Former Predators’ Winger Andreas Thuresson Retires
A prolific career in international hockey has come to an end for Sweden’s Andreas Thuresson. The 38 year old has announced his retirement per the NHL Alumni Association after five seasons in the AHL, six in the SHL and DEL, and two in the KHL and NHL. Thuresson has played at a professional level for the last 20 years, making his debut in Sweden’s HockeyAllsvenskan in the 2005-06 season.
Thuresson’s breakout came in his second professional season. He scored 15 points in 48 games of the 2006-07 Sweden Elitserien – a predecessor to the SHL – season. That production convinced the Nashville Predators to draft Thuresson in the fifth round of the 2007 NHL Draft. He joined the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals and quickly proved he could fill a nightly role. Thuresson appeared in 151 games and scored 47 points in his first two AHL seasons. With his footing established, Thuresson put together a career-year in the 2009-10 season, marked by routine call-ups to the Predators roster. He finished the year with 33 points in 50 AHL games and three points in the first 22 games of his NHL career. Thuresson played three more NHL games in the 2010-11 season – but with no scoring, his career in North America ended with two more AHL seasons and 59 points in his final 149 games.
Thuresson moved back to the Elitserien to play with Brynas IF in 2012. He scored 19 points in 48 games upon his return, then jumped up to 37 points in 52 games of the 2013-14 season – the year the Elitserien became the SHL. A hot year prompted more exploring outside of Sweden. Thuresson moved to the KHL for the 2014-15 season and split the year between Sibir Novosibirsk and Severstal Cherepovets, combining for 25 points in 47 games. He returned to the SHL for the next two seasons – marked by continued production: 57 points in 93 games – then split the 2017-18 campaign between the KHL’s sole Chinese team, the Kunlun Red Star, and a stint with the National League’s SCL Tigers in Switzerland. Just like his previous KHL season, Thuresson followed the move with another productive return to Sweden – 19 points in 43 games of the 2018-19 SHL season.
On the other side of so many moves, Thuresson sought out a league where he could stick in 2019. He moved to Germany’s DEL – effectively completing a globetrot around the hockey world. Thuresson began what would turn into a five-year career in the DEL with the Schwenninger Wild Wings. He scored 56 points in 66 games, including a team-leading 37 points in 38 games of the 2020-21 season. Thuresson moved to Kolner Haie for the final three seasons of his career. His first season in Kolner was marked by 34 points in 50 games, then Thuresson jumped to a career-high and league-leading 60 points in 51 games of 2022-23. He continued to score in his final year, with 22 points in 28 games – but suffered an injury that would limit both his season and, now, his career.
Thuresson shared that his career came to an unexpectedly-early end, but spanned some of his dreams including playing in the NHL and joining Team Sweden at the 2015 World Championship, in a personal Instragram post announcing his retirement. He was long regarded as a skillful, power-forward who played a team-first game. Pro Hockey Rumors wishes Thuresson luck in his post-playing career.
Jonathan Quick To Retire Following Season
As speculated, tonight will be Jonathan Quick‘s last start of his NHL career. Getting the nod against the Florida Panthers, Quick told reporters (via Vince Z. Mercogliano) that he is retiring after the 2025-26 season.
Quick’s professional career began back in 2005, when he was selected 72nd overall by the Los Angeles Kings. After a pair of quality years at the University of Massachusetts, the Kings felt it was time to bring Quick to the professional level.
Unfortunately, his first season didn’t go as well as he had hoped. He was disappointing in a few games with Los Angeles and spent much of the year split between the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs and ECHL’s Reading Royals.
Still, despite again beginning the year in the AHL, Quick was called up when netminder Erik Ersberg went down with an injury, and never looked back.
Throughout the next decade, Quick became one of the most dominant goalies of his era. From his call-up during the 2008-09 season through the 2017-18 season, Quick won 292 out of 553 games (.528 W%) with a .917 SV% and 2.27 GAA. Although he never won the Vezina Trophy, he took home a pair of William M. Jennings trophies in 2014 and 2018.
Additionally, one cannot bring up Quick’s dominant run in Los Angeles without mentioning his playoff performances. In that same decade, Quick backstopped the Kings to two Stanley Cup championships in 2012 and 2014, winning 46 of 85 games (.541 W%) with a .922 SV% and 2.23 GAA. His performance was impressive during the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs, and he was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the postseason’s MVP.
