Jack Campbell Retires From Professional Hockey
Jack Campbell has announced his retirement from professional hockey at the age of 34. He announced on his Instagram.
The veteran goaltender had not played professionally since the 2024-25 season, under a one-year, $775K contract with the Detroit Red Wings, where he did not see NHL time and played 14 games with the Grand Rapids Griffins, the AHL affiliate. Early into that season, the Port Huron, Michigan native entered the Player Assistance Program. He had hoped to raise his value in Detroit after a disappointing tenure with the Edmonton Oilers, two seasons where he combined for a -21.83 goals saved above expected. The Oilers bought out the last three years of his five-year, $25MM contract signed back in 2022.
In his NHL tenure, he posted a 93-52-18 record across his career that began with the Dallas Stars, the team that selected him 11th overall in the 2010 NHL draft and gave him the first of his seven total contracts signed in his career. His entry-level deal, a three-year, $4.2MM ($1.4MM AAV) contract signed in 2010, didn’t take effect until 2012, after he split time with the Windsor Spitfires and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in major junior hockey. Campbell also spent those days with Team USA in three straight IIHF World Junior Championships within that span, earning a gold medal in 2010 and a bronze medal in 2011 as the competition’s best goaltender.
From there, Campbell was with the Texas Stars, the AHL affiliate of Dallas, winning a Calder Cup in 2014 before making his NHL debut at age 21. He didn’t see an extended run as an NHL goaltender until 2018 with the Los Angeles Kings, signing with the club after being traded by Dallas further west in June of 2016. That run came due to the injury of Kings legendary goaltender, Jonathan Quick, forcing LA to call Campbell to the NHL. In 31 games, he posted a career best 10.72 GSAx, from a .928 save percentage and 2.3 goals against average. His tenure out west caught the eyes of the Toronto Maple Leafs; where they’d eventually trade for the then 27-year-old goaltender.
Campbell truly shined in the NHL’s modern mecca. On the two-year, $1.65MM AAV deal he signed with the Kings that didn’t kick in until 2021, he served as backup to then Leaf goaltender Frederik Andersen before eventually earning the starting role, off a stellar start with 11 straight wins, the most by a goalie to start a season up to that point. ‘Soupy’ then was named an NHL All-Star in 2021-22, posting a .914 Sv% and 2.64 GAA in 49 games, winning 31 of them in his age-30 season with 5 shutouts.
That earned him his 5-year deal in Edmonton, where the Oilers believed Campbell was the solution to their problems in goal. However, he did not live up to his previous all-star numbers and since had not been able to recoup such consistency, before his buyout, Edmonton sent him down to the Bakersfield Condors in the AHL.
Throughout his career, Campbell mentioned times when pressure and expectations for himself have weighed heavily on him. In the announcement, he said he’ll move forward as a life coach and referred to times in his life when he needed someone who could advise him and hold him accountable. He tagged Novus Global, saying, “I’m incredibly grateful to begin this next chapter as a coach with @novus.global. I can’t wait to walk alongside athletes, leaders, and high performers as they create bigger visions for their lives and become the people those visions require.”
Jordan Oesterle Announces Retirement
Veteran defenseman Jordan Oesterle is calling it a career. His agency, O2K Worldwide Management Group, announced Monday that the 34-year-old is retiring after 12 professional seasons, praising him for turning an undrafted college free agent signing into a lengthy pro career.
Oesterle never heard his name called at the draft. He went the college route instead, spending three seasons at Western Michigan before the Oilers signed him to an entry-level deal in the spring of 2014. He made his NHL debut the following season, but it took a change of scenery to find real traction. After signing with Chicago in 2017, Oesterle carved out a full-time role over the second half of the 2017-18 campaign, at times skating alongside Duncan Keith, and posted five goals and 15 points in 55 games. It was enough to earn him a spot on Team USA’s roster at the 2018 World Championship, where the Americans took bronze.
That summer, Oesterle was moved to Arizona as part of the trade that sent Marian Hossa‘s contract out of Chicago, and the change stuck. He set career highs with six goals and 20 points in 2018-19 while logging real minutes on a Coyotes team fighting for a wild-card spot. Stops in Detroit, Calgary, and Boston followed, with Nashville claiming him off waivers from the Bruins at the 2025 deadline.
