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Todd Marchant ends his NHL career after 17 seasons, joins Ducks’ front office

Anaheim Ducks v Dallas Stars

of the Anaheim Ducks of the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center on October 26, 2010 in Dallas, Texas.

Bruce Bennett

After 17 seasons (or 16 if you discount four games in 1993-94), Todd Marchant decided to hang up his skates today.

When it comes to Marchant, it’s wise to focus on his skates, too. He was one of the fastest skaters in the NHL - especially during his prime - and served as a steady-to-great defensive forward up to his last minutes with the Anaheim Ducks.

The already defense-deficient Ducks will probably miss the aging veteran’s presence on the ice, too; Blair Betts is the only forward in the NHL who averaged more shorthanded time on ice per game than Marchant (3:37 to 3:36) and Marchant’s 285:08 PK minutes were the most of any forward in 2010-11. Only teammate Toni Lydman [290:47] and Ottawa Senators stalwart Chris Phillips [290:26] compiled more minutes on the PK last season, period.

While the Ducks will miss his presence on the ice, Marchant will take a spot in the team’s front office. He’ll hold the title of Director of Player Development, according to NHL.com.

Many will rightly remember Marchant for being a great defensive forward (not to mention his gravy days with the Edmonton Oilers, when he skated like the wind while compiling a career high 60 points in 2002-03), but I cannot shake video game-related memories of the man.

As Battle of California’s Earl Sleek would probably tell you, Marchant might be the prime example of a solid player who could become a force in video games - especially when the titles were less realistic. With goal scoring ability being dictated largely by the person holding the controller, Marchant’s “stone hands” didn’t register anywhere near as much as his blazing speed. Maybe Marchant fell many strides short of a superstar, but in the right video game exploiting hands, he could do far more damage than his real-life counterpart could even imagine.

Hopefully Marchant doesn’t take such memories as in insult, though. He had a great career for a seventh round pick (164th overall in 1993), whether you remember him as someone who made offensive forwards miserable or a guy who played way over his head in the world of sprites and polygons.