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Alex Goligoski Confirms Retirement

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Free agent defenseman Alex Goligoski is hanging up his skates, he confirmed to Joe Smith of The Athletic. It’s the expected outcome after reports in June indicated he wasn’t expected back with the Wild, where he spent the final three seasons of his career.

“I think I’ve known for a while,” Goligoski told Smith. “Do you hang around and see if some team wants to throw some money at you? I have no desire to move my family. No desire to go by myself and do all that. That’s the most amazing thing about finishing in Minnesota. It makes it easier to say, ‘Hey, I’m good.’”

“…I think it’s the longevity of it, honestly. I can totally see where it’d be very difficult if you’re not planning on being done, where it’s like you don’t get a contract but you’re still younger. It feels to me like I’ve had my fun, I’ve done it long enough. I’m good to step away and move on.”

Goligoski, 39, was a second-round pick by the Penguins in 2004 before starting a three-year run at the University of Minnesota. The Grand Rapids, Minnesota native turned pro with Pittsburgh for the 2007-08 campaign, playing parts of four seasons in the Steel City before being sent to the Stars in a blockbuster swap for James Neal and Matt Niskanen.

A top-pairing option for much of the 2010s in Dallas, Goligoski’s signing rights were traded to the Coyotes just days before becoming a free agent in 2016 and quickly signed a five-year, $27.38MM deal. He continued to hold down top-four minutes there for the life of that contract before signing a one-year, $5MM deal with the Wild, his hometown club, in 2021. He signed a two-year, $4MM deal to extend his stay in the State of Hockey the following summer, which expired this June.

The writing was on the wall for Goligoski after last season, which saw him limited to 10 assists in 36 games while averaging 14:49 per game and serving as a healthy scratch for long stretches of the season. He hasn’t been a top-of-the-lineup option since his days in Arizona, but he did remain a capable puck-moving presence in a limited role after joining the Wild.

Goligoski was one of the league’s 10 oldest players last season. Three players ahead of him on the list – Jeff Carter, Zach Parise, and Joe Pavelski – had already retired this summer, making Goligoski the sixth-oldest active player in the league at the time of his retirement.

His first season as an NHL regular saw him lift the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 2009, appearing in 45 regular-season games and two playoff games en route to the championship win. Over 1,078 regular-season games, he scored 87 goals, 388 assists, and 475 points and posted a +55 rating while averaging 21:55 per night. He added 21 points in 47 playoff games in six trips to the postseason (2009, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2020, and 2022).

While ending his playing days, Goligoski hopes to kick off a career in an NHL front office soon. “I’ve always liked breaking down what teams do and why they do it,” he told Smith. “I have a good sense of the right way to do things. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen the right way and the wrong way to do things. I think it’d be something I’m good at. So we’ll see.” He doesn’t have an official role with the Wild, but Smith reports Wild general manager Bill Guerin will be open to hiring him once he’s ready to begin the next phase of his hockey career.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Marc Staal Retires, Joins Rangers As Development Coach

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Veteran defenseman Marc Staal has announced his retirement after 17 seasons. He’s immediately beginning his front office career with the Rangers as a player development assistant, the team announced.

For Staal, it’s a return to where his NHL career began nearly two decades ago. The No. 12 pick in the 2005 draft by the Rangers, he was the third Staal brother to reach the NHL, following Eric Staal with the Hurricanes and Jordan Staal with the Penguins.

Staal, now 37, spent two post-draft seasons back in junior hockey with the Ontario Hockey League’s Sudbury Wolves before becoming a full-time fixture on the New York blue line immediately upon turning pro in 2007. He challenged for top-four minutes in his rookie season, posting 10 points and a +2 rating in 80 games while averaging nearly 19 minutes per night en route to finishing 12th in Calder Trophy voting in 2007-08.

By the time his entry-level deal expired, Staal was averaging over 22 minutes per game and had become one of the better stay-at-home defenders in the league on a team consistently in the playoff race. He also contributed a decent amount of offense, posting 27 points in his final ELC year of 2009-10 – all at even strength. That led the Blueshirts to give him a five-year, $19.88MM payday after a somewhat lengthy holdout during the 2010 offseason, putting pen to paper on the deal just around when training camp began in September.

Staal would remain a top-four fixture for the Rangers throughout the 2010s, signing a six-year, $34.2MM extension on top of his previous deal in 2015 to avoid becoming an unrestricted free agent. He helped guide the Rangers to the 2014 Eastern Conference championship, although they lost the Stanley Cup Final in five games to the Kings. His top showing was inarguably the 2010-11 campaign, when he recorded a career-high 22 assists, 29 points, and averaged 25:44 per game en route to receiving Norris Trophy votes for the only time in his career.

