Brent Seabrook reveals the painful details of his injury that led to him ending his hockey career

After more than 1100 games in the NHL and three Stanley Cups, Chicago Blackhawks defenceman Brent Seabrook announced the end of his playing career due to injuries Friday. No one is officially calling it a retirement, although that's basically what it is. However, with three years left on his contract, Seabrook will remain on LTIR so he continues to get paid (we'll get to more on that in a bit). Following the announcement, Seabrook met with members of the media to give more details on his injuries, and they are not pretty.

"I felt the best I'd ever felt coming into the training camp for the bubble (for the 2020-21 season)," said Seabrook. "... I felt incredible, I felt awesome. Skating and training."

Then it all fell apart.

"It was the Monday before Christmas, I woke up and I couldn't walk. And it's been like that ever since," Seabrook explained.

"I skated with the taxi squad Saturday morning. It was tough, it was hard to keep up. I'd been skating for 3 weeks...and it would lock up and I couldn't push or pivot or turn."

He also detailed what's going on with his hip.

"There's no cartilage in my hip. Lots of arthritis in there...We did a lot of stuff with injections and cortisone...I told my body to screw off for 15 years, and it finally turned around and told me, 'I'm not going to do it anymore.'"

Seabrook also indicated a hip replacement is likely in his future.

"They've talked about a hip replacement. I don't know if that's going to be tomorrow or 10 or 20 years from now," said Seabrook. "My plan is to manage it and live a great life. I want to go skiing with my kids."

It's an unfortunate end for a player who accomplished so much in his career, not just as a member of the Blackhawks, but one of the main factors in the team's success. As for how his salary will be handled, Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman said that will take a bit of time.

"Try not to get too far ahead of things," said Bowman. "We've got time to work that out and figure out he's it going to affect our team in the coming years... We certainly have plenty of cap space right now if we were going to make any moves."

There are already rumblings about a potential Hall-of-Fame entry for Seabrook. He played huge minutes for Chicago during their three Cup runs and was usually on the ice at pivotal times. In 1134 regular season games, he scored 103 goals and 464 points. He added another 20 goals and 59 points in 123 career playoffs games.

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