TORONTO — NHL players don’t have to worry about Darcy Tucker getting under their skin any longer.
The pesky forward announced his retirement Friday after 14 seasons in the NHL.
One of the game’s most notorious agitators in his prime, Tucker acknowledged his game had changed a little in recent years.
“I was pretty gentle near the end of my career,” said Tucker, who spent the past two seasons with the Avalanche. “I don’t think any of those young guys quite realized what I was like when I was in the heyday. . . . It’s a good time to step back.”
Tucker, 35, played seven-plus seasons with Toronto, where he established himself as one of the best agitators in the game. He had a career- best 28 goals and 61 points in the 2005-06 season with the Maple Leafs. He also had 100 penalty minutes that season.
“I played the game hard throughout my career,” Tucker said. “When you play as hard as I did for the number of years, things start to slow down — the foot speed, everything. It becomes difficult to ramp yourself up to the level that you need to get to.
“I was a competitor throughout my career and I want to be known as that.”
Tucker amassed 215 goals and 476 points in 947 career games with Montreal, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Colorado. He is working to become a certified player agent.
Footnotes.
The Coyotes released center Kyle Wellwood, who played the last two seasons with the Canucks.
• The Hurricanes placed left winger Sergei Samsonov on injured reserve because of a neck injury and said he won’t travel with the team to Europe.
