Daniel Briere Opts to Retire for His Family

Daniel Briere has been thinking about retirement for a while now, and he’s always said that it was a struggle between playing in the National Hockey League and spending time with his family. He recently announced that his family won out, and he’s going to retire and end his career.

Briere was a member of the Colorado Avalanche last season, but noted in his address to the media that he’d been a Flyer for most of his career. It’s worth noting that he only got into 53 games in 2014, he had a total of 12 points, and he scored just eight times.

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That’s not to take away from Briere’s career at all, as he had some great runs and the Avs are happy he was able to provide what he could last year. However, his stats clearly showed that he was nearing the end of his career, and that definitely factored into his decision to walk away from the game.

Most of it was family, though. Briere’s sons play hockey, and he likes coaching them and traveling to watch them play. They’re also growing up, moving into their late teens. No doubt, he feels he’s missed a lot of their lives already. Does he want to miss all of the time that they’d be living at home? That time is running short, so he decided to put more time into being with them while it’s easy to do.

It’s impossible to fault him there. He’s had a good career, he’s made enough money that he doesn’t have to worry about anything, and he should absolutely put his time into the people he loves. The NHL life is grueling, and he’ll enjoy being able to focus on other things—and being home more often.