He finishes with 409 NHL games across seven organizations: Edmonton, Chicago, Arizona, Detroit, Calgary, Boston, and Nashville, recording 23 goals, 73 assists, and 96 points.
Fittingly, his final season was one of his best. After clearing waivers out of Predators camp last fall, Oesterle reported to AHL Milwaukee and led the Admirals with 46 points (14 goals, 32 assists) in 65 games, all career highs. That production got him one last NHL recall in April, a single game with Nashville. His playing days ended later that month when Milwaukee fell to Manitoba in a winner-take-all play-in game.
Pro Hockey Rumors congratulates Oesterle on a successful pro career, and wish him the best in retirement.
Jonathan Toews Retires After 16-Year NHL Career
According to a team announcement, Jonathan Toews is retiring from professional hockey. As first reported by TSN’s Darren Dreger, the veteran center was expected to officially call an end to his illustrious professional hockey career.
After stepping away from the game for two full seasons to focus on his health and manage chronic immune response syndrome, in the 2025-26 season, the 38-year-old returned to the ice with his hometown Winnipeg Jets. “I have to say I’m satisfied; I’m fulfilled. I’m so thankful and grateful for the career I had,” said Toews per a Jets press release. Toews signed a one-year, $2MM deal with Winnipeg back on July 1, 2025.
Defying expectations regarding his physical stamina after his time off, Toews played a full 82 game season for the Jets, scoring 11 goals and 18 assists for 29 points, all while logging a minus-20 rating on a lackluster season overall for the club, with the Jets finishing with a 35-35-12 record for 82 points and 7th in the Central Division.
Toews retires as one of the most respected, defensive-minded leaders of his generation. His legendary resume was built in his time with the Chicago Blackhawks, during which his 15 seasons as the captain of the Original Six franchise, he led a modern dynasty, winning three Stanley Cup championships in 2010, 2013, and 2015, earning the 2010 Conn Smythe trophy. He was also named to the NHL’s 100th Anniversary Team, and won the 2007-08 Art Ross trophy, the 2012-13 Selke Trophy, and the 2014-15 Mark Messier award.
Across his career, Toews is estimated to have earned over $120MM across his time as an NHLer. His entry-level contract, signed back in 2007 at age 19, paid him $8.4MM in total value. After three 50-plus point seasons, Chicago inked him on a five-year, $31.5MM ($6.3MM) contract extension through the 2014-15 campaign. After the dynasty’s peak years, capping off the third Stanley Cup victory, Chicago locked up Toews that summer on an eight-year, $84MM ($10.5MM AAV) contract that would take him from age 26 to age 35 in 2023 with a full no-movement clause.
Additionally, Toews is a two-time gold medalist with Canada at the Winter Olympic Games, being named the best forward at the tournament after scoring the most assists (7) and the best rating (+9) in 2010, as well as scoring the clinching goal in 2014. Previously, before he entered the NHL, he was a WCHA conference champion with North Dakota in 2005-06, as well as a two-time World Junior Gold Medalist, scoring the championship-winning goal, making the tournament all-star team, and becoming a Top 3 player on Canada behind a 63% faceoff%, notably in 2006-07.
After being selected third overall by the Blackhawks in the 2006 NHL Draft out of North Dakota, Toews closed his career with 383 goals, 529 assists, and 912 total points across 1,149 regular-season games, while maintaining a stellar plus-128 rating over his 16 active NHL seasons.
Photo Credit: Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare Announces Retirement
The second-highest scoring French-born player in NHL history has hung up his skates. According to an announcement from the NHL, forward Pierre-Édouard Bellemare has retired from professional hockey.
Before his time in North America, Bellemare spent his professional playing days in France with Rouen before joining the SHL’s Skellefteå AIK in the early 2010s. He became a successful secondary scorer in Sweden, registering 45 goals and 93 points in 136 games throughout his last three seasons.
