Hull Retires

The Golden Brett is hanging it up tonight, sources that I trust tell me. The 3rd leading goal scorer in the history of hockey has apparently had enough of the "New NHL".

Saturday, the Arizona Republic noted he was not at practice on Friday ...

With Brett Hull's ice time dwindling, coach Wayne Gretzky reiterated that patience is the best approach for the star, yet aging, right wing to take.

Hull, the NHL's third all-time leading goal scorer, played only 12 shifts on Thursday night against Nashville, logging eight minutes, 46 seconds of ice time.

"He's one of the elite players ever to play the game," Gretzky said. "As I told him two weeks ago, he just has to be patient. He missed a full year. He's 41 years old.

"It's a unique situation. Is it fun for him? Probably not. He's handled himself really well. He's worked hard every day. Basically it's like I told him: It's not going to happen overnight. It's going to take some time; just be patient."

Gretzky added that captain Shane Doan eats up a lot of minutes at right wing.

"I told him not to panic," Gretzky said of Hull. "Just work through it."

One day before facing his former Detroit Red Wings teammates, Hull was not at practice on Friday. The team said Hull had family visiting from out of town and had his absence cleared by the coaching staff.