NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Forward Vernon Fiddler is retiring from the NHL after playing 877 games over 14 seasons in the league with four different teams.
Fiddler announced his decision Wednesday in a story for The Players' Tribune.
The 5-foot-11 center says he thought the New Jersey Devils would be his final team when he signed during the 2016 offseason. But Fiddler wrote that Nashville general manager David Poile and Devils GM Ray Shero, who launched his professional career, worked out a trade sending him back to the Predators where he started in the NHL.
Fiddler says coming full circle was special with the Predators' run to the Stanley Cup Final a "perfect way to finish my career."
He finished with 104 goals and 261 points and also played for the Coyotes and Dallas.
Avalanche: Hejduk's No. 23 to be retired in January ceremony
DENVER -- The Colorado Avalanche will retire the number of forward Milan Hejduk in a January ceremony.
Hejduk played all 14 of his seasons with Colorado and helped the Avalanche to a Stanley Cup title in 2001. He finished with 375 goals and 805 points in 1,020 games.
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The 41-year-old Hejduk will have his No. 23 raised to the rafters on Jan. 6 against Minnesota. He becomes the sixth Avalanche player to have his sweater retired, joining Joe Sakic (19), Peter Forsberg (21), Patrick Roy (33), Adam Foote (52) and Ray Bourque (77).
Sakic, who's now the team's general manager, described Hejduk as a "quiet leader who led by example and always represented this organization and himself with class."
Hejduk was selected by Quebec in the fourth round of the 1994 draft.
