The only permanence in the NHL is impermanence

In the scope of the 105-year history of the NHL, there have been 7,623 different players who have stepped onto the ice in the world’s best league. In the scope of hockey’s history, one career seems rather small.

For some, they get to pull the sweater over their head as an injury replacement or a late season call-up as the team rests its starters. No matter what though, that one game goes into the history books and they can always say they played in the show.

That’s what made Monday’s confluence of events so unique. By 10AM Monday morning, three of the league’s most recognizable names for the last decade announced they’d no longer be pulling a sweater over their head in the NHL.

In no easy terms, the retirement of omnipresent figures like Zdeno Chara, PK Subban, and Keith Yandle is a haunting reminder of the passage of time. Even in the relatively low-stakes world of professional sports where the stakes are a trophy awarded to the winner of a child’s game, the lingering existential doom still exists.

The fun of sports is the collective communal experience. Getting to share in something bigger than one’s self provides a type of release that just doesn’t exist alone. Having Chara, Subban, and Yandle all hang it up on a single day is a sad reminder that some of those communal experiences are gone to history.

Feeling time go by is only natural in sports, roster attrition is used as a plotline to sell the sport. The iron will of hockey’s competitors to overcome overwhelming odds just to make it to the league is steeped in its blue-collar tradition regardless of the tax bracket today’s NHL players reside in.

The three defensemen combined for 3,623 games in the NHL. Now those games, all those memories, they’re just numbers in a box score on an online database.

The power of nostalgia

There’s a running joke on social media that all men like to do when they hang out is talk about “some guys” they remember from sports. The more obscure or outrageous said guy’s contribution to the sports lexicon, the better reaction elicited.

First of all, very true. Second of all, I think there’s something poetic about that collective experience. Transporting back to youth when sports were purely about winning and losing to argue with friends at school at any opportunity speaks volumes about the role of sports in adolescent development.

That’s what “remember some guys” is all about. It’s not to remember the seven NHL games forward Chris Mueller played for the 2014–2015 New York Rangers. It’s about going back in time for a brief moment and reflecting on the value of sports in life.

Nostalgia is used as a crutch in every walk of life. Tony Soprano famously once said “‘remember when’ is the lowest form of conversation,” and I don’t think the departed mob boss was wrong.

But, sports nostalgia is woven into the fabric of its identity. In establishing why the sport matters, it needs an establishing myth, a foundation of value. The lore within a sport is what makes the fans progressively more rabid with time.

It’s not exactly a secret that there’s no such thing as a casual hockey fan. The sport’s ability to turn even the most upstanding rational individual into a stark raving lunatic is unmatched. The rational end of that lunacy manifests itself in “remember some guys.”

The end of an era

There’s no other way to put it, the trio of Chara, Subban, and Yandle retiring all on the same day feels like a turning of the page in a book being written somewhere. The three all were amongst the best players at their position for the better part of the last decade.

To be frank, I’ve never known of an NHL without Chara’s gangly reach patrolling the blue line. My earliest memories of the league come from the 2005–2006 season when he was still in Ottawa. Chara’s pre-eminent Norris trophy contender status despite his unusual frame was a testament to his craft.

There are plenty of oversized defensemen in the NHL who move with the nimbleness of a baby deer learning to walk. Hell, Chara, even at 45, still skated better than Logan Stanley of the Winnipeg Jets even if he wasn’t particularly fast.

Finding the right word to describe the career arch of Subban is tricky. At one point, the former Devil, Predator, and Canadien was the best defenseman in the league with explosive skating and a wicked slap shot that could put a hole through a brick wall.

Of course, he was a part of the most infamous 90 minutes in NHL history when the Canadiens traded him to Nashville for Shea Weber. That Predators team did make a Stanley Cup finals appearance but ultimately lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

As time went on, Subban’s lower body injuries accumulated and he lost his explosive skating ability. Instead of Subban adapting to his mobility restrictions, he continued playing like he had elite recovery speed and his defensive prowess took a dive.

When it comes to Yandle, he was the face of the improbably good Arizona Coyotes teams early last decade that made multiple deep playoff runs. As time went along, Yandle’s bad defense became a running bit but his puck skills were enough to get by.

This past season as a member of the Flyers, Yandle produced one of the funniest plays in the history of the NHL.

The last word

Aside from Yandle’s moonlight as a Ranger for a year and a few months, none of these three defensemen had a particularly large impact on the day-to-day of my hockey life.

Yet, Monday morning when I read the news I felt an overwhelming wave of sadness hit. Both as a hockey fan and as a person. While none of the three made a particularly large impact on my life, the impact they had on others is why it felt like such a watershed moment.

Chara, especially during his time in Boston, was known for being one of the best leaders in the entire sport. His understanding of power dynamics within the locker room produced some of the most thoughtful answers about leadership I’ve ever heard in the NHL.

Subban’s contributions to the community at all three of his NHL stops, including his $10 million donation to the Montreal Children's hospital in particular stands out. I mean Subban ended the season of Rangers forward Sammy Blais last season with a questionable play and here I am feeling remorse for his retirement.

Yandle’s cameo during the Lundqvist era endeared him to me personally. I mean, I have a game-worn Yandle jersey from the 2015 season hanging in my closet. He was a symbol of the Rangers’ consistent effort to throw shit at the wall come trade deadline in hopes of winning a Stanley Cup.

And of course, selfishly, the retirement of this trio means that I myself am getting older. What sports mean to people is more important than the sports themselves. The passage of time is merciless and landmark events like Monday represent clear points of demarcation.

Foolishly, it always seemed like Chara, Subban and Yandle would always be around. It’s a perspective that erodes with life experience. No matter how much something seems permanent, it’s only as permanent as a situation allows.

Even in the make-believe world of professional sports where the real-world consequences are minimal, you get reminders about that real world. And that’s why we’ll keep playing “remember some guys” in perpetuity.