Mike McKenna Announces Retirement

One of the most well-traveled goaltenders in professional hockey is finally calling it quits. After a 14-year professional career which included stops with teams in Las Vegas, Norfolk, Milwaukee, Omaha, Portland, Tampa Bay, Lowell, Albany, New Jersey, Binghamton, Peoria, Springfield, Columbus, Arizona, Syracuse, Texas, Dallas, Belleville, Ottawa, Vancouver, Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley, Mike McKenna is hanging up his pads. The 36-year old goaltender announced his retirement on Twitter, thanking everyone he has come in contact with over the years.

McKenna was a sixth round pick of the Nashville Predators in 2002 after his first year at St. Lawrence University, and even with an extremely limited NHL career still carved out quite the name for himself in the hockey world. Described as a great teammate basically everywhere he went, the 6’2″ goaltender also performed admirably on the ice. In 35 career NHL contests he had just an .890 save percentage and 7-17-3 record, but he routinely posted strong numbers at the AHL level.

In 2017 and again in 2018 he came close to raising the Calder Cup, reaching the finals with the Syracuse Crunch and Texas Stars in consecutive seasons. Unfortunately he would lose both series through no fault of his own, meaning he would fail to secure a championship throughout his entire career.

McKenna is now known for his social media presence where he often comments on goaltending performances from around the NHL in real time. It’s not clear where his future will take him or if he even wants to stay involved in hockey, but broadcasting seems a natural progression for the journeyman netminder.