Trent McCleary always seemed like the kind of hockey player who appreciated each and every day he got to spend as a professional athlete. Yesterday, in making his retirement announcement, he was no different.
McCleary, 28, the Montreal Canadiens forward who was hit in the throat by a puck while blocking a shot in a game last January, said ending his career is less difficult because he was never supposed to have had one in the first place.
"Nobody ever predicted me to play professionally. I went through junior and never got drafted and for what people projected me to do I think I did pretty good for myself," he said. "When I phoned my agent and told him I was retiring, he said 'Great career, kid.' You don't realize it, but I did what nobody expected me to do. That's what's most fulfilling."
McCleary was nearly killed last season when he tried to block the shot of Philadelphia's Chris Therien and suffered a complex fracture of the larynx.
Since the injury, he has focused on making a comeback. That ended on Sunday when in his first exhibition game of the year against Boston he found his stamina had not returned.
"All through my training I'd felt it was tougher to breathe, but that's how you train, so it was tough to gauge," McCleary told a packed room that included most of his teammates. "You have to have a benchmark. You never feel good on the first few days of training camp. I felt that would clear up, but it never did.
"In that Boston game there were times where I thought I could beat a guy wide and I couldn't. I had nothing left and I'd been on the ice only 10 seconds."
Following the game, the team doctor told him his condition made it unsafe for him to be on the ice since he might not be able to avoid an opposing player.
"He came to training camp among the fittest players and we did several tests," said Canadiens' physician David Mulder. "In the course of repair Trent is left with a vocal chord which is partially paralyzed and also a cricoid cartridge that is 10 to 15 per cent narrower as a result of the fracture. These two things combined limit his ability to perform as a professional athlete. . . . It was our feeling that he had recovered to the maximum point and this is going to prevent him from playing professional hockey."
Mulder said McCleary was lucky the night of his accident that everything went smoothly in treating him and getting him to hospital. He added that as a result of the accident, emergency procedures around the National Hockey League had been enhanced.
McCleary, who grew up in Swift Current, Sask., and helped lead his hometown junior team to a Memorial Cup in 1993, played seven seasons with the Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins and the Canadiens. He played in 192 games, scoring eight goals and 15 assists.
"I think it's kind of ironic that Trent's trademark was being in top condition and to see him not be able to go up and down the ice, it hurt," said Canadiens defenceman Eric Weinrich.
"It's sad but it's a relief," said McCleary's wife Tammy, who periodically wiped away tears during her husband's announcement. "He knew it wasn't right but didn't know how bad it was. When he got here he passed all the tests but that first game was it."
Tammy wasn't at Sunday's game and could only bring herself to to listen to about five minutes of it on the radio.
"I heard his name on the radio a couple of times and that was enough. I don't know how I would react if I had to see him play again."
McCleary said like many players his life has been so focused on hockey, he hasn't given much thought to a career beyond the game.
"I think you do that but it seems so far in the distance," he said. "I was just trying to get better and was so focused on recovering to play again. Maybe it was a little ignorant of me not to think about that but my focus was on training camp. You don't start thinking about that until basically tonight and tomorrow."
Montreal general manager Réjean Houle said the team wanted to give McCleary some time to adjust but would do what it could to help him with whatever he decides to pursue. McCleary is eligible for one-time disability payments of $220,000 from the NHL and its players association.
McCleary plans to return to Swift Current, where he recently bought the home of former Broncos coach Todd McLellan, another ex-NHLer whose career was cut short by injury. McLellan is now coaching in Cleveland of the International Hockey League.
"I don't want to leave it [hockey]" McCleary said. "It's the one thing I know best."
Notes: The Canadiens signed defenceman Craig Rivet to a new three-year contract on Tuesday. Rivet, 26, accepted the team's final offer of $1-million for this season and $1.3-million next, plus a club option for $1.5-million in 2002. Goaltender Jose Théodoré is the only Canadiens player without a contract. Agent Don Meehan, who represents both Rivet and Théodoré, had a meeting scheduled with Houle for yesterday afternoon. McCleary profile Age: 28 Born: Swift Current, Sask. Height: 6-foot-1 Weight: 185 pounds Uniform number: 6 Year drafted: 1992 Last salary: $350,000 (U.S.) Career: Broke into the National Hockey League with the Ottawa Senators during the 1995-96 season, scoring four goals and 10 assists in 75 games. He spent the next season with the Boston Bruins after being traded for Shawn McEachern but had only three goals and five assists in 59 games. After two years in the International Hockey League, with Las Vegas and Detroit, McCleary landed with the Montreal Canadiens. He didn't crack the lineup much, though, appearing in 46 games (no points) in 1998-99 and in just 12 games in 1999-2000. Legacy: Because of his career-ending injury, McCleary will forever be a catalyst in the debate over proper hockey equipment. It was an odd twist of fate that the slapshot that damaged McCleary's throat was delivered by Chris Therien, whose father Emile is the president of the Canada Safety Council and is a vocal critic of equipment standards in hockey.