Earlier this morning, former Blackhawks goalie Cam Ward announced his retirement from the NHL via the Carolina Hurricanes’ Twitter account. Carolina also announced that the 35-year-old had signed a one-day contract to retire as a member of the Hurricanes organization.
Congrats on a wonderful career, Wardo!
Proud we got to be a part of it. pic.twitter.com/AoiXUchvLx
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) August 28, 2019
Ward was drafted by Carolina in the first round of the 2002 entry draft (25th overall). He played for the team from 2005 until 2018, when he signed a one-year free-agent contract to play for the Blackhawks.
His career stared with a whirlwind performance in the 2006 playoffs, as he backstopped the Hurricanes to a surprising Stanley Cup championship, while also collecting the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs’ most valuable player. He had a solid career, but was never able to recapture the magic of that 2006 Canes playoff run. In the 2008–09 season, Ward set single-season Hurricanes records for wins with 39, shutouts with six, winning-streak with nine games and the single-game record for saves with 57. He finished his playing career in Chicago last season with the Blackhawks, putting up a 16–12–4 record, 3.67 goals against average and .897 save percentage.
For his career, Ward played in 701 NHL regular season games, had a record of 334–256–88 and had a 2.74 career goals against average. He only qualified for the playoffs in two of his 14 seasons but amassed a 23–18 record and 2.38 goals against average in 41 games played.