If they hadn’t already, Quick’s performance in 2012 certified that he was the Kings’ goaltender of the future, and they rewarded him with a 10-year, $58MM ($5.8MM AAV) extension.
As it does so often, injuries and age crept up on Quick, and his stability in the crease began to wane during the 2018-19 season. Finishing out his 10-year extension with Los Angeles, Quick found his way to the Vegas Golden Knights after the Kings traded him to Columbus, and the Blue Jackets shipped him to Vegas.
While he didn’t have an integral role with the team, nor did he get his name on the Stanley Cup, Quick won the trophy for the third time with the Golden Knights in 2023. Knowing that his career was coming to an end, Quick signed with the New York Rangers, a team he had grown up idolizing, ahead of the 2023-24 season.
Far removed from being a quality starter, Quick has still managed to be a productive backup for the Rangers. In three years with the club, Quick has managed a 35-29-6 record in 75 games, with a .900 SV% and 2.94 GAA.
Before tonight’s contest, Quick owns a 410-306-90 record throughout his 828-game NHL career. His 410 wins stand as the 12th-most all-time in the NHL, though he won’t have a chance to crack Tony Esposito‘s record with a win tonight. Additionally, his career .910 SV% ranks 59th all-time, just a few points shy of Patrick Roy.
We at PHR congratulate Quick on a Hall of Fame career and wish him the best of luck in his next chapter.
Photo courtesy of Jerry Lai of USA TODAY Sports.
Morning Notes: Sandin Pellikka, Hedman, Erixon
Red Wings rookie defenseman Axel Sandin Pellikka was scratched for a sixth straight game in last night’s 3-1 win over the Canadiens. While the 2023 #17 overall pick hit the ground running this season as Detroit’s second-pairing righty behind Moritz Seider, his complete lack of usage after the team acquired Justin Faulk to fill that role at the deadline was weeks in the making. He has 19 points in 63 appearances but has seen his ice time slashed significantly dating back to New Year’s, averaging 13:27 per game in a 22-match stretch. He’ll no doubt make a push to leapfrog pending RFA Jacob Bernard-Docker on the depth chart next season to step back into a regular role, but his defensive results this year – a -21 rating, a 47.8% expected goals share, and a 45.2% scoring chance share at 5-on-5 – aren’t great.
Here’s more from around the NHL:
- Lightning captain Victor Hedman didn’t play the last two periods of the Bolts’ 6-2 drubbing of the Canucks last night, but there isn’t a huge cause for concern. Head coach Jon Cooper told reporters postgame that while he is a bit banged up, the decision to pull him was illness-related, per Benjamin Pierce of NHL.com. It’s long been known that the 35-year-old isn’t at 100% this season – he’s missed over 30 games due to elbow surgery and an undisclosed lower-body issue. It shows in his performance, averaging a career-low 18:52 per game while limited to a 1-16–17 scoring line and a -1 rating in 33 outings.
- Former NHL depth piece Tim Erixon has retired, he told Nathalie Vinroth of Swedish newspaper Sundsvalls Tidning this week. The 23rd overall pick by the Flames in the 2009 draft, he went on to play 93 games in parts of four years with the Rangers, Blue Jackets, Blackhawks, and Maple Leafs. He last saw NHL ice in 2015 and last played in the minors in 2019 before returning home to bookend his career in the Swedish Hockey League. The 35-year-old won an SHL championship with the Växjö Lakers in 2021 and has been with Timrå IK ever since, although he’s played just six games since the beginning of 2024-25 due to ongoing back issues aggravated by a foot fracture.
Ryan Johansen Announces Retirement
Ryan Johansen announced his retirement in an episode of the Predators’ official team podcast released Thursday afternoon. The 33-year-old center steps away after an NHL career that spanned 13 seasons and included an All-Star nod and a Western Conference championship with Nashville in 2017.
Johansen played his junior hockey with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks, where he rode a 69-point rookie season to a fourth overall selection by the Blue Jackets in the 2010 draft. After a standout performance for Portland the following season, he arrived in Columbus as a full-time NHL talent beginning with 2011-12. He struggled to produce from the hop, posting 14 goals in 107 games across his first two seasons. He fully arrived as the centerpiece of the Jackets’ attack in 2013-14, though, erupting for 33 goals and 63 points while leading the franchise to just its second playoff appearance in team history at the time.
