Henrik Zetterberg is “done playing hockey”

As the Red Wings look forward to a very interesting 2018-19 season, it just get even more interesting. As predicted by many, Henrik Zetterberg is officially done playing hockey.

Per Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press, General Manager Ken Holland announced today that Zetterberg is completely done playing the sport. His injuries were not able to fully recover for the upcoming season and he has called it a career.

Zetterberg has served as the Red Wings captain for the last six seasons, ever since Nicklas Lidstrom retired. Now, it is his turn to retire and have the captaincy go to someone younger – but not for a while. Rumors are that they will be waiting a couple seasons and not rush into naming a new captain right away, out of respect for Zetterberg and what he meant to this franchise.

He has not missed a single game in the last three seasons; giving it all and not holding back trying to recover from his back injury sustained back in 2014.

The Conn Smythe-winning center has played a total of 1082 games for the Red Wings, scoring 337 goals and 623 assists for an astounding 960 points for his career. You simply do not see players end their careers with almost a point-per-game anymore.

He never dipped below an average time-on-ice of 19 minutes since the 2005-06 season – he means so much to this club on and off the ice. There is no doubt about this.

For the current team, Zetterberg is going to be placed on long-term injury reserve, so there is no worry about a cap recapture penalty.

Per CapFriendly, the assumption is that the Red Wings will first place Johan Franzen on the off-season LTIR that allows them current relief. Then the first day of the season, they will place Zetterberg on LTIR and have his $6,083,333 cap off the books. So there will be hurdle to leap over to build a team for the upcoming seasons.

Every single Red Wings fan and hockey fan alike will miss watching Henrik Zetterberg play. He was simply a presence for this club and that will not be matched for a very long time.

From being a 7th-round, 210th-overall draft pick, to becoming a franchise legend – Henrik Zetterberg will always be a captain of the Detroit Red Wings.