As an international free agent, Bellemare joined the Philadelphia Flyers at 29 years old before the 2014-15 campaign. Thanks to a subsequent two-year deal with the organization, Bellemare spent the next three years with Philadelphia, scoring 17 goals and 34 points in 237 games while averaging 13:07 of ice time per game. Additionally, Bellemare showed off his physical prowess, tallying 259 hits throughout that timeframe.
Despite signing a two-year extension with the Flyers toward the end of the 2016-17 campaign, he wouldn’t play a single game for them under that contract. The following summer, Bellemare was selected by the upstart Vegas Golden Knights in their expansion draft, becoming one of the original misfits.
At the time, Bellemare enjoyed the best season of his NHL career with the Golden Knights, scoring six goals and 16 points in 72 games with a +5 rating. He also factored into their improbable run to the 2018 Stanley Cup Final, registering three assists in 20 playoff games.
After finishing out his contract with Vegas, Bellemare signed a two-year agreement with the Colorado Avalanche for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns. Despite both years of the deal being shortened by the Covid-19 pandemic, Bellemare finished his tenure with the Avalanche having scored 18 goals and 33 points in 122 games.
Again signing a two-year deal, Bellemare departed from the Avalanche to the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning. It turned out to be a risky gamble, as the Lightning were defeated by Bellemare’s former team in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final.
Finishing off his career, Bellemare signed a one-year contract with the Seattle Kraken for the 2023-24 season, finishing with four goals and seven points in 40 games. Bellemare has been playing for the NL’s HC Ajoie for the past two years and played for Team France at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Despite being nearly 60 points back of Antoine Roussel as the highest-scoring French-born player in NHL history, he has the most games played (700) by far. Across 10 seasons in the NHL, Bellemare registered 64 goals, 138 points, 615 hits, and 502 blocked shots, with an additional five goals and 15 points in 85 postseason contests.
We at PHR congratulate Bellemare on his 10-year career and wish him the best for his next chapter.
Max McCormick Announces Retirement
According to an announcement from the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds, captain Max McCormick has retired from professional hockey. McCormick lost the entire 2025-26 campaign due to a hip injury, and that likely influenced him to hang up his skates.
McCormick, 34, was drafted with the 171st overall pick of the 2011 NHL Draft by the Ottawa Senators. Before turning pro, McCormick spent his collegiate days at The Ohio State University, scoring 36 goals and 88 points in 104 games from 2011 to 2014. He eventually signed a two-year, entry-level contract with the Senators, but spent his entire first season with the AHL’s Binghamton Senators.
Although he would never lead the team in scoring throughout his tenure, McCormick became a relatively solid secondary contributor with the AHL Senators. Across four and a half seasons, McCormick registered 61 goals and 125 points in 254 contests. Additionally, Ottawa is where McCormick earned the most NHL opportunities throughout his professional career, scoring six goals and 10 points in 71 games from 2015 to 2019.
The Senators eventually traded McCormick to the Colorado Avalanche halfway through the 2018-19 campaign. He finished the campaign with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles before departing for the Carolina Hurricanes the next offseason. He spent two years with the Hurricanes organization, again primarily playing for their AHL affiliate. They mildly used him in the NHL during the 2020-21 season, finishing with two goals and three points in 12 games, averaging 7:49 of ice time.
Again looking for a new home, McCormick signed with the new Seattle Kraken franchise, where he would ultimately finish his career. He had an impressive two-year run with the Firebirds, the best of his professional career, scoring 60 goals and 127 points in 139 games, which helped the team reach back-to-back Calder Cup Finals, losing both times to the Hershey Bears. Unfortunately, over the past two years, McCormick’s career was derailed due to his chronic hip injury.
The De Pere, WI native concludes his career with 159 goals and 337 points in 540 AHL games, along with 26 additional goals and 45 points in 53 postseason contests. Additionally, McCormick tallied eight goals and 13 points in 94 NHL appearances. We at PHR congratulate McCormick on his 12-year professional career and wish him the best in his next chapter.
Milan Lucic Announces Retirement
Former Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic announced his retirement from professional hockey today, per the NHL Players’ Association. The announcement officially concludes a professional career that includes 1,177 NHL games.
