The Colorado Avalanche: News from around the NHL - January 10th, 2014

Wade Redden announced that he is retiring.

Veteran NHL defenceman Wade Redden, who helped lead the Senators to the Stanley Cup playoffs in each of his 11 seasons in Ottawa, announced his retirement through the NHL Players’ Association on Thursday.

Redden, 36, played 1,023 regular-season games for the New York Rangers, St. Louis, Boston and Ottawa, scoring 109 goals and 348 assists for 457 points while posting a career plus-160 rating.

A former NHL player - who retired in 2011 - has signed on to play in the ECHL.

Brian Rafalski, a former NHL star and three-time Olympian trying to make a comeback, received NHL clearance to play tonight for the Florida Everblades against the South Carolina Stingrays.

“He wants to play in the NHL again,” Everblades coach Greg Poss said. “He’s been working out in the rink a lot.”

The Everblades needed clearance from the NHL and the Detroit Red Wings, according to Everblades’ president and general manager Craig Brush. Rafalski retired on May 25, 2011, with a year left on his contract because of knee and back injuries.

Having to walk through a bar after another Oiler loss to get to the team lockerroom led to a little screaming match between MacTavish and a fan.

Craig MacTavish knows better. But the GM of the Edmonton Oilers managed to get himself in a shouting session with a fan outside the Oilers dressing room Tuesday night.

“Ah, the usual stuff, I’d just had enough,” said the former player, coach and first-year general manager of the short-lived shouting session.

“It was not a good night to have it,” MacTavish added of the incident after a 5-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues.

Yahoo sports looks at Guenin's contract extension.

As a personality, Colorado Avalanche defenseman Nate Guenin is everything you want in a hockey player. In interviews he goes beyond the usual clichés of "move your feet," "play hard" and "get pucks on net." During a post-practice press conference about his contract he stated, "I was telling a couple people that if you told me this summer that I was going to play as many games as I did this year and sign an extension in January, I would have probably laughed at you. But I knew all along that I felt I could play here. It's just nice to see that come to fruition." That's right, a hockey defenseman totally said the word "fruition." (Of course, he does have a college degree.)

From a fan's perspective Guenin's modesty is refreshing. During the post-practice interview he said, "Talking to Patrick [Roy], he told me if you come in and play hard, you're going to get an opportunity. They've stuck to their word. I couldn't be more thankful to Joe and Patrick and the scouting staff that scouted me."