"Those who faced Joe Sakic from the opposing goal hated him. But they still couldn't help but like him. "He caused me a lot of grief in my career," former NHL goalie Mike Vernon said of Sakic, who will announce he is retiring this afternoon. "But of all the guys I played against, I had as much respect for Sakic as anyone, and probably more. But he was no fun to play against." What made Sakic so tough to stop? A lot of things, Vernon said, but one thing stood out. "He had just a great shot. He had a real sneaky wrist shot, so quick," he said. "It was a very accurate shot. That's the difference from an ordinary scorer to a real good one, that extra inch or two of accuracy on the shot. He had that." Former NHL goalie Ron

Tugnutt, the best man at Sakic's wedding, was burned more than once by Sakic's lethal wrister. "He didn't need much time and space to get it off," said Tugnutt, a former teammate of Sakic's with the Quebec Nordiques. "He always did everything just a little quicker than everyone else with the puck. He's a great guy and was great to play with. Not so much fun to play against." New York Rangers general manager Glen Sather once compared Sakic's presence to that of fog on the bay, deceptively rolling in and out of the scoring areas. That's about right, said Vernon. "Like I said, he was kind of sneaky. You thought you might have a good read on him, but all of a sudden the puck is by you and you kind of wondered what happened," Vernon said."