December 6, 2006
Nieuwendyk calls it a career TheFourthPeriod.com
Florida Panthers veteran Joe Nieuwendyk has been forced to retire due to a flurry of recent back problems.
According to the South-Florida Sun-Sentinel, Nieuwendyk informed his teammates of his decision in what he described as a "pretty emotional meeting" before practice Wednesday.
Sources within the Panthers organization have told TFP that the team is expected to make a formal announcement as early as tomorrow.
Nieuwendyk, 40, has played in just 15 of Florida's first 29 games, because of injuries, notching five goals and three assists for eight points.
"I have the reached the stage where structurally my back isn't going to get any better. It's not the way I intended it, but I have to be realistic as well, " Nieuwendyk told the Sun-Sentinel.
The native of Oshawa, Ontario has accumulated 564 goals and 562 assists for 1,126 points in 1,257 career NHL games with Calgary, Dallas, New Jersey, Toronto and Florida.
Nieuwendyk has won the Stanley Cup on three separate occasions with Calgary (1989), Dallas (1999) and New Jersey (2003).
He was originally drafted by the Flames in the second-round (27th overall) of the 1985 NHL Entry Draft.
