Adam Foote To Retire After 19 NHL Seasons

Added on Apr 08, 2011 by J Merrill in

NHL

It’s one thing when your current and old teammates rally around you when you retire, but its a whole different situation when your coaches do the same. Colorado Avalanche’s veteran defenseman Adam Foote is set to retire at the close of the season, and to me its telling that his old coaches have so much praise for him. Foote played in the NHL for 19 years, and won two Stanley Cups, and earned himself the reputation as being one of the best defensemen in the league.

Foote has been out of the game since March 16 with a leg injury, and although he isn’t playing in Dallas on Friday night, the Colorado Avalanche are hoping he will be able to play the season finale against Edmonton on Sunday.

Dallas coach Marc Crawford coached Adam Foote for 4 seasons, from 1994-1998, and has nothing but fond memories of Foote. Crawford said “I just so appreciated how hard Adam played. He was a huge part of our shutdown defense pair of him and [Alexei] Gusarov. They could play against anybody.” He also went on to say how quick Foote always seemed on the ice.” He concluded “What I always liked about Adam was his foot speed. He could stay with anybody. As the years have waned on, it’s been encouraging to see his competitiveness has remained the same.”

Avalanche coach Joe Sacco echoed the same feelings as Crawford, but Foote will always have a special place in the heart of Sacco. He said coaches can only dream of having a leader like Foote on the ice, and a lot of the time it was like having an extra coach on the ice. He said “As a head coach in this League, he was the only captain that I’ve had. I thought that Adam demonstrated really good leadership qualities. He was a good extension of the coaching staff in what we wanted to implement. There’s no question that in his day, he would certainly be regarded as one of the better shutdown defensemen in the League for a long time. He had an outstanding career. There’s really not much else to say.”

Sacco also said that whether Foote will play on Sunday is a day by day thing, and he certainly hoped that Foote would be able to take the ice for one last time. Sacco said “I’m hoping that he can play Sunday. That’s the goal right now. He won’t play tomorrow but hopefully, he’ll be ready to go on Sunday. We’ll know more when we get back tomorrow and on Sunday.”

Foote has also earned the respect of his teammates, and whether they played with Foote for a long time, or a short time, they all talk of their respect for Adam. Milan Hejduk, who has not only played with Foote, but also played against him said Foote did everything a hockey player could ever dream of. Hejduk said “He’s had a hell of a career, a huge career. He accomplished everything he ever wanted. He won the Olympics, won a couple of Cups. There’s not much more to ask for. At some point it’s got to end, and I guess it’s time.”

Hejduk also said that although he was a great guy to be around, but when the puck dropped and you were wearing a different color jersey than him, things weren’t as fun. He concluded “On the ice, he was really competitive. He was very tough to play against. I remember in the old days, he was just abusing guys. It was definitely not fun to play against him, especially in the playoffs. He was a huge part of this club and a great guy off the ice — lots of fun to be around. He’ll be missed.”

Although the second year player Matt Duchene hasn’t played with him for more then two seasons, he certainly knows more about Foote then most players. Duchene has been living in Foote’s basement since he came to the league, and he has nothing but respect for the all-star defenseman. He said of Foote’s impact on him, “He’s been huge. He’s in a group of three or four people that have been huge in my career. I can’t thank him enough for letting me live with him. He was hard on me a lot of times, but it was always for my own good. It was good to play with him. Anytime anyone gets to play with a guy like that, you’re going to learn something.”