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Chicago Blackhawks: Cam Ward announces his retirement from the NHL

By Vincent Parise

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - APRIL 03: Cam Ward #30 of the Chicago Blackhawksstops a shot with his leg pad against the St. Louis Blues at the United Center on April 03, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. The Blackhawks defeated the Blues 4-3 in a shootout. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - APRIL 03: Cam Ward #30 of the Chicago Blackhawksstops a shot with his leg pad against the St. Louis Blues at the United Center on April 03, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. The Blackhawks defeated the Blues 4-3 in a shootout. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /
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The Chicago Blackhawks brought him in to help stabilize their goaltending in 2018-19, and he did a nice job as a stop-gap.

The Chicago Blackhawks got one last solid year out of Cam Ward in 2018-19. On Wednesday he announced he is going to sign a one day contract with the Carolina Hurricanes so he can retire from the National Hockey League as a member of their organization.  He spent 13 seasons with Carolina and was the backbone of some decent teams down there.

In his rookie year, 2006, he led them to the organizations first-ever Stanley Cup. He was so good in the playoffs that he was voted as the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy, the most valuable player in the playoffs. It was an amazing run for him and will go down as the highlight of his hockey-playing career.

He spent his last season as a Blackhawk. He split time with Collin Delia and Corey Crawford and the three of them combined to do a decent job with all things considered. The defense was bad and their penalty kill was the worst in the league so that didn’t help them any, but they did a nice job.

Ward’s Blackhawks career ends with a 16-12-4 record, a .897 save percentage and a 3.67 goals-against average. Those hard numbers don’t look very good but the fact that he was over NHL .500 was all the Blackhawks could ask from the guy who was supposed to be their 34-year-old backup goalie. His career numbers show a .908 save percentage and a 2.74 goals-against average while posting a 334-256-88 record. He recorded 27 shutouts throughout his NHL career.

The reasons his Blackhawks numbers get a slight pass as mentioned before are the defense and penalty kill was awful. At even strength, his save percentage was .912 which is a much higher percentage than his overall save percentage. His short-handed save percentage was a putrid .793 and had a large part in his overall numbers not being great.

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So all things considered, he was a solid backup for the Hawks and a great player for Carolina. He deserves to be celebrated as he leaves the game. It wasn’t easy to do what he did in his career and we wish him the best going forward. Congrats on retirement, Wardo.

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