An RFA the following summer, it took Columbus until October to get Johansen signed. Even then, the two sides could only end up settling for a three-year, $12MM bridge deal. It immediately became one of the best contracts in the league as Johansen followed up his breakout with a career-high 71 points, leading the team with 45 assists while representing Columbus at the All-Star Game and winning MVP honors there.
While it looked from there like Johansen would be the Jackets’ second great offensive star after Rick Nash, his time in the organization was already near its close. With Columbus in need of defensemen, they cut bait quickly with Johansen the following season when he got off to a sluggish start. Halfway through the 2015-16 campaign, he was dealt to the Predators in what ended up being one of the most consequential one-for-one deals of the decade for Seth Jones.
Johansen immediately assumed duties as Nashville’s top center. While he never topped the 70-point mark again, he was a major part of the most successful stretch in franchise history that saw the Preds win playoff series in three consecutive years from 2016-18, making the Cup Final in 2017 and winning the Presidents’ Trophy the following season.
At age 24, Johansen had put up four straight 60-point seasons and played a pivotal role on a team that came just two wins short of a Stanley Cup, although he missed the Final after developing acute compartment syndrome in his left thigh. It seemed like a no-brainer for Nashville to commit long-term when he was an RFA again that summer, inking him to an eight-year, $64MM contract.
Johansen’s offensive consistency would fall off significantly after he put pen to paper on that deal. He only hit the 60-point mark twice more in his career and only averaged 18 goals and 54 points per 82 games for the Preds after signing the contract. His ice time steadily decreased throughout the deal, bottoming out with a 15:46 figure in 2022-23 that also saw him limited to 28 points in 55 outings with a -13 rating. At that point, the Predators had just missed the playoffs for the first time in nine years and hadn’t won a series in five.
Looking to clear money in a flat-cap environment and get out of what was becoming an increasingly undesirable contract, the Preds put him on the trade block. The Avalanche, looking for reclamation stopgap projects down the middle in their middle-six after losing Nazem Kadri the summer prior, took Johansen on for virtually nothing while Nashville retained half his cap hit to offload him.
The move only accelerated Johansen’s jagged but now aggressive decline. He was a non-factor in Colorado and had fallen out of a top-six role by the trade deadline, posting 13 goals and 23 points in 63 games for his worst offensive showing since his teenage years. The Avs were able to offload the last year and a half of his contract by trading him to the Flyers in that year’s Sean Walker deadline deal, but he never played a game for Philadelphia. The Flyers attempted to waive him and assign him to the AHL, but that was later nullified when he failed his physical due to a nagging hip injury.
The Flyers likely planned on buying him out that summer if he was healthy. Since he wasn’t cleared to play, that wasn’t an option. They then moved to place him on unconditional waivers later in the summer to terminate his contract for what the team called a “material breach,” likely due to his failure to report the issue to team doctors before the trade. Johansen appealed, and the process lasted through the entire 2024-25 campaign anyway before an independent arbitrator ultimately ruled in favor of the Flyers.
It was essentially a foregone conclusion at that point that Johansen’s hip issues would prevent him from playing again, but he now makes it official. He tallied just over 900 career games with a 202-376–578 scoring line. His 362 points in a Nashville uniform rank sixth in franchise history. PHR congratulates Johansen on his lengthy career and wishes him the best in retirement.
Image courtesy of Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare To Retire
After 10 NHL seasons and parts of another 14 seasons in pro leagues in Europe, Pierre-Édouard Bellemare is retiring. The French national team captain, whose first Olympic appearance came to an end this morning with a quarterfinal loss to Germany, told reporters postgame that “this is it” for his international career, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Bellemare, 40, last played in the NHL with the Kraken in 2023-24. He’s spent the last two seasons with HC Ajoie in Switzerland, playing a pivotal role in helping them avoid relegation to the second-division Swiss League last year. His offensive production is greatly diminished this season, with just one goal and 10 points in 32 National League games, and he has a -15 rating. With only five regular-season games left on Ajoie’s schedule this year and locked into last place in the league, it’s unclear whether Bellemare plans to return to the team after his Olympic performance or make a clean break now.
