Adam McQuaid, A 2011 Champion With The Bruins, Announces Retirement From NHL
BOSTON (CBS) - Adam McQuaid, a longtime defenseman with the Bruins who helped the team win the Stanley Cup in 2011, has officially announced his retirement from the NHL.
"I guess technically I would say today is probably the first time that I would say that I'm done, publicly, but I guess I've known for awhile now that I wouldn't be playing again," McQuaid told Shane Ross of CBC News. "It got to a point where I felt like I really kind of tapped out my body."
McQuaid has not played in a game since March 2019 when he was with the Columbus Blue Jackets. His last game, which was against the Montreal Canadiens, saw him exit with an injury that turned out to be a herniated disc in his neck.
The now 34-year-old began his NHL career with Boston in 2009 and played nine seasons with the team.
He helped the Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks in an exciting seven-game Stanley Cup, ending the team's 39-year championship drought.
READ: Adam McQuaid's Best Moments With The Bruins
Two years later, he scored the game-winning goal in Game 4 of the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins, which propelled Boston to another Stanley Cup Final.
"Those Stanley Cup runs, the atmosphere, coming to the rink and that'll be something no matter what I do I'll never be able to replicate the energy and the intensity of those games and those moments and those experiences. I've got a smile on my face right now thinking about having got to experience those," McQuaid said to Ross.
McQuaid ended up being traded from the Bruins to the New York Rangers in 2018. He was later dealt by New York to Columbus.