NHL Defenseman Chris Wideman has announced his retirement after playing six years in the NHL. The 34-year-old defenseman didn’t play during the 2023-24 season due to a back injury and played in only 46 games during the 2022-23 season, putting up six assists.
The St. Louis, Missouri native would be drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the fourth round of the 2009 NHL Draft after spending four years at Miami University (Ohio). In 163 games with the RedHawks, he would put up 12 goals and 83 assists for 95 points. He led the RedHawks in assists (26) in his freshman season. Over the course of his career, he would spend time with the Senators, Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, and Montreal Canadiens, where he would put up 20 goals and 58 assists for 78 points in 291 career games. He would put up one goal and three assists during the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs with the Senators. Wideman would spend the 2020-21 season in the KHL, where he put up nine goals and 32 assists for 41 points in 59 games and would be named the KHL’s Best Defenseman.
Wideman would also play five years at the AHL level, putting up 42 goals and 134 assists for 176 points in 280 games with the Springfield Thunderbirds, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Binghamton Senators, and San Diego Gulls. He would be named to the AHL All-Star Game in 2015 and 2020. In 2015, he led all AHL defensemen in all offensive categories and was named the AHL Defenseman of the Year.
