After sitting out the first half of the season, Carolina Hurricanes forward Justin Williams is once again not playing NHL hockey. This time, it’s not by choice.
Justin Williams has had an illustrious career. He played 19 seasons in the NHL for four different teams, The Philadelphia Flyers, The Carolina Hurricanes, The Los Angeles Kings, and the Washington Capitals, winning the Stanley Cup once with Carolina and twice with the Kings.
He has played 1264 regular season games scoring 320 goals and earning 477 assists for an impressive total of 797 points. What is even more impressive is the 155 playoff games he has participated in which saw him score 40 goals and earn 61 assists for 101 points, most coming in game sevens, which has earned him the moniker of “Mr. Game Seven”.
There was wonder and concern if the Captain of the Carolina Hurricanes, a team that took a wild ride all the way to the Eastern conference finals would come back. At first it didn’t look like he would ever return, stating that he would step back from the sport and return to it when he felt ready.
When he returned in January at it didn’t take long for the grizzled veteran to start getting onto the scoreboard earning more than a few game-winning shots.
Justin Williams' first game back with the @Canes, of course, he scores the shootout winner. 🤩 pic.twitter.com/HNhXms812A
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 20, 2020
But only 20 games into his return to the game the world came to a grinding halt. The Coronavirus pandemic has put the season on hold, and as the situation worsens it is starting to look like the season may just be completely over.
That puts Justin Williams in a strange position regarding what he wants to do next.
The soon to be 39 year old forward can either end his career with a season that he started late and it ended early, or he can push for another season. It’s not a storybook ending but winning three Stanley Cups in 19 years with two different teams is still Hall-of-Fame worthy. But we all know that Justin wants to make it four cups to make it multiple cups with multiple teams.
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It’s no secret that he thought he can help take this Carolina Hurricanes team far. It’s the reason his half-year contract with bonuses was structured the way it was with bonuses all the way through the playoffs and even a bonus for winning the Stanley Cup. He had faith that this team can go far.
And why not? This team proved themselves last season taking a wildcard spot to the eastern finals. They were halfway to lifting the cup in wins and ran into a red hot Boston Bruins with a banged up roster.
This roster had even more talent and even more possibility of making a deep run, even after the slew of injuries they faced, the new faces added to the roster was more than enough for Williams to still have faith in another championship.
Hopefully he will get his chance when the season returns after the world resets. But as the pandemic gets more and more widespread, Williams may be faced with the decision to play one more season or hang up the skates on a season that ended badly for the entire league.
Question for CC Readers: What do you think Justin Williams should do if he had to make a decision?