Jonathan Bernier didn’t play last year, but he spent his entire season trying to do so.
In the end, despite all the treatments, all the specialists who were seen and all the possible injections, this hip injury that did not want to heal never healed.
“It’s not the ending I was hoping for,” he admits over the phone. But at the same time, careers often end in two ways: because your team fails you, or because your body fails you. »
He played his last game on December 3, 2021, in the jersey of the New Jersey Devils. In 2022-2023, he did everything to come back, in vain.
“It didn’t go the way I had hoped […] The truth is, I would have had to have another operation, and that would have been another 12 months away, maybe -be even 14 months apart. Trying to come back to the game after all this time, it would have been very difficult.
“I spent the last season hoping, but every time I had to push a little harder in training, the pain would come right back, it would get more and more intense. I spent the season trying to come back and believing it…”
No, it’s not the last scene he dreamed of, but at the age of 35, Jonathan Bernier assures that he is at peace with this decision. The former goaltender, a first-round pick of the Los Angeles Kings in the 2006 draft (11th overall), leaves the National League rinks with the feeling of having reached the end of his dream, he who also donned the Maple Leafs, Ducks, Avalanche and Red Wings jerseys.
“I look back on it all, and I’m pretty proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish […] I’ll have many good memories from my years in the NHL, but for sure winning the Stanley Cup in 2012 with the Kings, it comes at the top of the list. »
Afterwards ? He does not really know, but we feel that a return to the world of hockey could well tempt him. He would see himself, for example, in a player development position, where he could help young prospects grow within an organization.
“A mentoring role, if you will, is something I might be interested in,” he adds. There are several of my former teammates who now work all over the league, and I had a few small discussions about this […] In my career, there have been ups and downs, and I think that I could make use of my youngest experiences. »
