Alec Martinez is hanging his skates up.
The former Golden Knights defenseman played his final game Saturday as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks and will be retiring after 16 seasons in the NHL.
“Just very thankful, very appreciative,” Martinez told CHGO Sports analyst Darren Pang before Saturday’s 5-4 shootout loss to the Winnipeg Jets.
Martinez, 37, signed a one-year, $4 million contract with Chicago last offseason after playing 221 games with the Knights.
The Michigan native came to Las Vegas in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings in February 2020 for two second-round picks. He turned into a vital piece of the Knights’ blue line and helped the team win its first Stanley Cup in 2023.
It was the third championship of Martinez’s career, after he won titles with the Kings in 2012 and 2014. He delivered the game-winning goal in overtime to clinch the 2014 Cup for Los Angeles in Game 5 against the New York Rangers.
Martinez, listed at 6 feet, 1 inch and 210 pounds, was known throughout his career for putting his body on the line in pursuit of wins. His teammates often called him “warrior” for the punishment he endured. He led the NHL in blocked shots with the Knights in 2022-23 with 244, the sixth-highest total for a player in a season since 2005-06.
Martinez also played through numerous injuries. He skated with a broken foot the entire 2021 playoffs and returned from a scary facial laceration the following season.
“I know injuries derailed some of the games played accomplishments, but he was a guy who if he was able to play, he was in there,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “He ate pucks every night, did a lot of the dirty work. Great teammate, guys loved him. Great veteran guy for the coaches.”
Martinez, before returning to T-Mobile Arena on Feb. 27 for the first time since his departure, called his Knights tenure “some of the favorite times and years of my career.”
“I certainly look back on my time here fondly,” Martinez said. “Very appreciative of the organization of things they did for me in some of my scary injuries and what they did for me, the money they spent, the time, all that to try to make me feel somewhat normal again.”
Martinez, a 2007 fourth-round pick by Los Angeles, finished his career with 88 goals and 289 points in 862 games for the Kings, Knights and Blackhawks.
Contact Danny Webster at [email protected]. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