Bellemare’s pro career began in 2002-03, as a 17-year-old with Rouen in France’s top league, then called the Super 16. He became one of the league’s top producers over the next few years, making his first appearance on the national senior team at the 2004 World Championship, but didn’t attract any NHL interest. He made the jump to a more competitive circuit with Sweden’s Leksands IF in 2006, playing in the second-division HockeyAllsvenskan. He spent three years there, leading the league in goals in 2008-09, before making another jump to Sweden’s top flight with Skellefteå.
Only after another five seasons with Skellefteå, where he won two SHL championships and was arguably the league’s top defensive forward, did Bellemare finally land an NHL contract. In 2014, he landed a two-way deal with the Flyers and, at age 29, immediately became a fourth-line, penalty-killing fixture in Philadelphia. He was never the offensive threat he was in Sweden, averaging just six goals and 12 points per 82 games, but rarely missed time and even garnered some outside Selke Trophy consideration by his third year in Philly.
Bellemare was ticketed to become an unrestricted free agent in 2017. The Flyers tried to avoid that by signing him to a two-year, $2.9MM extension in March, but they left him unprotected in that year’s expansion draft, and the Golden Knights picked him up. He wasn’t one of the many assets Vegas flipped following the draft, instead staying with the club through its storybook inaugural season in a familiar role as their fourth-line center. He hit double-digit assists in the regular season for the first of three times he’d do so in his career, before adding three points and a +6 rating in 20 playoff games in Vegas’ miracle run to the 2018 Stanley Cup Final.
A free agent again in 2019, Bellemare would spend the rest of his career on short-term deals. He first signed a two-year pact with the Avalanche, where he hit a career-high 22 points in 69 games in his first year, before landing another two-year deal with the Lightning on the heels of their back-to-back Stanley Cup championships. He made it back to the Final with the Bolts in 2022, only to lose to his old teammates in Colorado. After being limited to 13 points and a career-worst -9 rating in 73 games for Tampa in 2022-23, he hit the open market again and signed a league-minimum contract in Seattle.
Only in Bellemare’s last year in the league did he fall out of regular usage. He served as more of a 13th/14th forward for the Kraken than a fourth-line fixture, only suiting up 40 times while averaging 9:50 of ice time per game. After notching four goals and seven points for Seattle, he made it clear he wanted to extend his NHL career for at least one more season. With no guaranteed offers, he returned to the Avs on a professional tryout, but was released late in training camp. He then headed to Switzerland, where he had 10 goals and 28 points in 34 games for Ajoie last season before his age finally seemed to catch up with him in 2025-26.
While Bellemare’s offensive utility was limited, he’s arguably one of the most durable pros of his generation and is, by all accounts, an incredibly well-liked teammate. He also developed into a legitimate asset in the faceoff dot after a rough start to his career in that regard in Philly. From 2017 onward, Bellemare won 53.4% of his draws in over 4,500 attempts. His ability to stay in the lineup also provided incredible peace of mind for lineup cards. From 2014 to 2023, only 34 players logged more appearances than Bellemare’s 660.
Bellemare finishes his career with 138 points and a +22 rating in 700 games. He nearly broke even in shot attempts at even strength – an impressive feat for a defensive specialist – and also averaged 72 hits per 82 games. He garnered an estimated $11.3MM in career earnings, per PuckPedia. All of us at PHR congratulate Bellemare on an excellent career and wish him all the best in retirement.
Image courtesy of Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images.
Jack Johnson Retires, Joins Canucks Staff
According to a team announcement, the Vancouver Canucks have hired former defenseman Jack Johnson as a professional scout. The update indirectly confirms that Johnson’s 19-year career has come to an end.
Johnson’s professional career began in 2005 when he was selected with the third overall pick of the 2005 NHL Draft by the Carolina Hurricanes, behind Sidney Crosby and Bobby Ryan. Just over a year after being drafted, the Hurricanes traded Johnson and Oleg Tverdovsky to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Tim Gleason and Éric Bélanger.
Before joining the Kings at the end of the 2006-07 season, Johnson played two years at the University of Michigan in the NCAA, where he scored 26 goals and amassed 71 points in 74 games.
