Time marches on, and careers come to an end.
The reality of that was driven home for Marc Staal this week when something he knew was happening finally did — his good buddy and longtime Rangers teammate Dan Girardi announced his retirement on Friday.
“The guys that we came up with, we’re obviously on the back half [of our careers],” Staal said before the Rangers’ 4-2 preseason loss to the Devils on Friday in Newark. “It’s going to be happening a lot more. When I talked to him, we started going back and reminiscing and stuff like that.