Lucic, 38, is a large power forward who is best known for his work as a member of the Boston Bruins, the team he played for from 2007 to 2015, with an additional four-game stint with the team coming in 2023.
A 2006 second-round pick out of the WHL’s Vancouver Giants, Lucic was a fast-developing prospect, going from 19 points in 62 games in his 2005-06 draft campaign to 30 goals and 68 points in 70 games during his first season as a drafted Bruins prospect.
A WHL champion with Vancouver, Lucic made a quick adjustment to the pro game in 2007-08. He made the Bruins’ NHL roster as a 19-year-old rookie, scoring eight goals and 19 points in 77 games, while also registering 179 hits and 89 penalty minutes.
His aggressive, physical style was already earning plaudits from around the league, as despite his relatively pedestrian rookie year production, he ended the campaign with two fifth-place votes for the Calder Trophy.
Lucic’s NHL breakout came during his sophomore campaign. He avoided the dreaded second-year slump that impacts many young forwards, instead boosting his production to 17 goals and 42 points in 72 games. He did so while playing an even more effective physical style, racking up 259 hits and 136 penalty minutes. Even from his first few seasons in the NHL, it would become abundantly clear that Lucic represented the exact kind of identity the Bruins have wanted out of their players – someone who pairs real offensive touch with relentless aggression and a mastery of the physical side of the game.
2008-09 would also be the year when Lucic showed just how valuable his style could be in the postseason. Although Lucic would be suspended for a game during the team’s first-round series sweep over their arch-rival Montreal Canadiens for a cross-check to the head of Maxim Lapierre, he would finish the playoffs with nine points in 10 games in a run that ended in game seven of the second round.
Although Lucic’s next season, 2009-10, was a bit of a struggle in the regular season (he battled multiple injuries) he remained a valuable playoff contributor, scoring nine points in 13 contests.
The following campaign, 2010-11, would prove to be arguably Lucic’s best in the NHL. He finished the regular season with 30 goals and 62 points in 79 games, showing just how consistently effective he could be when healthy. In the playoffs, he scored 12 points in 25 games as the Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks in a dramatic seven-game series to win their first Stanley Cup since 1972.
By that point, Lucic had established himself as one of the game’s premier emerging power forward talents. That began a stretch where he would consistently score around a 50-60 point pace, a level of consistent production that would persist even beyond the conclusion of Lucic’s Bruins tenure. He also remained hugely valuable in the playoffs, including in 2012-13 when he scored 19 points in 22 games during the Bruins’ run to the Stanley Cup Final, where they would be eliminated in a dramatic game six at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks.
As he entered his late 20s, Lucic neared unrestricted free agency, and the Bruins traded him to the Los Angeles Kings. Lucic spent one year, his age-27 season, in Los Angeles, scoring 20 goals and 55 points. After his year in Los Angeles, Lucic became one of the league’s most in-demand free agents. In the end, the Edmonton Oilers, led by GM Peter Chiarelli, who had managed Boston to its Stanley Cup in 2011, won the bidding war for Lucic and secured his services on a seven-year, $6MM AAV contract.
At first, that deal looked like it might just work for the Oilers, who enjoyed a 23-goal, 50-point debut campaign from Lucic. Lucic registered 202 hits, and there was hope his power forward style, fearsome physicality, and veteran leadership would help in teenage phenom Connor McDavid‘s development into an NHL star. McDavid missed half of his rookie campaign with an injury, but broke out for 100 points during Lucic’s first season with the Oilers.
Unfortunately, while the Oilers enjoyed solid immediate returns on their investment in Lucic, the contract would quickly turn into one of the league’s foremost financial anchors. Lucic’s production declined to 34 points in 2017-18, and in 2018-19, it lowered to just 20 points. Lucic’s foot speed declined considerably, and his offensive value cratered along with it. At one point, Lucic failed to register a goal in over 40 games.
In the summer of 2019, the Oilers traded Lucic to the Calgary Flames in a deal that swapped underperforming big-ticket UFA wingers between arch rivals. The Oilers received James Neal, the Flames’ own $5.75MM AAV free agency investment, in exchange for Lucic and a conditional third-round pick.
