Alec Martinez to retire after Blackhawks’ game on Saturday

Apr 12, 2025, 19:46 EDT

Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Alec Martinez (25) warms up before a game against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.

Credit: © Stephen R. Sylvanie

Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Alec Martinez has announced that he will be retiring after Saturday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets.

Alec Martinez told @Panger40 that tonight will also be his final NHL game #Blackhawks final home game of the season has turned into the career send-offs for two 3x Stanley Cup Champions pic.twitter.com/gqF32rfB0J

— Mario Tirabassi (@Mario_Tirabassi) April 12, 2025

Saturday isn’t the Blackhawks’ final game of the season, but Martinez has decided to not join the team for their final road trip of the season against the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators. Martinez joins Pat Maroon as the two Blackhawks players that will be calling it a career on Saturday.

Martinez’s final season sees him score 5 goals and 7 assists for 12 points in 43 games.

Martinez concludes a 16-season career in the NHL that’s seen him accumulate 88 goals and 201 assists for 289 points in 861 games, along with 14 goals and 23 assists for 37 points in 131 playoff games with the Los Angeles Kings, Vegas Golden Knights and Chicago Blackhawks. He also retires having won three Stanley Cups in 2012, 2014 and 2023.

Martinez was a fourth-round pick by the Kings in the 2007 NHL Draft with Miami University. He spent another season in college before making his pro debut in the NHL with the Manchester Monarchs. It took him just one season to make his NHL debut in the 2009-10 season, playing four games before becoming a regular with the Kings in 2010-11.

Martinez managed to capture his first Stanley Cup in 2012, coming in just his second full season, and then after an exit in the Western Conference Final in 2013, the Kings won their second Cup in three years in 2014, with Alec Martinez scoring the Cup-clinching goal in overtime.

Martinez spent another six seasons with the Kings after that before he was traded to the Golden Knights at the 2020 trade deadline. He helped Vegas to back-to-back Conference Finals appearances in 2020 and 2021, but it wasn’t until 2023 when they took the next step and won the first Stanley Cup in franchise history, and Martinez’s third.

Martinez played one more season after that with the Golden Knights before departing for free agency in 2024. He then signed his current one-year, $4 million contract with the Blackhawks.