Montreal Canadiens defenseman Chris Wideman retires from hockey

The former NHLer decided to call it a career.

On Tuesday, Montreal Canadiens defenseman Chris Wideman announced his retirement from professional hockey.

Wideman hasn't played at all this season, as the lumbar disc problems that plagued him last season were enough to keep him out of the lineup in September.

In an interview with Simon-Olivier Lorange La PresseWideman said the injury has affected his personal life.

“My son was about 25 pounds,” Wideman said. “I managed to hold it in my hand for more than a minute without discomfort.”

Although Wideman wanted to continue playing the game he loved, he realized he needed to leave to help himself improve.

The St. Louis native struggled through the 2022-23 season, playing just 46 games and recording six assists with the Canadiens. Wideman arrived in Montreal as a free agent in July 2021 and played 110 games with Montreal, scoring four goals and collecting 33 points during that time.

He made his NHL debut on October 17, 2015 with the Ottawa Senators, who selected him in the fourth round of the 2009 NHL Draft. Wideman spent his first three seasons with the Senators and was traded to the Edmonton Oilers in November 2018. A month later, he was traded to the Florida Panthers.

Following the 2019 season, Wideman spent the 2019–20 season with the San Diego Seagulls of the American Hockey League. The former University of Miami product has been selected to play for Team USA at the 2021 IIHF World Championship. In the same year, he scored 41 points in 59 games with Torpedo of Nizhny Novgorod and was named the best defenseman of the Kontinental Hockey League.

Wideman played in 291 NHL games, scoring 20 goals and adding 58 assists, playing 15 games in the 2017 Eastern Conference Finals with the Senators in the playoffs.