While the fresh start did not result in Lucic rediscovering the offensive touch he had in past years in his career, he did find a way to hold onto a consistent lineup spot with the Flames, providing some value as a highly physical veteran fourth-liner, even if his contributions did not ultimately match his compensation.
Lucic played out his seven-year contract with the Flames, and when it expired in the summer of 2023, Lucic elected to sign a one-year, $1MM contract to return to the Bruins.
While there was definite excitement for the return of a fan favorite player, Lucic’s second stint in Boston ended after just four games played. Lucic missed most of the 2023-24 season after entering the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. Lucic entered the program after he was arrested for an alleged domestic incident. Charges against Lucic were eventually dropped.
Lucic would exit the program after missing the rest of the 2023-45 season. He would go on to sign a PTO with the St. Louis Blues for 2025-26.
The PTO did not result in Lucic receiving any NHL time, though he did play in five games for their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds. Remarkably, those were the first AHL games of Lucic’s professional career. Lucic would eventually leave the AHL and signed overseas for the first time in his career, joining Scotland’s Fife Flyers of the EIHL, the top division of pro hockey in the United Kingdom. Lucic scored 12 points in 26 games for the Flyers.
Beyond his club career, Lucic did play some international hockey as well – in one tournament in his late thirties. Lucic was a veteran presence on team Canada at the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championships, serving as an alternate captain.
Lucic helped guide Canada through the team’s group stage games in Riga, Latvia, helping the team rebound after a shocking shootout loss to Norway. When the tournament shifted to knockout games in Tampere, Finland, the Canadians upset the hosts in the quarterfinals, survived a challenge from an upstart Latvia team in the semifinals, and handily defeated Germany in the finals to win a gold medal.
While that would be the only time Lucic represented Canada in his career, he made the most of it by winning what is the country’s most recent gold medal in senior-level men’s IIHF play.
Photos courtesy of Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
Aaron Ness Announces Retirement
According to an announcement from the AHL’s Hershey Bears, defenseman and captain Aaron Ness has retired. Ness has a handful of games of NHL experience, though most of his professional days were spent in the AHL.
Ness’ professional career began in 2008, being selected with the 40th overall pick of that summer’s draft by the New York Islanders. Drafted out of the famous Minnesota state high school hockey pipeline, Ness jumped to the NCAA’s University of Minnesota the next season. He spent three years with the Golden Gophers, scoring six goals and 43 points in 111 games.
After his junior season, Ness signed his entry-level contract with the Islanders and began playing for their AHL affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. During his time with the Islanders organization, he spent most of it with the Sound Tigers, where he was named the team’s captain for the 2014-15 season. He had the second-best production of his AHL career that year, scoring eight goals and 45 points in 74 games.
Additionally, Ness earned an extended look in the NHL with New York. During the 2013-14 season, in a depth role, Ness registered one goal and three points in 20 games for the Islanders, averaging 14:48 of ice time per game. Unfortunately, that relationship didn’t last much longer, and Ness left as a free agent in 2015 to join the Washington Capitals.
The Capitals organization is where Ness enjoyed the best years of his career. From the beginning of the 2015-16 campaign to the 2017-18 season, Ness skated in 18 games for the Capitals while tallying three assists. Similar to his time with the Islanders, Ness spent most of his time in the AHL, this time with the Hershey Bears.
Ahead of the 2019-20 campaign, Ness signed with the Arizona Coyotes and left after two seasons to sign an AHL deal with the Providence Bruins. After his one-year stint in Rhode Island, Ness returned to the Bears on another AHL deal.
Now in his second stint with Hershey, Ness was immediately given a leadership position on the club and was named the team’s captain last season. He helped the Bears capture back-to-back Calder Cup championships in 2023 and 2024.
In total, Ness has a modest NHL scoring line of one goal and seven points in 72 games. Still, he amassed 61 goals and 339 points in 818 AHL games, with another two goals and 19 points in 81 postseason contests. Including his two Calder Cup rings, Ness enjoyed a 15-year career in the AHL, with over half of those being spent with the Bears. We at PHR congratulate Ness on his career and wish him the best in his next chapter.
