St. Louis calls it quits after 16 seasons
Martin St. Louis announced his retirement Wednesday after 16 NHL seasons, a Stanley Cup, Olympic gold medal and a handful of individual trophies to show for his career.
The Laval, Que., native was a seven-time all-star who won the Hart Trophy as MVP once and Art Ross Trophy as leading scorer twice. St. Louis also won the Lester B. Pearson (now Ted Lindsay) award as the players' most outstanding player and three times earned the Lady Byng for gentlemanly conduct.
St. Louis went from being undersized and undrafted to one of the most prolific scorers in the past two decades. He recorded 1,033 points on 391 goals and 642 assists in 1,34 games with the Calgary Flames, Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers.
“He's accomplished every- thing he could accomplish in the NHL,” close friend and former Tampa Bay teammate Mike Smith said in a phone interview. “He was an undrafted player who was a little guy that had everything kind of going against him, and he just continued to prove everyone wrong.”
St. Louis helped the Lightning win the Stanley Cup in 2004 and was part of Canada's World Cup-winning team months later. That was the year he won the Hart, Pearson and Art Ross with a league- best 56 assists and 94 points.
“I have been blessed to play for 16 years in the NHL,” St. Louis said in the statement announcing his retirement. “It has been an amazing ride.”
St. Louis was part of Canada's undefeated goldmedal-winning 2014 Sochi Olympic team and finished his career with the Rangers. The 40-year-old was an unrestricted free agent and explained his decision as wanting to spend more time with wife Heather and sons Ryan, Lucas and Mason.