Retired Panther Joe Nieuwendyk has been spending more time with his family since stepping away from hockey in mid-November. But he’s also had time to pursue some of his hobbies, such as fishing.

Best buddy Gary Roberts told the story after Thursday’s morning skate that when Nieuwendyk went fishing at a pond behind his house in the Heron Bay development in west Broward County, he hooked an alligator.

“By accident,” Roberts said. “He dropped his rod and the alligator unhooked himself. He didn’t lose his rod. He came up, showed his mouth, and then he dove down, and must have unhooked himself somehow.”

Roberts said Nieuwendyk fashions himself as something of a fisherman and likes to go out now and again. Roberts joined him once, on his birthday in early September, when the two joined team orthopedist Al DiSimone on a deep-sea fishing trip.

“It was fun,” he said. “But I wasn’t ready for how much work it was to haul in some of those fish.” He said the trio pulled in a couple of 40-pounders, one a kingfish and the other a bonito.

On his birthday we went deep sea fishing with Dr. DiSimone. It was fun.