Jeremy Roenick — one of the NHL’s greatest players and arguably the best American-born player in league history — retired this summer after 1,363 regular-season games and 154 playoff games with the Chicago Blackhawks, Phoenix Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks.
This past week, NESN.com had the pleasure of catching up with Roenick via phone, and unlike two summers ago when he first contemplated retirement, Roenick couldn’t be happier with his decision to hang up his skates.
“It is everything I thought it would be and hoped it would be,” Roenick said of retirement as he drove from Phoenix to San Diego with his wife earlier this week. “I am playing a lot of golf, relaxing, putting time into businesses that I started and spending a lot of time with my wife and kids. It has been absolutely fantastic, and I am enjoying every second of it.”
That might not have been the case had he followed through with retirement the first time it crossed his mind. After the 2006-07 season, Roenick was a free agent and due to injuries, age and the salary cap, the phone wasn’t ringing for his services. After a long, successful career in which he played a fearless, team-first game, sacrificing his body and subsequently battling many injuries, was this how it would all end?
“That time, when I first started thinking about retirement, it was out of spite,” he admitted. “I felt I wasn’t getting the respect that I thought I deserved. I wasn’t being treated as I should have with the career I had behind me. Late into July and early August, it was more of a spiteful thing, and it wasn’t that I was planning on retiring. It was just that I just didn’t give a crap. It was more of a frustration than anything, and I am glad I pulled away from that whole mentality in my life and my view on my career.”
Just when it seemed like the end for Roenick, an old friend and mentor called and asked him if he still had some hockey left in him. Doug Wilson, who is now the Sharks’ GM, offered Roenick one more chance in the NHL. When Roenick first came into the league with the Chicago Blackhawks, he was paired up with Wilson as roommates on the road. The veteran defenseman mentored the young star-in-the-making, and Roenick credits him for the player and person he became. Ironically, just as it seemed the career that Wilson helped form was about to end, Wilson helped save it and facilitate the proper ending.
“I was really fortunate to have Doug as a mentor when I was younger,” Roenick said. “To spend time with him as an 18-year-old — whether it be as a roommate or just at dinner or on road trips or sitting next to him in the locker room — he talked a lot to me about being a hockey player, and living through the rigors of expectations and pressures that were very apparent to athletes.
“Then for him to be there in the end when your career appears to be sputtering down to a crashing halt, and he offered that job, and that job is the job that changed the end of my career and changed me, the person, is something I’ll never forget. It was nice that he respected me and my career enough to offer me a chance to redeem my passion, myself and my respectability around the league. He wanted me to go out that way and thought I deserved that opportunity and that respect.”
Roenick had a solid first season in San Jose in 2007-08 but battled injuries this past season and finally realized his body had had enough. But this time, he was able to make that decision, and having that option is something for which he will forever be in debt to Wilson and the Sharks.
“Being able to play those final two seasons in San Jose really put back that respect, that love and that passion for the game that I had for so many years,” Roenick said. “I was able to retire on my own terms and my own time, and I wasn’t pushed out. I decided to leave, and that means a lot to me.”
Roenick and the Sharks held a news conference on Aug. 6 to announce his retirement. He praised the Sharks and his family for putting it together but admitted getting through the day was a lot harder than he thought it would be.
“I felt really good after the press conference, and I thought it was a good presser,” he said. “The Sharks did a great job putting together a great cast, and getting the media involved. Thanks to my wife for getting [Chris] Chelios and [Mike] Modano to attend. But it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Emotionally, I thought I would breeze right through, but it was much more difficult than I thought it would be.”
So now what for one of the most prolific American players of all time? Roenick has always been known as a boisterous, shoot-from-the-hip person. Could a career in broadcasting be right around the corner?