Unlike fellow prospect Drew Doughty, Johnson took longer to adapt to the NHL’s pace. Throughout his first three years, despite playing in a top-four role, Johnson managed only nine goals and 22 points in 120 games with a -42 rating. Still, once he was moved to a top-pairing role for the 2009-10 season, Johnson’s offense took off, scoring 13 goals and 78 points in his next 162 contests.
Los Angeles quickly rewarded Johnson for his breakout, signing the young blue liner to a seven-year, $30.5MM extension in early January of 2010. Unfortunately, his tenure with the Kings wouldn’t last much longer.
Looking to add a top-six center, the Kings traded Johnson, along with a 2013 first-round pick, to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Jeff Carter. Carter played a crucial role in the Kings’ first Stanley Cup championship later that year, while Johnson experienced the best years of his career with Columbus.
Playing out the rest of his extension with the Blue Jackets, Johnson finished his first stint with the Blue Jackets, scoring 36 goals and 154 points in 445 games. Additionally, he could always be counted upon on the defensive side of the puck, never falling below a 90.0% on-ice SV% at even strength throughout his tenure in Ohio.
Entering unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career, Johnson signed a five-year, $16.25MM contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins ahead of the 2018-19 season. Despite averaging nearly three hits a game for Pittsburgh, his offense didn’t hold up to the contract value. Johnson finished his tenure with the Penguins with four goals and 24 points in 149 games, and had the final three years of his contract bought out after the 2019-20 campaign.
Again a free agent, Johnson signed with the New York Rangers on a one-year, $1.15MM contract. Unfortunately, he was limited to 13 games in the year due to a core muscle repair surgery.
Firmly in the twilight years of his career, Johnson was open to a lower salary and a lower role in an attempt to win the first Stanley Cup of his career. He found it immediately.
Signing a one-year, league-minimum contract with the Colorado Avalanche for the 2021-22 campaign, Johnson played in 13 games for the Avalanche during the 2022 postseason, helping the team win its first Stanley Cup championship in 21 years.
Salary cap limitations prevented the Avalanche from re-signing Johnson the following year, but they subsequently acquired him again at the trade deadline from the Chicago Blackhawks. He experienced a brief offensive resurgence with Colorado during the 2023-24 season, before ultimately finishing his career with Columbus last season. He briefly attempted to make the Minnesota Wild’s roster last September, though he didn’t make the roster.
Johnson finishes his career with 77 goals and 342 points in 1,228 games with a -127 rating across 19 seasons. The length of his career is remarkable, given his willingness to sacrifice his body, averaging 1.49 blocked shots and 1.57 hits per game.
We at PHR congratulate Johnson on an impressive career and wish him the best of luck in his new role with the Canucks.
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images.
Craig Smith Announces Retirement
As expected, forward Craig Smith has hung up his skates after 14 years in the NHL. The Magnuson Hockey Agency, which represented Smith, announced the retirement.
Smith’s professional career began back in 2009, when he was selected with the 98th overall pick by the Nashville Predators. He spent two years following the draft playing for the NCAA’s University of Wisconsin, scoring 27 goals and 76 points in 82 games while being named the program’s captain in his second season.
Impressively, after a standout performance for Team USA at the 2011 IIHF World Championships, Smith jumped right to the NHL in the 2011-12 season with the Predators. He finished 12th in Calder Trophy voting that year, scoring 14 goals and 36 points in 72 games — good for eighth in scoring on the team.
Due to some injury troubles, Smith skated in four games for the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals, which would serve as the only AHL playing time Smith had throughout his career. Over the next eight years, Smith scored 148 goals and 294 points in 589 games with Nashville, averaging 14:57 of ice time in a middle-six role. He had a far lesser track record of success in the postseason, tallying seven goals and 16 points in 52 games from 2012 to 2020.
After his five-year, $21.25MM extension with Nashville concluded after the 2019-20 season, Smith reached free agency for the first time at 33 years old. Due to the pause caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Smith had to wait until mid-October to sign his next contract, which became a three-year, $9.3MM deal with the Boston Bruins.
