Decline and retirement

No player stays at his best forever. From his late twenties his attributes start to slip, and one day he hangs up his skates. You can’t stop either, but you can see both coming and plan for them.

Decline

Most players are at their best in their late twenties. After that, age starts to work against them, and they begin to lose more than they gain. You can’t stop it, but the same things that help a young player grow also slow an older player’s slide: experience from practice and games, good form and, on the main team, a strong dressing room. See training and development.

Decline works the way development does, one attribute at a time: an attribute loses ground until it drops a level. For your own players and the prospects whose rights you hold, the Training Progress panel under Development on his player page marks an attribute heading down as Regressing, and the Training report lists who Lost ground or is Slipping. On a veteran, Regressing can also mean the attribute is getting no work; a program whose Focus line names it, for players in his position, puts work into it again.

What brings it sooner or later

The age at which decline sets in is not the same for everyone.

• Talent. A talented player holds his peak longer. A player with little talent starts to slide sooner, the lack of talent weighs more heavily the older he gets, and he loses ground faster. Attributes that are already very high also slip faster.
• Ambition. An ambitious player keeps his game longer. A lazy or half-hearted one starts to fade sooner. You can see this in the Personality block on his player page; see player personality.
• Mood. A player who is both unhappy and low on confidence starts to decline sooner; one who is happy and confident holds on longer. See player form and happiness.

If a veteran you count on reads Lazy or Half Hearted under Personality, expect him to fade, and to retire, sooner than a teammate of the same age who reads Ambitious, and plan his replacement earlier.

Which attributes go first

Not every attribute fades at once.

Fades	Skaters	Goalies
First, from the late twenties	Shooting, Skating, Puck handling, Physical, Endurance	Reflexes, Athletic, Puck handling, Endurance
Later	Passing	Puck control, then Positioning
Last, from the mid to late thirties	Spirit, Defense, and Faceoffs last of all	Spirit

This is why a veteran defenseman can stay useful long after his skating has gone, and why an aging center can still win his draws.

Retirement

Retirement is the player’s own decision. You can’t retire a player, and you can’t talk him out of it. Players decide once a season, when the playoffs are over.

There is no fixed age. Each player has his own point where his career has run its course, set first of all by his character:

• Ambition keeps him playing longer, the more so for a player whose body is built to last; a lazy player quits early.
• Leadership. A leader plays longer than a follower.
• Big games. A clutch player plays longer than a nervy one.
• Ego. A humble player plays a little longer than a cocky one.

His situation moves that point. An unhappy player retires sooner. Low confidence brings it forward and high confidence pushes it back. A player without a club retires sooner.

Two more things can end a career:

• Not good enough to play on. A player who is not good enough even for the lowest leagues gives up early, and the weaker he is, the younger he quits. An ambitious one hangs on a few years longer. This applies to prospects whose rights you hold, too.
• A late decision. From his mid-thirties, each season brings a chance that he retires anyway, and the chance grows every year. A player with more than a year left on his contract is less likely to, and one who shows Pending contract agreed never retires that way, though he can still retire for the other reasons above.

If you want an older player for next season, agreeing a new contract with him before the playoffs end removes the risk of a sudden retirement.

Seeing it coming

A Potential scouting report warns you when a player may be near the end: “Your assistant flags a risk that this player retires within the next few years.” The warning reads his character and whether his body is built to last, nothing else. His mood, his confidence and whether he has a club can bring the day forward or push it back, so treat it as a guide, not a date.

An older player who expects to retire soon also asks for a shorter contract. See player contracts.

When a player retires

He leaves your roster and his contract ends, so his salary no longer counts against your cap. If he was on your affiliate, he leaves it too, and if you held his rights, they are gone. A retired player can’t be signed, and he no longer shows in Find players. His page and his player card read Retired where his club would be, and they offer no way to sign, scout or shortlist him; if he was already on your shortlist, you can still take him off it.

A notification tells you he has retired. It reaches the manager of his club, the manager who holds his rights, and every manager who has him on a shortlist. Retirements are listed under Transactions in the Transfer Center for the leagues you choose; the list opens on your own league, and the Retirements filter picks them out. A player who retires without a club belongs to no league, so his retirement does not show in a league’s list.

Worth knowing

• Not every attribute fades at once: skating and shooting are the first to go, faceoffs the last.
• A player who has agreed to a new contract never retires out of the blue, and one with more than a year left is less likely to; either can still retire for the other reasons.
• The retirement warning on a Potential report reads his character and whether his body is built to last, nothing else; his mood, his confidence and whether he has a club can bring the day forward or push it back.
• A player who is not good enough even for the lowest leagues gives up young, and prospects whose rights you hold are included.
• An older player asks for a shorter contract when he expects to retire soon.