Eric Weinrich feels blessed.

When he retired 13 months ago after a 1,157-game National Hockey League career, the Gardiner native finally received the opportunity to return to his home state as an assistant coach with the AHL’s Portland Pirates.

The former University of Maine All-American and U.S. Olympian bought a home in Yarmouth and was finally able to spend some quality time with wife Tracy, son Ben and daughter Emmy. After all, work was just 15 miles away.

Now things have gotten even better.

Due to call-ups and injuries a year ago which left the Pirates short on defensemen, Weinrich wound up dressing and wound up playing 36 games, notching 2 goals and 12 assists.

He will return as a player for the Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks’ top minor league franchise this season and he can’t wait to get started.

“This is great for me. I want to keep playing. I’ll still be working with the guys it’s just that I’ll be doing it from the other side of the bench,” said the 40-year-old Weinrich. “I enjoyed playing last year and it seemed like the guys enjoyed having me as a teammate. I may have helped some of them.”

His joy being on skates again led him to contact Pirates general manager Bob Murphy in the off-season about the possibility of him returning as a player rather than an assistant coach.

“Bob said he liked the way the kids responded to me playing alongside them,” said Weinrich, who played for eight NHL teams and tallied 70 goals and 318 assists.

Weinrich said he has no visions of returning to the NHL.

“I’m not playing to open [Anaheim’s] eyes and show I can still play for them. I’m playing because I love to play and I’m able to live at home. I pretty much have a normal routine with my family all week and I just play [primarily] on the weekends. It’s an ideal situation.”

Even though he won’t be a coach, he will continue to work with the young defensemen and help them develop.

Weinrich knows his playing time may be limited but he doesn’t care.

“The way our schedule is and the way the season goes, you can never tell how many players will be available. I figure I’ll probably play more than they plan on me playing because of those situations,” said Weinrich.

“Everybody knows it’s a developmental league and they’re trying to get their prospects ready to get a shot [in the NHL]. So they’re going to give them every opportunity [to play],” Weinrich added. “I feel my role is going to be to play with one of their young defensemen and make him a little more comfortable with the pro game. That’s what I did last year.”

Weinrich said he has taken some good-natured ribbing from his friends about his return to the ice.

“They kind of laugh and ask me when I’m going to get a real job,” chuckled Weinrich.

He is really looking forward to Dec. 18 when the Pirates will play for the first time at the University of Maine’s Alfond Arena. They will play the Manchester Monarchs, the Los Angeles Kings’ top minor league affiliate.

“That’s going to be so much fun. I hope they have a good turnout,” said Weinrich.