Hurricanes' defenseman Wesley retires

Glen Wesley, the last of the old Whalers with Carolina, hangs up his skates after 13 seasons with the franchise

RALEIGH -- Glen Wesley's voice broke, but he never shed a tear.

After 20 seasons in the league -- 13 of those with the Carolina Hurricanes franchise -- to go with one Stanley Cup and tireless work selling the game in a market where few thought hockey could survive, Wesley announced his retirement Thursday with clear eyes and a clear conscience.

Wesley, 39, considered retirement after his long wait for the Stanley Cup ended in 2006 and again last summer, but he twice decided to return to the Hurricanes. This time, he said, he ended the season leaning toward retirement.

"It was time to move on and concentrate on my family and my family's future," Wesley said. "I've had a wonderful career, and I feel blessed I've been able to end it on such a positive note."

He will join the franchise's front office, working with the team's defensive prospects. His No. 2 jersey will be retired and join Ron Francis' No. 10 in the rafters at the RBC Center, Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford announced Thursday, to Wesley's obvious surprise.

"As a player, you never envision that happening," Wesley said.

His retirement marks the end of an era in more ways than one. He was the only remaining player who made the move with the Hurricanes from Hartford, Conn., in 1997. This fall will be the team's first training camp in North Carolina without Wesley on the ice.

He ranks sixth all-time in games played among defensemen and 16th among all players (1,457) and is second behind Francis in franchise history (913) despite undergoing career-threatening neck fusion surgery in 2000.

Only a handful of defensemen in the history of the game have demonstrated the same longevity and dedication as Wesley, who came into the league with the Boston Bruins as a high-scoring partner to Ray Bourque and remained in the NHL for 20 years as a reliable defensive stopper and dressing-room leader and mentor.

"I kind of marveled at his preparation," said Francis, who played six seasons with Wesley. "He was always in great shape. He skated really well. Defensively, I don't think he ever got the credit that he deserved for how good of a defenseman he was. ... Probably the most important thing with all of that, he was a great teammate and a better person."

The third overall pick in the 1987 draft, Wesley broke the 40-point mark four times in his first seven seasons in the NHL leading up to a 14-goal, 58-point breakthrough in 1993-94, his final season with the Bruins.

He would never record more than 32 points after the then-Hartford Whalers acquired him for three first-round draft picks in 1994 in Rutherford's first move as general manager, but he became an indispensible part of the Carolina blue line.

"A lot of people criticized what we did, but in my opinion, in order to build a winning team and have a successful franchise, you have to build with character people," Rutherford said. "That was a step to bring in a good player and a good defenseman with great character.

"The thing that made me feel so good about this ride with Glen was to see him hoist that Stanley Cup. That was his goal, to come and help this organization win the Stanley Cup, and he did."

With the Hurricanes, Wesley made four playoff appearances, went to the Stanley Cup finals twice and won the Cup in 2006. Last season, he became the 10th defenseman to play in 1,400 games while playing in his 900th game for the Carolina franchise.

The Carolina chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association twice nominated Wesley for the Masterton Trophy, which honors sportsmanship, perseverance and dedication to the game of hockey, in 2001 and 2008.

"To me, he's the consummate professional," Hurricanes forward Scott Walker said in March. "He's one of the older players in the league, although by no means the oldest, and he works harder than most younger guys."

Active in his church and in the community, Wesley and his family -- he has a daughter and two sons -- were planning to continue to make their home in the Triangle even before he agreed on his new position as director of defensive development. Few players have done more to build the area as a hockey market.

"It was a lot of fun to be able to play here," Wesley said, "especially with the fan base we've grown here in the past few years."