At 5'9", Paul Kariya was clearly not the biggest fish in the pond, but when everything was right, he was one of the best offensive weapons in the NHL in the late 90's and early 2000's. Then the hit by Scott Stevens in the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals changed everything and he was never quite the same player afterwards. And it is due to the concussions suffered over the course of his career that he had to retire yesterday. With 402 goals and 989 points, Kariya retires as a point a game player (on the dot), but there are questions that will remain, such as could he have reached 500 goals had he not been injured late in his career. In his 15 year NHL career, he was the face of the Mighty Ducks before Teemu Selanne claimed it in his second go-around with the Ducks (and he could be playing one more year, at least), was the Lady Byng Trophy winner twice for most gentlemanly player, and before the NHL, was a Hobey Baker Award (best collegiate hockey player) winner while at Maine in 1993 and played for the silver medal winning Canada team in the 1994 Winter Olympics. An incredibly talented player whose talents were marred by injuries, we'll never know just how great he truly was.
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