Claude Giroux To Continue Playing For 2026-27 Season
Veteran scorer Claude Giroux will not hang up his skates for at least one more season, reports Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. According to LeBrun, Giroux “needed some time after the season to mull over his future” as he was considering retirement, but now the 38-year-old “has decided he wants to come back and play another season.”
Giroux’s decision means a 1,345-game NHL career that began in 2007-08 will continue for at least one more campaign. Complicating Giroux’s situation is the fact that he is a pending unrestricted free agent. Giroux has been playing for his hometown Ottawa Senators since 2022, arriving there from the Florida Panthers. Giroux was on the Panthers as a rental trade addition. Before that, he was a top scorer and face-of-the-franchise player for the Philadelphia Flyers.
One of the greatest Flyers in the franchise’s modern history, Giroux is no longer the star scorer he once was. At 38 years old, that’s to be expected. But he has shown himself to still be a productive scoring winger for the Senators even as he’s aged. In 2025-26, he scored 14 goals and 49 points. That’s not quite at the level of his debut season in the Canadian capital (35 goals, 79 points in 2022-23) but still more than strong enough to make him worth his cap hit of $2MM. (Base cap hit, he also earned $1MM in performance bonuses)
Looking ahead to next season, it seems overwhelmingly likely that Giroux will remain in Ottawa. Another one-year contract with a relatively low base salary and stocked full of performance bonuses, similar to the contract he played last season on, seems most appropriate.
Playing at least one more year, Giroux will be able to help the Senators try to win their first playoff series since their run to the Eastern Conference Final in 2017. He’ll also be chasing some individual milestones, like 1,400 games played, 400 goals, and 1,200 points.
Bob Hartley Announces Retirement
Bob Hartley, a longtime head coach in the NHL who won a Stanley Cup championship and a Jack Adams Award, announced his retirement from coaching today. Hartley coached Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the KHL to a Gagarin Cup title earlier this week.
The announcement concludes a coaching career that began all the way back in the late 1980s. Hartley got his start in junior hockey, coaching the CJHL’s Hawkesbury Hawks. He coached the team to back-to-back titles in 1990 and 1991, achievements that landed him a role coaching in the QMJHL for the Laval Titan. In two seasons in Laval, Hartley went 81-52-7, winning a league championship in his second season in his role.
After winning a title with Laval, Hartley continued to climb the coaching ladder, taking an assistant coaching job in the AHL with the Cornwall Aces, on the staff of future Jack Adams winner Jacques Martin. Martin left for an NHL role with the Quebec Nordiques after just a year, leaving Hartley as head coach of the Aces.
He won division titles in each of his two years as head coach in Cornwall. The Aces were at the time the affiliate of the Nordiques, who in 1995 relocated to Colorado. The Avalanche let Cornwall go dormant, and switched their hockey operations personnel, including players and coaches, to the Hershey Bears. Hartley won a Calder Cup title in his first season as head coach of the Bears, in 1996-97.
Hartley’s Calder Cup win put him on the path to becoming a future NHL head coach, and he didn’t have to wait too long to get his chance. In 1998, Avalanche head coach Marc Crawford resigned after his team fell in the first round of the playoffs, just two seasons removed from leading the Avalanche to a Stanley Cup. The Avalanche elevated Hartley to the position of head coach, and was an instant success. In his first two campaigns on the job, Hartley defeated Scotty Bowman’s Detroit Red Wings in back-to-back playoffs, but fell to the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final in both years.
In his third season, Hartley’s Avalanche won 52 games and won the Stanley Cup, delivering a long-awaited championship to legendary defenseman Ray Bourque. The following year, in 2002, Hartley’s Avalanche fell to the Red Wings in the Western Conference Final. Hartley was fired after 31 games in 2002-03, but didn’t wait long for another job. He was hired by the Atlanta Thrashers that same season. While he had inherited a team capable of contending for Stanley Cups in Colorado, Hartley was dealt the opposite hand in Atlanta, joining a franchise that averaged under 20 wins in its first three seasons.
