''Penalty Minutes King'' Retires

After 16 seasons, Rich Clune has announced his retirement from professional hockey. He will be joining the Toronto Maple Leafs' player development staff.

Toronto Marlies Captain Rich Clune has announced his retirement from professional hockey after 16 seasons. He will be joining the @MapleLeafs player development staff.
— Toronto Marlies (@TorontoMarlies) August 4, 2022

Not known for his point-scoring abilities, Clune, however, was quite the enforcer.

Over the course of his career, Clune played in 139 games in the NHL with the Maple Leafs, Nashville Predators and Los Angeles Kings, scoring just seven goals and 15 assists. He did record 327 penalty minutes though.

In the AHL, however, Clune took his penalty minutes to another level. In 593 games, played between the Iowa Stars, Manchester Monarchs, Milwaukee Admirals and Toronto Marlies, Clune recorded 1,607 penalty minutes. That works out to 2.71 minutes spent in the box per game. He served as the Marlies' assistant captain for five years, before being promoted to captain for his last two seasons, thus proving his leadership on the team.

He'll now join the Maple Leafs in helping develop their players.

More Rich Clunes on the way?

My favourite Clune moment is his series-winning goal against Albany in 2016. A very violent series where the Devils had run and injured several Marlies, he had every excuse to snap, but instead kept the team focused on the task at hand and got to deliver the final blow himself. pic.twitter.com/DPqsoPag0i
— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) August 4, 2022