Mr. Clutch Calls It A Career

Today marks a sad day in NHL history. Joe Sakic, Mr. Clutch himself, is hanging up the skates and is moving on. He has been a franchise player first through the Quebec Nordics and then when they moved to Denver to be the Colorado Avalanche.

Many people don't realize, unless you watched those amazing playoff series between Detroit and Colorado or Dallas and Colorado in the nineties, when the Aves needed a goal Sakic scored that goal. Whether it was overtime or minutes left in a game, you can bet the winning goal came off of Joe Sakic's stick. He had 105 career game winning goals (including playoffs) and a NHL record of 8 playoff overtime goals.

Sakic had one of the best wrist shots ever. "For twenty years, I tried to shoot the puck like Joe and was never able to do it," Steve Yzerman said in a interview on the NHL Network. It was fast and hard and goaltenders had little chance of stopping the puck when Sakic was on his game.

Sakic's resume includes 2 Stanley Cups. He is 8th on the NHL All-Time list for points (1641), 11th on the NHL All-Time list for assists (1016), 14th in NHL All-Time goals (625), 7th on the list for NHL All-Time playoff goals (84), 3rd All-Time NHL playoff goals in a single season (18) and 13 NHL All Star game selections.

Sakic had six 100+ point seasons, nine 90+ point seasons. He was captain of the Aves for 17 years (16 consecutive). It is an impressive Hall of Fame resume.

We are going to miss you Joe. I am just glad I stayed up all those late nights to see your overtime winning goals, even if I was tired for school the next day. It was worth it. I also had a chance to see you in Salt Lake in the Olympic gold medal game, it was a game for the ages and Sakic was clearly the best player on the ice in that tournament. Good luck Joe to all of your future endeavors.