“I am not sure where my path will lead yet,” Roenick said. “I am sure I will have a lot of opportunities, offers and scenarios to pick and choose from. Whether it is involved with the team or the league or broadcasting, I don’t know right now. [Gary] Bettman called and asked if the league can do anything for me or, if I wanted to get involved in the league, to give him a call. That was really nice of him, but I declined for now. I am sure a lot will be available. But for now, I am going to enjoy my time and my family, and if I jump into something, it is going to be well thought-out and well planned, and it is going to be the right thing for my family and me.”
Though it may be a while before he steps behind the mic, Roenick still has plenty of advice for Bettman and the league. Never one to bite his tongue when it comes to criticizing the game, he still thinks there is plenty of work to be done before the NHL becomes a mainstream professional sport again in the United States, and because of that, Roenick believes it is time to bring more teams back to Canada where the game will never struggle.
“The NHL has a tough hill to climb,” Roenick said. “They have 60 percent of the league in the States, and that being said, most of the population of the fans in the States have so many other options with baseball, basketball and football and even UFC. The league really has an uphill battle being behind those sports, especially baseball and football, which most people consider the national pasttimes.
“They need to connect to the fans more and also stop censoring the game so much. You never see anyone get up during a fight do you? So why all the talk about getting rid of it? Crazy! Hockey players are also the easiest guys to relate to. They mostly come from hardworking, middle-class families and they usually are down-to-earth guys. Yet the league never markets that. Why aren’t there more commercials featuring hockey players? The league needs to start spending more on this. Until they find a way to connect with people showing the personalities of the players which are probably similar to most hockey fans and even the non-hockey fans and general public, they will fail.”
Roenick admitted this may not happen for a while, and because of that, the time is now for the game to go back to its roots — in Canada.
“I think we’ve reached that point where we have to get more teams up there,” he said. “It is where the passion really lies in the game. With the state of the economy here in the States, it is almost like the economy is just as strong, if not stronger, there, and maybe in the near future, they will be able to afford teams up there unlike before.
When it comes to selling tickets, the interest and passion is up there. I think even if you put it in a location that has a limited population, you would still get the 19 or 20,000 coming, because all they would want to do is go see the hockey games. One of my regrets is I never played for a Canadian team, and that is why. The passion up there, the buzz, to play in Toronto or Montreal, would’ve been amazing.”
Spending most of his childhood and high school days in New England, in Connecticut and Marshfield, and playing for Thayer Academy, one team Roenick always wanted to play for was the Boston Bruins. He almost fulfilled that dream in the summer of 2001, when he was an unrestricted free agent.
“Oh yeah, I always wanted to play for the Bruins growing up around Boston and watching all those great teams there,” Roenick recalled. “Well, I almost did in 2001. I was a free agent, and it was between them and the Flyers. The Bruins actually offered me more money, but I chose Philly because I thought they had a better chance at the Cup. At the time, they [the Bruins] had Billy Guerin there, and he wanted an extension. I am a good friend with Billy, and if they gave him that extension, I would’ve signed there to play with him for the next few years. They wouldn’t do it, so I chose Philly.”
Roenick still has plenty of ties to the Boston area. He just opened a golf course in Pembroke, where he lived while playing at Thayer. Roenick is the new owner of the Pembroke Country Club and plans on spending lots of time there in the near future.
“I always loved that area and have plenty of friends there still,” Roenick said. “I remember getting my skates sharpened by Bob Ahola in his basement. Still, the best sharpener to this day. I miss him. Growing up there shaped me as a person and a player. The hockey scene was always great, and it’s just a great area.”
So for the foreseeable future, J.R., as he is affectionately known, will split time between New England and Phoenix playing plenty of golf. He does want to eventually be part of the game again. Whether it’s in management with his former team, the Blackhawks, or broadcasting is yet to be determined. But hockey is part of him and always will be.
“I definitely think I’ll be involved in the game full-time again, but I’m just not sure how yet,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to be connected to the Blackhawks again somehow because in my mind I’m always a Blackhawk. That’s where I made my mark and had my start. I don’t know. But all I know is I’m happy. I’m at peace with the way my career went and ended.”
