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WATCH: Bryan Little receives heartwarming standing ovation from Jets fans ahead of his retirement
The Winnipeg Jets honored a franchise icon before Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and his warm feelings for the team and the city were on full display.
Bryan Little, an original draft pick of the Atlanta Thrashers before their relocation to Winnipeg, has called it a career and signed a one-day contract last month to retire as a member of the Jets.
During a special pre-game ceremony, he suited up in full gear one last time and took several laps around the Canada Life Centre ice with the spotlight on him, waving to the thousands of cheering fans in attendance.
"In my heart I never left, I was always a Jet," Little said in a news conference on Sunday. "This kind of made it official.
"At the end of the day I think I had to think more about my future and my health when I'm older and my family as well. It wasn't [an] easy decision. At the end of the day I was seeing so many people, I think I was just searching for someone to say it's OK and it's safe, and I could never really find that."
Bryan Little suited up nine years for the Jets
Selected by the Thrashers with the 12th overall pick in the 2006 NHL Draft, Little played the first several years of his career with the team before they relocated to Manitoba to become the second edition of the Jets. Ahead of the 1996-97 NHL season, the Jets relocated to Arizona to become the Phoenix Coyotes.
He also scored the overtime-winning goal for the Jets in their 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames in the 2019 Heritage Classic at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Saskatchewan.
"That one was really special," Little said. "I didn't get to play in the outdoor game here in Winnipeg and I was pretty disappointed in that, so to be a part of that and score the OT winner and have my family there to see it, that was really special."
Little's playing career essentially ended in November 2019 when he was accidentally struck by a slapshot from Jets teammate Nikolaj Ehlers, and he never played again. His contract was also later sent to the Coyotes in a cap dump.
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