“I love the work, and I love getting out and sweating,” Elias said, “but I don’t feel like I want to do it any more on a nightly basis — or two times a day when there’s a morning skate.”

Two seasons ago, Elias played in 69 of 82 games for the Devils, but he was limited to 16 games last year because of the injury to his right knee that required surgery. He leaned toward retirement, he said, but then decided to try to return. He said his recovery had taken longer than he expected.

The Devils set up a cubicle for Elias in their dressing room at Prudential Center, and he resumed skating in September. He thought that his rehabilitation and conditioning were proceeding smoothly, but injured players who were skating with Elias began to ask: “What are you waiting for? Why don’t you play?”

His response: “If I wanted to play again, I wanted to play the way I was used to.”

Devils General Manager Ray Shero said he had told Elias that the decision to return would be his, not Shero’s. “You’ve got all the time in the world to make up your mind,” Shero recalled telling Elias. “Just let me know.”

But Elias had gone skiing at two resorts in Washington State and realized that he could enjoy physical recreation outside a hockey rink. He had skied only twice in the previous 30 years, but he began tackling tougher slopes for the challenge.

“I’m going to miss it — and I do miss it,” he said of hockey, “but I think I will find it in different things.”