McCarty will always be remembered by Wings fans for pummeling Claude Lemieux on March 26, 1997.Detroit can't forget McCarty
Ex-Red Wing is disappointed by release but won't rule out returning.
McCarty and his son, Griffin, celebrated the 2002 Stanley Cup.
Farewell Darren
What is your fondest memory of Darren McCarty's career in Detroit?
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DETROIT -- They each know exactly what they'll be missing soon, this city and one of its treasured sports icons.
And so they began saying their goodbyes Tuesday night -- shaking hands, sharing a hug, talking, laughing, even shedding a tear or two. After all, Hockeytown is losing one of its heroes.
"It's hard, it really is," said Darren McCarty, whose career with the Wings -- the only NHL team he's ever known -- is ending after 11 seasons.
Earlier Tuesday, the Wings made it official, buying out the remaining two years on McCarty's contract and wishing him well as an unrestricted free agent. It's all part of the new reality in the NHL, and especially in Detroit, where the league's $39 million salary cap carries an even heavier price.
"It's obviously disappointing because this is the only place I've ever played and I grew up here," said McCarty, 33, whose childhood home was Leamington, Ontario, just across the Detroit River.
"But you know what? I'll always be a Red Wing at heart. This will always be home. And even though I won't be playing, I'll be cheering for the team. ...
"I'm just very grateful for the opportunity and the success and all the things I've been able to accomplish here in Detroit. The support of the fans. ... I just can't say thank you enough."
Sad goodbyes
McCarty was doing his best Tuesday night, thanking fans as he signed hundreds of autographs at J. Baldwin's restaurant in Clinton Township. He and the other members of his rock band, Grinder, gathered for a benefit honoring Jim Anders, Grinder's bass player who died in early May, leaving behind a wife and 1-year-old son.
"We're going to miss you, Darren, we really are," said Marcie Ballard, 43, of St. Clair Shores, after waiting in line outside the restaurant for more than an hour.
McCarty smiled, shook hands, and posed for a photograph with Ballard. Moments later, the new ex-Wing shook his head and laughed.
"It's great. I mean, think about it, people have spent the time to come out here just to say goodbye," said McCarty, pausing as two fans and fellow Harley-Davidson enthusiasts interjected with an offer to join them for "bike night" just up the road.
"It's so cool. I love that. A guy comes up to me and says, 'Dude, we're having bike night up the street. You wanna come?' I mean, he knows I'd go if I could."
That explains the bond between the fans in Detroit and McCarty, who was, and is, the Wings' most popular player next to Steve Yzerman over this last decade of championship success.
Leaving options open
When Wings general manager Ken Holland called to break the bad news Tuesday morning - and it was a move that had been expected for weeks, if not months -- McCarty had but one request.
"He told me, 'Don't forget me down the road,' " Holland said. "Certainly, I wouldn't rule it out. I know what an important role Darren played in the success of our team. He stands up for his teammates, he was proud to be a Red Wing, he was tremendous in the community, and he was a great ambassador for our team and our league. These are things I won't forget down the road."
Just where that road will take him next is anyone's guess. The free-agent signing period begins Monday, and it remains to be seen what the market will be for a player such as McCarty, whose value in Detroit was measured more by intangibles than goals or assists. McCarty, who often teamed with Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby to form the aptly named "Grind Line," racked up more penalty minutes (1,275) than shots on goal (1,109) in his 11 seasons wearing the winged wheel.
Sure, he scored some big goals for the Wings, from the Cup-clincher against the Philadelphia Flyers in 1997 to the natural hat trick against Patrick Roy and the Colorado Avalanche in the 2002 Western Conference finals.
But it was McCarty's toughness and his willingness -- eagerness, really -- to stick up for teammates on the ice that quickly won over Detroit fans, who had grown to love the Pistons' Bad Boys and the Wings' Bruise Brothers in the 1980s. His pummeling of Colorado's Claude Lemieux in the now-infamous March 1997 brawl in Detroit -- payback for Lemieux's vicious hit on Draper in the 1996 playoffs -- is still viewed as a "coming-of-age moment," as McCarty puts it, for the Wings en route to Cup titles in 1997 and '98.
When that highlight was played on the television sets Tuesday night at the restaurant, the crowd roared as if it had just happened the night before.
Fond memories
For McCarty, though, there are too many great memories to count. Mostly what he'll cherish, he said, is the team camaraderie and the work ethic that made the Wings winners.
"It's a blue-collar town," McCarty said. "And the fans appreciate hard work. That's what it's all about."
This was about business, though, just as it was two years ago when McCarty first pondered an NHL life away from Detroit. His contract was up and, at 31, he was eligible for unrestricted free agency in July 2003. But an eleventh-hour deal -- he signed a four-year contract worth $8.75 million -- kept him with the Wings.
McCarty was still due $3.23 million over the final two years of the deal, but he walks away today with two-thirds of that amount - about $2.15 million -- as per the NHL's new collective bargaining agreement. Also gone are defenseman Derian Hatcher, perhaps returning to Dallas, and forward Ray Whitney -- free-agent gambles that didn't pan out for the Wings.
Keeping McCarty around this time might have been a gamble for the Wings. While Holland said Tuesday the biggest factor in the buyout was the money -- $1.6 million for a third- or fourth-line winger won't fit under the new salary cap - the GM did admit "there are other factors that go into it."
That's a touchy subject with McCarty, whose personal struggles away from the rink also will be part of his legacy in Detroit. McCarty's entire adult life has been a never-ending struggle with his own addictive personality, including a very public battle with alcoholism.
McCarty finally came to grips with that problem back in 1996, but in the summer of 2003 he was back in rehab for an unspecified substance abuse relapse. Last November, he and his wife, Cheryl - they have four children together, ages one to nine -- were divorced.
This past week, McCarty was busy bracing Griffin, their oldest child and arguably the Wings' most rabid fan, of what was to come.
"They'll be a big part of what I decide to do next - the kids and Cheryl," McCarty said. "I'd like to stay close (to Detroit) if possible. Hopefully, we'll have some choices. ...
"But I'm a firm believer that everything in life works out the way it's supposed to. And who knows? I figure I've got a few years left (in the NHL) and maybe I can come back in the end."
You can reach John Niyo at John.Niyo@detnews.com
Darren McCarty celebrated in the crowd after the Wings won the Stanley Cup in 1997.
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