He enjoyed a pair of relatively productive seasons with the Bruins before transitioning to a bottom-six role in his final season. In the last year of his deal, Smith was traded to the Washington Capitals in the trade that sent Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway to New England.
The Madison, WI native would only sign two more NHL contracts after that trade — one with the Dallas Stars, and another with the Chicago Blackhawks before ultimately ending his career with the Detroit Red Wings. Smith finished his career with 220 goals and 452 points in 987 games, becoming the fifth-highest scoring Wisconsin-born player behind Joe Pavelski, Phil Kessel, Gary Suter, and Ryan Suter.
We at PHR congratulate Smith on a solid career and wish him the best in his next chapter.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports.
Metro Notes: Angello, Dadonov, Ritchie
A few days ago, longtime AHL player and brief NHL player Anthony Angello announced his retirement from hockey via his Instagram. According to the announcement, Angello will return to Cornell University to complete his degree, having previously spent three years there from 2015 to 2018.
The Syracuse, NY native was drafted with the 145th overall pick of the 2014 NHL Draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins. After his three years with the Big Red, Angello began playing in the Penguins organization with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins toward the end of the 2017-18 season. He remained with them for the next several years, primarily as an AHL talent, and made his NHL debut.
After the 2021-22 campaign, Angello suited up for three different teams: the Springfield Thunderbirds, Milwaukee Admirals, and his hometown Syracuse Crunch. Now that his career is officially over, Angello will finish with three goals and five points in 31 NHL contests, with 72 goals and 143 points in 339 AHL games, including another six points in 26 Calder Cup playoff appearances. We at PHR congratulate Angello on his professional career and wish him luck on his next chapter.
Other Metropolitan notes:
- In some early-season adversity, the early prognosis on New Jersey Devils forward Evgenii Dadonov‘s injury isn’t good. According to team reporter Amanda Stein, imaging on Dadonov’s hand has revealed a fracture. He’ll be out for New Jersey’s current road trip, which concludes against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday. The team will know more about his recovery timeline once they return to New Jersey.
- According to Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News, New York Islanders forward prospect Calum Ritchie resumed skating this morning, though there were no significant updates to his injury rehab. Ritchie, acquired from the Colorado Avalanche at last season’s trade deadline, is currently dealing with a mild lower-body injury. Regardless, despite him skating with the Islanders this morning, the bulk of Ritchie’s season is expected to take place with the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders.
Cam Atkinson To Retire
After a 13-season NHL career, veteran winger Cam Atkinson is hanging up his skates. The Blue Jackets announced Wednesday that they’ll be signing him to a one-day contract and will officially honor his retirement on Oct. 16 against the Avalanche. He’s expected to join Columbus in a front-office capacity at some point down the road, but that announcement won’t be coming now, he told Aaron Portzline of The Athletic.
Atkinson is one of the better draft steals in Blue Jackets franchise history, coming to them in the sixth round in 2008. He signed with Columbus three years later after a great run at Boston College and made his NHL debut in 2011-12, although it took him another two years to fully establish himself on the active roster. After going up and down between Columbus and AHL Springfield, Atkinson broke out into a top-six role for the 2013-14 season. He finished third on the team with 21 goals and fourth with 40 points in 79 appearances, helping fuel the Jackets to a then-franchise record 43-win season that resulted in their second-ever playoff appearance.
The undersized but skilled Atkinson remained a fixture in Columbus’ top six for the balance of the decade. He was a two-time All-Star, including his career-best 41-goal, 69-point effort in 2018-19 – leading the team in goals in the year they orchestrated one of the most drastic upsets in league history by sweeping the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Lightning in the first round for their first series win in franchise history. After the COVID-shortened 2021 season, Atkinson had totaled a 213-189–402 scoring line in 627 games for Columbus, still holding up as the second-leading goalscorer and point-getter in the Jackets’ record books behind Rick Nash.
After Atkinson’s points per game production peaked at 0.86 in that career year, he only managed to produce at about a 0.60 pace over the next two years. That soft decline led Columbus to ship Atkinson to the Flyers in the 2021 offseason in a one-for-one swap for Jakub Voráček. In hindsight, it ended up being a bit of a lose-lose endeavor. Atkinson seemed to pop back into form with a 23-27–50 effort in 73 games in 2021-22, but a neck injury sustained in the following training camp ended up costing him the entire 2022-23 season and accelerating his decline. He had just 28 points in 70 games for Philly upon returning to play in 2023-24, leading the club to buy out the final year of the seven-year, $41.13MM extension he signed with Columbus back in 2017.
