said.

[Romeo Delight]

Mess was reason Vancouver didn't win cup in 94 (and Richter)

Although his time in Vancouver was less than stellar, it was amazing to see him play live. As soon as he got possession of puck, it was a thing of beauty to see his vision and effortless skating.

[DlocRoth]

Class act and one hell of a hockey player.

[what waz zat]

Great leader and you could tell he just enjoyed playing the game

[Nickdfresh]

Got to respect a guy that can play that long at such a consistently high level.

I once went to a Capitals vs. Rangers game in DC. I was with a girl that didn't like hockey and didn't care. But she was an active cyclist and volleyball player when she was in high school, so she was a jock (with a nice, fit body I might add). When Messier came out, she remarked how he "seemed to control the game and was better than the other players," or something to that effect.

[Nickdfresh]

A little joke here:

One night, in the mid-eighties, WAYNE GRETZKY is banging his girlfriend doggy style. He remembers that he has no rubber on, so he pulls out and cums on her back.

She turns around and says, "Oooh! Messy-eh?"
And GRETZKY says, "Noooo, it's WAYNE!"

[Matt White]

Mess is a true hockey legend....GRATE career....

Wow..Mess, Stevens & MacInnis......

Changing of the Guard in the NHL.......

[Bob_R]

FYI: Only player to be a Captain on two Stanley Cup winners.

[Vinnie Velvet]

Finally.

He should've hung em up five years ago!

Because since then he's had injuries and so on and wasn't the same Messier from the 80s and early 90s.

But a great run, no doubt.

He was a left handed shot, and there was NO ONE who could speed down the right side of the rink and let go a rist shot that fooled many goalies over the years.

It was the vintage Messier goal.