Martin Havlat retired Wednesday at the age of 35, after a 15-year career in which he racked up a total of 594 points (242 goals, 352 assists) among numerous what-ifs and almosts.
He was a member of the Chicago Blackhawks for three seasons and looking back now it seems like longer. Perhaps that’s because of how much he went through in Chicago — joining a franchise in the midst of a new identity, while Havlat was reshaping his own.
For a lot of fans who started following the Hawks in the mid-2000s, Havlat was their first love.