The long and winding road has come to an end for long-time Red Wing Darren McCarty, who announced his retirement on Monday afternoon. McCarty, a 37-year old right-handed winger who was born in Burnaby, British Columbia, was part of four Stanley Cup Red Wing teams during his 15 year career. He spent his time mostly in Detroit, but he had other stops in Calgary as well as the Flint Generals in the IHL and Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL.

McCarty played 758 regular season games in an NHL uniform and had 127 goals and 288 points total. He was better known as being an enforcer than playmaker, having racked up 1,477 penalty minutes. He had 23 goals and 49 points with 228 penalty minutes in 174 playoff games. While not a goal-scoring machine, he was the one responsible for scoring the Stanley Cup-winning goal against the Philadelphia Flyers in 1997, officially starting the Red Wings dynasty that had been building for years.

McCarty contract was not renewed by the Red Wings for the 2009-10 season, and he remained an unrestricted free agent. After little to no interest in his services, McCarty chose to retire. He has already begun to make the transition from the ice to the cameras as an analyst for NHL games on Versus and NBC. His experience as one of the league’s premier enforcers lends some credibility to his future in broadcasting, and his insight into the grittier aspects of the game will be welcome to fans nationwide.

The game of hockey itself is shifting to a smaller, faster kind of player; one who can do damage with a puck rather than damage to a body. McCarty’s style of hockey is becoming extinct, as enforcers are receiving less and less minutes each night and their roles are being reduced to simple heavyweight battles after puck drops that may or may not fire up their teammates. McCarty, who played a level slightly above this stereotype, is getting out of the game at the right time, and will now be remembered as one of the last great enforcers of our era.