Atkinson became an unrestricted free agent a year ahead of schedule and signed on with the Lightning on a one-year deal worth $900K. The bounceback he was looking for never came, though. He struggled to stick in the lineup and played sparingly when he did dress, averaging just nine minutes per game across 39 contests. After finishing the year with a 4-5–9 scoring line, the Lightning were quick to say Atkinson wouldn’t be brought back.
Atkinson told Portzline that he received professional tryout offers this summer but declined them, saying he essentially made up his mind when he made his final regular-season appearance for Tampa. He ends his career with a 253-236–489 scoring line in 809 appearances, including a -11 rating while averaging north of 17 minutes per game. We at Pro Hockey Rumors congratulate Atkinson on a lengthy and successful pro career and wish him the best in whatever comes next.
Image courtesy of Kim Klement-Imagn Images.
Erik Johnson Announces Retirement
The former first-overall pick of the 2006 NHL Draft has hung up his skates after 17 seasons in the NHL. According to an announcement from the Colorado Avalanche, defenseman Erik Johnson has retired.
Although the Bloomington, MN native spent much of his career in Denver, that’s not where it began. He was originally drafted by the St. Louis Blues in 2006 and joined the team for the 2007-08 season after one year at the University of Minnesota.
Despite finishing 12th in voting for the Calder Memorial Trophy, Johnson had a quality first year in St. Louis, scoring five goals and 33 points in 69 games, averaging 18:11 of ice time per game. It became clear that the Blues could confidently play Johnson in their top four, but his development and role with the team changed significantly the following season. Just three days into training camp, the following season, it was revealed that Johnson tore his ACL and MCL, costing him the entire 2008-09 season.
Still, the then-21-year-old returned for his junior season, scoring 10 goals and 39 points in 79 games, averaging 21:22 of ice time per game. Unfortunately, the Blues failed to make the postseason due to a lack of scoring from their top six, after qualifying the year before. Regardless, the team extended Johnson to a two-year, $5.2MM pact, as well as making him one of the team’s assistant captains for the 2010-11 campaign.
Another knee injury would cost him the rest of his tenure in St. Louis. The Blues traded Johnson to the Avalanche in mid-February, with Chris Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk being the two main pieces going back to St. Louis. He would not wear another jersey for the next 13 years.
From the 2010-11 season to the 2022-23 campaign, Johnson was a mainstay on the Avalanche’s blue line. Even through some truly punishing seasons in Denver, Johnson stuck it out, winning a Stanley Cup with the team in 2022.
He didn’t add much on the offensive side of the puck with Colorado, scoring 65 goals and 236 points in 695 games from 2011 to 2023. Still, he was more than effective on the defensive side of the puck, averaging a 91.7% on-ice save percentage at even strength while averaging more than 21 minutes of ice time per night.
As his usage decreased through the latter part of his career with the Avalanche, Johnson opted to leave as a free agent following the 2022-23 campaign, signing a one-year deal with the Buffalo Sabres. He was subsequently traded to the Philadelphia Flyers at the 2023-24 deadline, sticking around until the 2024-25 deadline when he was moved back to Colorado.
Throughout his 17-year career, Johnson finished with 95 goals and 348 points in 1,023 games played, with an additional five goals and 13 points in 58 postseason contests. Outside of having his name engraved on the Stanley Cup, Johnson also owns an Olympic Silver Medal from the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
In the announcement from the Avalanche, Johnson wrote, “To the St. Louis Blues, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers and most of all the Colorado Avalanche: thank you for the opportunities and memories, especially the 2022 Stanley Cup. To my teammates, coaches, and staff: your support, camaraderie, and dedication shaped my career. To the fans: your passion made every moment unforgettable. To my family and friends: your unconditional love and support carried me through. Hockey has been my life, and I’m grateful for every second. I’m excited for what’s next and will always cherish this journey.”
We at PHR congratulate Johnson on an incredible career and wish him the best in his next chapter.
Photo courtesy of Tom Szczerbowski-Imagn Images.