The painful truth behind Seabrook’s retirement

On Friday, Brent Seabrook was forced to retire from the National Hockey League. He hung up the skates as he’s unable to continue his playing career after 15 seasons due to injury.

“Over a three-month period from December 2019 to February 2020, Brent underwent successful surgeries on both of his hips and his right shoulder,” Blackhawks team physician Dr. Michael Terry said. “He has worked extremely hard to recover from those surgeries but has a long-term issue with his right hip that is preventing him from playing professional hockey. We have tried all available conservative treatments, and nothing has worked well enough for him to live life as an athlete. We support his decision to prioritize his long-term physical health.”

Seabrook met with reporters moments later to explain his tough decision and to reveal the painful truth behind it. 

No one can imagine what the veteran defenseman has been dealing with. He basically has no cartilage in his right hip…

“I felt the best I’d ever felt coming into the training camp for the bubble… I felt incredible, I felt awesome. Skating and training.

It was the Monday before Christmas, I woke up and I couldn’t walk. And it’s been like that ever since.”

“There’s no cartilage in my hip. Lots of arthritis in there…We did a lot of stuff with injections and cortisone…

I told my body to screw off for 15 years, and it finally turned around and told me, ‘I’m not going to do it anymore.’”

The all-time Hawk is now looking ahead to his new future, hoping he can be healthy to spend time with his kids. 

“They’ve talked about a hip replacement. I don’t know if that’s going to be tomorrow or 10 or 20 years from now. My plan is to manage it and live a great life. I want to go skiing with my kids.”

Seabrook is a three-time Stanley Cup champion with the Blackhawks and won a gold medal with Team Canada at 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He is signed through the 2023-24 season at a cap hit of $6.875 million. He took part in 1,114 career games with the team, posting 103 goals and 464 points.

For now, he is excited to see the Blackhawks thriving despite being dealt heavy blows even before the season kicked off. He praised head coach Jeremy Colliton and his teammates for their hard work: "Jeremy's got them firing on all cylinders... The biggest thing is they're all having fun. The last few years have been tough around here. It's great to see."

What a guy! 

We wish him all the best in the future - but mostly - a healthy body.