Right before the 2018-2019 NHL season commenced, 26-year old Mark Visentin quietly surprised followers when he announced he would be retiring from the game. Though his stint with the organization was extremely short, an appreciation for the former Nashville Predators goaltender is well deserved.
At 26 years of age, a majority of us are just starting to understand ourselves and put together stable careers. In some more unique situations, however, people may land their dream job at a young age, only to have it taken away from them; leaving them with an indescribable void and confusion on what to do next.
For Mark Visentin, this was unfortunately the case, as the goaltender was forced to retire just days before the start of this year due to health complications.
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“I have been so fortunate to achieve my childhood dreams in hockey, but the time has to come to move onto the next chapter of my life”, Visentin said in his official retirement letter. “I have exhausted all options trying to get my body back to an elite level, but unfortunately, it has not worked out”, he added.
Of the injuries Visentin may be talking about, one significant mishap that likely impacted his longevity was a devastating ankle tear in 2014-15. This forced the Waterloo, Ontario native to miss the entire season.
Elaborating on this, Visentin had appeared in at least 30 AHL games for the Arizona Coyotes minor-league team in two consecutive seasons and was arguably in a position to become the Coyotes NHL backup following the departure of Thomas Greiss in 2014.
After hurting his ankle, however, Visentin played in just 14 AHL games and one NHL game before announcing his retirement earlier this month. The Nashville Predators signed Visentin to the Milwaukee Admirals ahead of the 2016 season. He played only one game there.
Although he appeared in just one NHL game throughout his five-year career, Visentin will go down in history as one of only eight goalies to be drafted in the first round between the years of 2008-2018.
Additionally, Visentin was voted as the Niagra Ice Dogs most dominant goalie of all-time, posting some of the best goalie statistics in OHL history.
In 166 Games for the Ice Dogs, Visentin posted 89 wins and a solid .919 save percentage across 39 playoff wins. Further, Visentin’s 10 shutouts during the 2011-2012 season for Niagra is a still a single-season record OHL record today.
Considering his level of talent at such a young age, whether or not Visentin would have been able to produce at the NHL level is one of the bigger unanswered goaltending mysteries of the last decade. Should he ever feel confident enough in his body to make a return to the NHL, the Nashville Predators are sure to welcome Visentin back with open arms.
For the time being, however, we at the Predlines community wish him well in his future endeavors.