NHL goalie Andrew Hammond announced his retirement on Monday after six seasons. Here’s what you need to know:
- Hammond said in his Twitter post that he wasn’t able to make a full recovery due to an ankle injury during his time with the Montreal Canadiens.
- Prior to the Canadiens, Hammond was a member of the Ottawa Senators, playing a total of 55 games.
- Hammond went 31-20 in his career, recording a 2.56 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage.
Backstory
Hammond authored one of the most unbelievable chapters in modern NHL history with the Ottawa Senators during the spring of 2015.
The Senators were sitting near the bottom of the standings in the Eastern Conference in late February, a full 10 points behind the Boston Bruins who were holding onto the final playoff spot. Ottawa’s top two netminders — Craig Anderson and Robin Lehner — were sidelined with injuries, forcing the club to turn to journeyman goaltender Hammond.
The 27-year-old, undrafted Hammond only had one game of NHL experience under his belt at that point. On top of that, he was struggling in the AHL when he received his sudden promotion, posting a 7-13-2 record with a 3.51 GAA and a .898 save percentage for the Senators affiliate in Binghamton. With Hammond taking over the starting duties in Ottawa, most fans turned their attention towards hoping the club could bottom out in the standings and increase their odds of landing Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel in the upcoming NHL Draft.
Instead, Hammond took Ottawa fans on a wild and unpredictable magic carpet ride over the next two months. Hammond started by tying Frank Brimsek’s 76-year-old NHL record for allowing two or fewer goals in each of his first 12 career starts.
But he didn’t stop there.
He posted a 20-1-2 record with a 1.79 GAA and a .941 save percentage with the Senators down the stretch and was the main catalyst in their improbable run to a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference. Even when No. 1 goaltender Craig Anderson was ready to return in March, Hammond kept the starting role for the Senators down the stretch.
Hammond — who carried the nickname of “The Hamburglar” — spawned a craze in Ottawa where fans even started tossing hamburgers onto the ice surface at the Canadian Tire Center during his improbable run. The first hamburgers were thrown onto the ice following a 2-1 shootout win over the Philadelphia Flyers. A few nights later — as the Senators defeated Boston in a crucial showdown — several hamburgers rained down from the crowd. One was picked up by Curtis Lazar, who memorably took a huge bite of the burger to the delight of the home crowd.
— Andrew Hammond (@andrewhammond30) December 19, 2022
Hammond started the first two playoff games for the club, but after they lost both contests in Montreal, the Senators went back to Anderson for the duration of that series. But the Senators saw enough from Hammond in that brief run to reward him with a three-year contract with a $1.35 million AAV. After years of toiling in the minors, Hammond’s deal was a one-way contract — a remarkable turn of events for a goaltender who was struggling at the AHL level just a few months earlier.
“The great thing about sports — and hockey in particular — is that anything can happen,” Hammond told reporters on a conference call after signing his new contract in May of 2015. “I was given a chance to hit the refresh button a little bit. when I was called up and I was able to play some of the best hockey down the stretch there.”
The Senators felt comfortable enough in Hammond that they opted to trade Lehner — once deemed to be the franchise’s goalie of the future — to Buffalo at the NHL Draft a few weeks later. But Hammond was never able to rekindle that magic from the spring of 2015 at the NHL level.
He appeared in 24 games as Anderson’s backup the following season, but posted a pedestrian 7-11-4 record in those games. His .914 save percentage and 2.65 GAA, however, were solid numbers for a backup netminder.
But Hammond’s 2016-17 campaign was hampered by several injuries and ultimately sealed his fate in Ottawa. Hammond was dealing with nagging hip and groin issues to start that season, causing him to suffer an injury in Calgary in October.
That was unfortunate timing because the Senators could have used Hammond’s magic at that point. Anderson left the team to be with his ailing wife Nicolle, who was battling cancer. The Senators goaltending position was wide open, but Hammond was physically unfit to play.
He returned to Ottawa’s net in December, only to be sidelined with a high ankle sprain. By then, the Senators had acquired goaltender Mike Condon from Pittsburgh and he took the majority of the starts in Anderson’s absence. Condon helped hold down the fort until Anderson returned in February and helped propel the Senators to the playoffs in the spring of 2017.
While that was happening, Hammond underwent hip surgery that spring and was largely forgotten. When the Senators opened camp in the fall of 2017, there was no room for Hammond. The club eventually flipped him to Colorado as part of the trade for Matt Duchene.
But Hammond would only appear in one game for the Avalanche, before spending parts of the next three seasons languishing in the AHL. He briefly reappeared in the NHL to make 11 appearances between Montreal and New Jersey last season, but it was not enough to earn him another NHL contract.
He appeared in two games in the KHL this season before announcing his retirement. While he only appeared in 55 games with the Senators, Hammond will be fondly remembered for his magical run to the playoffs in the spring of 2015.
What they’re saying
Hammond in his Twitter post said that “one dream came true” when he signed an NHL contract with the Senators.
“I things couldn’t get better than that,” Hammond said. “I was wrong…my career was a series of unbelievable and unexpected memories. I met some of the best people I know and I can honestly say I had the best “job” in the world.”
(Photo: Ed Mulholland / USA Today)
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