NHL

Willie Mitchell played in 907 National Hockey League games over parts of 15 seasons with six teams, twice for Stanley Cup winners.

He was the Florida Panthers captain in this odd campaign of unforeseen regular-season success and then a surprising playoff failure. Unfortunately, Mitchell didn’t have as much to do with all of that as he would have liked.

With a history of concussions behind him, Mitchell started off the 2015-16 well enough but didn’t play in another game after Jan. 18 due to concussion-related symptoms. He skated some and practiced a little, but never played again. At 39, he mostly likely won’t again. His contract is up, he’d be a free agent and he has told his teammates of his intentions. The Panthers have not announced his retirement but essentially confirmed he would not be returning.

Mitchell, a defenseman, wasn’t much of an offensive threat. He never scored more than five goals in a season. He was, however, a leader and a teacher. The Panthers’ young players could not have praised him more highly as they cleaned out their lockers on Tuesday in Sunrise, Florida, following their elimination from the playoffs by the New York Islanders.

“He wasn’t captain by accident,” Florida forward Shawn Thornton told the Associated Press. “You could see it, even in the playoffs, he wasn’t playing but he was around, doing whatever it took, all the intangibles. If anybody needed anything, nobody went without with him around. He was the ultimate teammate.”

Glamor? Glory? Mitchell never piled up much in those categories. Respect? Well, there he was a champion. Teams don’t win just because they have superstars. They win because there’s a guy like Mitchell around to counsel, to nurture and to pass along the hard-earned lessons of a life in the game.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman