Fan favorite Darcy Tucker calls it a career
For Darcy Tucker, there wasn’t the feeling that your life has suddenly gone into semi-suspension that sometimes accompanies the retirement of athletes.
Tucker announced his retirement after 15 fiery years of NHL hockey Friday looking firmly ahead to a new challenge.
“I think I’ve got a good knowledge of the game and I’d like to pass that along to younger players,” Tucker said Friday as he hung up his skates.
The word quit was never in his vocabulary as a player, so while Tucker left the game of hockey, he immediately entered his new life as a player agent.
The 35-year-native of Castor, Alta., said he will dive right into a new venture — Turning Point Sports Management — with long-time agent Carlos Sosa.
“As we speak,” Tucker said Friday, referring to the fact he’s already in conference calls with young players, even while he announced his retirement.
The transition to player rep couldn’t be quicker, but Tucker has been thinking about this new venture ever since the phone stopped ringing with offers for NHL employment.
That was a grim proposition. He spent eight seasons in Toronto, then had his contract bought out in 2008 as the Brian Burke era took hold with the Leafs, aimed at creating a new hockey culture in Toronto.
“It’s been in the works the past couple of weeks,” Tucker said. “I wouldn’t say it was overly difficult, every player has to go through it in his career.”
So, in facing the inevitability of every career, Tucker came to grips with the end of a 15-year career that saw him score 215 goals and 476 points.
He played in Tampa, Montreal, Toronto and Colorado, but it was in Toronto where his intensity was amplified. He became a fan favourite, a player who was loved and hated, a so-called agitator, and a fixture in the community.
His critics were many, but he was a difference maker too: three of his six 20-goal seasons came in his eight years as a Leaf.
“I’m always going to say what the game did for me,” Tucker said. “I was very fortunate to play on two of the original six teams in Canada, but playing in Toronto was a huge thrill for me and probably defined me as a player.”
Leaf fans have a host of Tucker memories. Most poignant was the seven-game, Islanders-Leafs quarterfinal playoff series in 2002. Tucker’s infamous hit on Mike Peca was part of the uproar that was that series, and the Leafs were forced to change hotels on Long Island after receiving death threats against Tucker.
Ultimately, Tucker and the Leafs prevailed in that series, and several others they probably shouldn’t have won. In the same fashion, Tucker was always at the heart of the Leafs success, even though his skill package said he probably shouldn’t be.
“Leaving the Leafs was a big disappointment to me,” Tucker said. “Not winning a Stanley Cup there was a loose end.”
It’s all come to an end now, but Tucker is already completing the paper work needed to be a certified agent under the NHLPA.
It’s somewhat of a full circle career wise now for a player who grew up on a cattle farm in Castor, and left home at age 14 to enter junior hockey.
“I don’t think there are many people in this business who have the knowledge and experience I do, and I want to pass that along to younger players,” Tucker said, adding that he went down a tough road just to get into the Western Hockey League, then wound up winning three Memorial Cups.
“I had a big decision to play college or junior hockey. I wasn’t drafted into the WHL, I kind of came out of nowhere, I had someone making videos of me with a hand held camera just so I could get my name out there. I can pass along that advice, that you can still succeed even if you don’t have the most talent or come from the best team.”
http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/nhl/mapleleafs/article/869703--darcy-tucker-calls-it-a-career