Bakersfield Condors captain Brad Malone announces retirement

Bakersfield Condors captain Brad Malone is set to retire at the end of this season, he announced through a press release from the team.

Malone, 35, has spent the last seven years with the Condors, appearing in 315 games—the most in the club’s AHL history and fifth most in the franchise’s history. Named captain four years ago, he will retire as the longest-serving ‘C’ in franchise history.

“It has been a 20-year journey since I left home, and this is the only place I’ve called home since leaving,” said the native of Miramichi, N.B. “I’m most proud of the relationships we’ve made here with close friends and the culture we’ve created on and off the ice.

“I’m thankful for my family, staff, teammates and everyone I was able to learn from that came before me. I’m not a leader who leads by himself and I’m proud of our team success and looking forward to a long postseason run.”

He joined the Oilers organization as a free agent in 2017, signing a two-year deal in which he appeared in 23 NHL games. He re-signed on a one-year deal in 2019 but didn’t appear in any NHL games that season. In 2020-21, the year he was named captain, he remained with the Condors on an AHL deal, getting another the following season.

But in February 2022, the Oilers signed him to another NHL contract, bringing him up at the end of the season for eight regular season games so he could hit the 200 games played mark doing so on March 1st, 2022. Then, a few games later, Malone would score his last goal in the NHL.

It came in a March 8th game against the Washington Capitals. With the score tied at two halfway though the second period, Zack Kassian played the puck behind the Caps net, putting a backhanded pass right on Malone’s tape in front, going top shelf on Ilya Samsonov. It was Malone’s second point of the night, having set up Cody Ceci with a go-ahead goal in the first period.

For Malone, it closed a seven-year stretch between NHL goals, and spoke about the journey after the game.

“I don’t really think it has sunk in, to be honest,” he said, adding it “feels pretty awesome.”

“I think it has been a really good journey to be honest. I think I understood who I was as a player and where I fit in things. I’ve been kind of repeating it the last couple of weeks: work ethic and detail, and I’m just trying to enjoy myself in a professional way, being a good teammate.

“You get to work with a lot of good people in Bakersfield and up here. If you just rub shoulders with them over a few years, you get better and they elevate you as an individual. That’s kind of my experience.”

That was the calling card of Malone’s career as a professional player, turning into a veteran journeyman after being drafted in the fourth round of the 2007 draft by the Colorado Avalanche.

In Bakersfield, he helped acclimate numerous players who would play NHL games for the Oilers, and not only that, but would help the Condors win big games. While the rest of the Condors’ season and playoffs are still to come, Malone has already helped them win two Pacific Division championships and four playoff series and, in 2019, led the club with 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in 10 Calder Cup games.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.