Joe Sakic retired in 2009 after 21 seasons, and by all accounts the wrist shot hasn’t gone anywhere. The bigger problem these days is finding something to shoot with.
Sakic spent his entire career using wooden sticks, a type of gear that has essentially disappeared from hockey since he stopped playing. He also doesn’t skate much anymore, so there’s been little reason to keep a stockpile lying around.
Joe Sakic’s sticks
On the Puck Around and Pod Out podcast, one of the hosts described skating with the Hall of Famer at a local skills facility and asking to see what he was using.
“His sticks – he had none. He doesn’t skate anymore. He had to pull them off the wall in his memorabilia room,” the host said. “So they all had drill holes through them.”
In other words, the only sticks Joe Sakic had access to were the ones mounted as display pieces in his own house, complete with the holes drilled through them to hang them up.
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Sourcing replacements hasn’t proven any easier. According to the podcast, the team’s equipment staff has run into the same wall.
“I think the equipment guy said he’s got nothing. We try to get him sticks and he can’t get anything,” one host said, with another adding: “You can’t even find those. Pieces of lumber. It’s crazy.”
The hosts also made a point of saying that the shot itself is still very much intact. “He can still shoot. He can play the game. He’s a hockey player,” one said.
Sakic finished his career with 625 goals and 1,641 points in 1,378 games, all with the Quebec Nordiques and Colorado Avalanche franchise. He won two Stanley Cups, the Hart Trophy in 2001 and the Conn Smythe in 1996, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012.
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