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Faceoff ace Vermette retires after 14 NHL seasons

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Center Antoine Vermette will retire after 14 NHL seasons as one of the best faceoff men of his generation.

The 36-year-old from Quebec won the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2015. He most recently played for the Anaheim Ducks, but didn't sign with a team after becoming a free agent last summer.

Vermette won 56.6 percent of his faceoffs, the ninth-best mark since the league began tracking the statistic in 1997-98. He led the NHL in faceoff winning percentage in his final season in 2017-18.

He played 1,046 regular-season and 97 playoff games with the Senators, Blue Jackets, Coyotes, Blackhawks and Ducks.

Vermette put up 228 goals and 287 assists for 515 points during his regular-season career. He had a 482-game ironman streak that lasted from March 2009 until October 2015.

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Follow AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno

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