Hartley was able to make his mark in Atlanta. He guided the franchise through serious off-ice adversity, and under his leadership, the Thrashers entered their strongest period in franchise history. Hartley’s 2006-07 team was the only Thrashers team to reach the playoffs, winning a Southeast Division title with a 43-28-11 record. The following year, he was fired by Atlanta after an 0-6-0 start to their 2007-08 season.
Hartley spent 2011-12 in Switzerland coaching the ZSC Lions, and he had a successful tenure there, winning a National League title. That helped pave the way for what would be Hartley’s final head coaching role in the NHL – a job with the Calgary Flames. Hartley missed the playoffs in three of his four seasons in Calgary, but his 2014-15 campaign stands out as he went 45-30-7 and won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year. A year later, he was let go by the Flames. From 2016-17 through 2020-21, Hartley was head coach of Latvia’s national team.
In 2018-19, Hartley became a head coach in the KHL for the first time, and in his time coaching both Avangard Omsk and Lokomotiv, he has been to three Gagarin Cup finals and won the trophy twice. We at PHR would like to extend our best wishes to Hartley in his retirement and congratulate him on an exceptional coaching career.
Photos courtesy of Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Rangers’ Benoit Allaire To Retire After Free Agency
The 2025-26 season will be the last for longtime New York Rangers goalie coach Benoit Allaire, per a team announcement. Allaire will stick around the team through the NHL Draft and start of free agency, per Peter Baugh of The Athletic, before he calls a 29-year career in the NHL to a close.
Allaire has overseen some of the NHL’s top goaltenders as they rose to starting roles. His career began as a goaltending coach with the Montreal Canadiens in 1996. Right away, Allaire was involved in notable NHL careers, working with 20-year-olds Jose Theodore and Tomas Vokoun. Both were overshadowed by a 22-year-old Jocelyn Thibault, who played 61 games of the 1996-97 season.
Theodore and Vokoun went on to play in 647 and 700 games in their NHL careers, respectively, while Allaire jumped to the Phoenix Coyotes for their second season in 1997-98. He joined forces with Nikolai Khabibulin, who was in his third season as Phoenix’s starter. Khabibulin allowed the most goals in the NHL (184) in 1997-98, but, after a year with Allaire, reached a .923 save percentage in 63 games of the 1998-99 season. That mark would stand as the highest in Khabibulin’s 18-year NHL career, though he moved to the Tampa Bay Lightning for the 2000-01 season. Allaire stayed in Phoenix for five more seasons, leaning on Sean Burke to fill the Coyotes’ crease until Brian Boucher moved to Phoenix in 2002-03.
With the Coyotes goalie room stabilized by Boucher, Burke, and Brent Johnson, Allaire moved to the Rangers ahead of the 2005-06 season. It was on Broadway that Allaire would build his legacy. He took over goalie coach duties in Henrik Lundqvist‘s rookie season. Lundqvist finished the year as a Vezina Trophy finalist and fourth in Calder Trophy voting, after recording 30 wins and a .922 save percentage in 53 games.
He was an immediate star who would move through the 2010s as a perennial Vezina candidate with save percentages consistently north of .920. With Lundqvist’s career fading as 2020 approached, Allaire’s attention turned towards finding his next star. That successor would be Igor Shesterkin, who has seamlessly taken over Lundqvist’s spot on annual Vezina ballots. Shesterkin has a career .917 save percentage in 325 games, including a .912 in 51 games this season.
Allaire has molded countless goaltenders into long-term, NHL starters. He also worked with Kevin Weekes, Cam Talbot, Alexandar Georgiev, and Antti Raanta. His name rings loud in NHL circles, and the Rangers will feel the absence of their Director of Goaltending. New York promoted Allaire to a full-time director role in the 2024-25 season.
In the same year, they promoted Hartford Wolf Pack goalie coach Jeff Malcolm to the top flight. Malcolm is a veteran of the Hartford lineup as both a player and a coach – and has spent the last two seasons learning to make up for Allaire’s eventual retirement. He will take the reins moving forward, while the Rangers can rely on Shesterkin, who is signed through the 2032-33 season.