Former Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid announces his retirement from professional hockey at 34

Today, former Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid announced that he was retiring from hockey after a 12 season career, spanning three teams, but almost all of those seasons with the Boston Bruins. He cited a herniated disk in his neck as the final straw, and that he wanted to focus on a new chapter of his life as a father to his son Roman, as he explained to the CBC.

The PEI native joined the Bruins organization in 2006, where he spent three years as a member of Providence, before finally breaking into the NHL in 2009. He scored his first goal for the B’s and his first NHL goal against the Canadiens in February of 2010, and of course, won the 2011 Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins. He would end up finishing his career playing over 500 games, and amassing 72 points over that time.

McQuaid of course, was never a defenseman known for his scoring prowess, and more for his incredible toughness; able to both dish out punishment and also, far more critically, take it, earning him the nickname “Darth Quaider” from the Boston faithful. McQuaid took an absolutely unbelievable amount of harm over the course of his career, and as it wound down, he often found himself on the injured reserve list, but he’d always come back ready to do work on Boston’s bottom pairing.

For his part? Adam McQuaid doesn’t seem regret anything about how his career has gone, and continues to have good memories of life as a Bruin, as he himself explained:

“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.”

As for what he’ll do next, he’s made it clear he’s planning on returning to PEI, and maybe getting his son acclimated to island life.

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Congrats on a wonderful career, Adam McQuaid, and enjoy the fruits of your retirement!