Well this one came as a bit of a surprise to me. As per Elliotte Friedman, Wade Redden considered retiring at one point after his career in Ottawa was finished:

13. I do believe that Wade Redden strongly considered retiring. He hated playing that much. Among those who really convinced him to continue: Daniel Alfredsson, Wade’s father Gord, agent Don Meehan and another former teammate, Curtis Leschyshyn. (I got the impression Leschyshyn played a huge role.) Yes, yes, the money was a factor, too.

It is very interesting to see that Redden seriously considered retiring. For as long as he’s been with the Rangers, he seemed disinterested with the game. Many mistook that for laziness, and others (including myself) mistook it for slowing down. If this is true, then none of us were right, and it was just a lack of fondness for the game. There is a big difference between laziness and lack of desire to play. Of course, $6.5 million a year will help anyone get past his loathing of the sport for a little while. Constant booing though, is tough to get past when you don’t want to play the game anymore. Players like these do not have to worry about how equity release works as they have earned so much from playing their sport!

This doesn’t change my opinion about Redden, I still think he’s a good person, who just doesn’t like the game of hockey anymore. But it does make you wonder, how much extra did Glen Sather have to throw at Redden to get him out of retiring? How much time and money was spent on a guy that was clearly on his way out mentally?

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