ANAHEIM, Calif. — A source requesting anonymity says defenceman Scott Niedermayer will announce his retirement from the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.
The source says Niedermayer will retire four months after serving as the captain of Canada’s gold medal-winning team at the Vancouver Olympics.
Niedermayer, 36, is the Ducks’ captain and a four-time Stanley Cup champion with New Jersey and Anaheim. He has 172 goals and 568 assists in an 18-year NHL career, the last five seasons spent with the Ducks.
Niedermayer is expected to make an official announcement Tuesday afternoon at the Honda Center, the Ducks’ home arena. The Orange County (Calif.) Register previously reported Niedermayer’s pending retirement.
Niedermayer has won championships at multiple levels. In addition to his two Olympic gold medals and four Stanley Cup rings, he won a Memorial Cup title in junior hockey with the Kamloops Blazers and gold medals in the IIHF world championships and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.
Niedermayer then capped his career with the gold-medal victory in his native British Columbia in February.
Niedermayer has considered walking away from hockey for several years. After the Ducks won their only Stanley Cup title in 2007, he skipped the first 28 games of the following season while contemplating retirement before deciding to return.
He has been among the best offensive defencemen of his era since registering 40 points as a 19-year-old rookie with the Devils in the 1992-93 season.
He won his first Stanley Cup in 1995 before adding championships in New Jersey in 2000 and 2003. Niedermayer won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenceman in 2004.
He signed with Anaheim after the NHL lockout, choosing to play alongside his brother, Rob, and immediately elevated the Ducks. Anaheim won the Stanley Cup in 2007 with Niedermayer and defenceman Chris Pronger playing nearly 30 minutes per game apiece.
Niedermayer won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the post-season MVP with 11 points in 21 games.
The Ducks traded Pronger to Philadelphia last July to avoid giving him a huge contract extension, and Anaheim’s play immediately suffered. After getting off to a terrible start to the season, the talented Ducks failed to make the playoffs despite having eight Olympians on their roster, finishing 11th with 89 points. Niedermayer’s minus-9 rating was the worst of his career.