Joel Ward, former Capitals winger, retires from NHL

Former Washington Capitals right winger Joel Ward announced his retirement from the NHL in a Players’ Tribune article Monday.

Ward played 726 games across 11 seasons in the NHL, including four with the Capitals. He is best remembered in Washington for scoring a Game 7 double-overtime goal in the first round of the 2012 playoffs against the Boston Bruins.

Ward, 39, most recently played in 2017-18 for the San Jose Sharks, his third and final season there. He broke into the NHL with the Minnesota Wild and spent three years with Nashville before Washington.

“I know I didn’t play the last two years, but I tried. I did,” Ward wrote in his article. “I wish I could have gone out in a bit of a…