Ryan Getzlaf to retire after 17 seasons with Anaheim Ducks

One of the players of his generation is hanging them up at the end of the season.

Anaheim Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf announced Tuesday that he will retire after the 2021-22 season, calling it a career after 17 years, two Olympic gold medals, and a Stanley Cup.

The Ducks will celebrate their all-time leading scorer in the regular season and playoffs at his final home game April 24 versus the St. Louis Blues.

While Getzlaf's career was most certainly winding down, the announcement comes as a bit of a surprise. The 36-year-old was enjoying a tremendous start to the season for the upstart Ducks, who seemed to be pacing ahead of schedule at the time. He reached the 1,000-point plateau during the resurgence, however an in-season injury helped stymie the momentum in Anaheim, leading to a downturn in the team's overall performance. Understanding that the Ducks were over-achievers in the early going, GM Pat Verbeek was one of the more aggressive sellers at the trade deadline, moving assets for futures at a rate that served as a reminder that the club is still very much in a rebuild stage.

Being non-competitive in recent seasons hasn't necessarily deterred Getzlaf historically, but the opportunity to win in Anaheim isn't likely there next season. Surely, Anaheim's position in the league hierarchy influenced his decision to walk away.

That said, it has always been and always will be Anaheim for Getzlaf, which is special. While there were rumours last season that he could be dealt to a contender, the deadline passed without a trade involving the captain, and he's re-signed for one more season. Though the hockey world would have loved to see Getzlaf in meaningful games either last season or in the following months, he'll have the rare and enviable opportunity to say he wore just one sweater throughout his entire career.

From a team standpoint, Getzlaf's career reached its peak in his second season when the Ducks won the Stanley Cup with Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer and Corey Perry also leading the charge. Getzlaf's first few seasons from an individual standpoint were his most productive as well (with his Hart Trophy-nominated season in 2013-14 being something of an outlier), but longevity was not an issue for the all-time leading scorer in the franchise's history.

Getzlaf had a unique blend of size, strength, power, incredible hands and the ability to move around the ice with ease despite his lengthy frame, and those attributes stayed true through the balance of his career.

His complete package made him a mainstay for Hockey Canada. He played on some of the best teams the nation has ever assembled, including the 2005 World Junior team with Sidney Crosby, Patrice Bergeron, Jeff Carter and Dion Phaneuf, as well as the 2010 and 2014 Olympic teams that captured back-to-back gold medals.

It's expected that Getzlaf will stick with the Ducks in some sort of front office or community role, meaning he can continue wearing those flip flops to work.

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