Life-changing news strikes a Chicago Blackhawk and he has officially quit on the team

37-year old Alec Martinez made an unexpected announcement before puck drop on Saturday, April 13, moments before the Chicago Blackhawks took on the Winnipeg Jets, revealing it would be his last game in the NHL.

This stirred concern for fans, who then began to speculate that this sudden retirement was due to Martinez's hip injury, an injury that caused him to be sidelined for a long-period of time this season, however, new insight has been revealed regarding the true reason this defenseman is stepping down.

In a pregame interview last night, Martinez officially broke his silence in a very emotional and sentimental way with a former Chicago Blackhawks goaltender, Darren R Pang.

Take a look:

This being said, Martinez is seemingly stepping down from the NHL early in order to prepare for his new addition coming into the world, additionally the defenseman would only have a few year's remaining in his career before retirement regardless, it seems as though it made more sense to him as well as his family to cut his career short in such an important time of his life.

The Chicago Blackhawks post in honour of Alec Martinez's departure

Although Chicago will miss Martinez, fans wish him and his family a bright future as their baby girl enters the world.