The American betting community lost one of its beloved figures to retirement today. Well, beloved is probably an overstatement — it’s not like hockey gets the love that NCAA football betting or basketball or even poker gets in the U.S. — but the bottom line is that Jeremy Roenick is one of the best hockey players ever to hail from the Land of the Free.

Here’s hoping he goes into broadcasting. While he sometimes seemed to be an attention hog, Roenick was a great personality for the game. He was honest yet charming and that lends well to a good color commentary guy in the mold of Brett Hull. I’m betting management in Chicago and Philadelphia TV stations try to nab him for color work very soon — maybe even in time for the 2009-10 season.

Congrats, Jeremy. You’ve had a great career and, while you never got that Stanley Cup ring, I’ll make a sports prediction that you make the Hall of Fame. We’ll miss ya, bud.