The stalwart defender saw his usage drop early on in that six-year extension, though, and he was a bottom-pairing option by the time the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020. With one year left on his deal, the Rangers attached a second-round pick for the Red Wings to take on the final season of his contract. He’d spent two seasons on a rebuilding Detroit club, signing a one-year pact to extend his stay, before landing with the Panthers as a free agent for the 2022-23 campaign.

Staal seemed to get some life back in South Florida, playing alongside brother Eric for the second time (Eric had a brief stint with the Rangers in 2016). He appeared in all 82 games for the third time in his career and posted 15 points with a +10 rating, sliding into top-four spot duty alongside Brandon Montour. He was held without a point in 21 playoff games but averaged nearly 21 minutes per night as Florida charged through to the 2023 Stanley Cup Final, ultimately losing to the Golden Knights.

A reunion wasn’t in the cards, though, leaving Staal to land a one-year, $1.1MM deal in free agency with the Flyers last summer. He was relegated to fringe usage as a No. 7 option, though, making only 35 appearances and averaging 13:49 per game.

For his career, Staal scored 53 goals, 181 assists, and 234 points and posted a +52 rating while averaging 19:56 per game across 1,136 regular season appearances. He also totaled 20 points, a -17 rating and averaged 21:46 per game in 128 playoff games with Florida and New York. He’ll be working with the organization’s defense prospects in his development role, per Larry Brooks of the New York Post.

Larry Brooks of the New York Post was first to report Staal’s retirement and development role with the Rangers.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Oscar Klefbom Confirms Retirement

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Aug. 20: According to the NHL Alumni Association, Klefbom officially filed retirement paperwork today.

Aug. 8: Former Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom, who hasn’t played a game since August 2020 due to a shoulder injury, has confirmed his retirement, via Rasmus Kagstrom of Hockey Sverige.

“It is as it is. I wasn’t quite done with hockey as a sport. But now it’s over,” Klefbom said (translated from Swedish). “I am very happy with my career. I’m just grateful that I got the chance to play as many games as I did – even though it was as an injury. I gained a lot of trust, got to take part in a fantastic journey. There are really two sides to the coin – because although I am grateful, I would have liked to be here today. On the ice. As a player.”

Klefbom also confirmed he played with his eventual career-ending shoulder injury throughout nearly all of his seven-year NHL career. Regarding the wait to officially announce his retirement, the 31-year-old said: “It was a choice I made. I talked to Edmonton that I wanted to lay very low with what was going to happen and what the situation is. They were perfectly ’fine’ with that. From my side, it was also because I thought it was so difficult to talk about it.”

For a brief time, Klefbom was one of the league’s premier two-way defenders. Selected 19th overall in 2011 out of Sweden’s Farjestad BK, Klefbom remained in his home country for two more seasons before making the jump to North America in 2013-14.

He was mostly an AHLer in his first season, suiting up in 48 contests for the Oklahoma City Barons. But he did get a taste of NHL action, posting three points in 17 appearances. It wasn’t much of an impact, but he’d make a large jump in his development in the 2014 offseason and became a staple of the Oilers’ top four in just his second season in the system.

Klefbom would go on to play 378 games in an Edmonton sweater, scoring 34 goals and 122 assists for 156 points (0.41 per game). He had a career -64 rating, understandable for a player routinely averaging north of 22 minutes per game on an Oilers club that only made the playoffs twice in his tenure. His even strength possession numbers on the whole were positive, logging a 1.4 relative CF% and 50.1 xGF% at even strength, per Hockey Reference. He was a major part of Edmonton’s power play and penalty kill units, especially near the end of his abbreviated career.

The Karlstad native has been a UFA for over a year after his seven-year, $29.17MM contract with the Oilers expired in 2023. He spent the final three seasons of the contract entirely on long-term injured reserve.

Klefbom made clear in his interview that he wants to return to hockey in some capacity, but whether that’s in the NHL or Sweden remains to be seen.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

International Notes: Konovalov, Zizka, Kampfer

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Oilers goaltending prospect Ilya Konovalov is on the move in his native Russia. His Kontinental Hockey League player rights were traded from Dynamo Moscow to Admiral Vladivostok today, per a team release.

Konovalov, 26, is coming off a pair of spectacular seasons in the Russian capital. The 2019 third-round pick posted a .921 SV%, 2.05 GAA, three shutouts and 21-12-3 record in 42 games last season.

Konovalov spent the 2021-22 campaign in North America after signing his entry-level contract with the Oilers, but struggled amid high expectations. He only got into 17 games with AHL Bakersfield with an .893 SV%, 2.73 GAA and 5-7-5 record. He didn’t see any NHL ice, and was returned on loan to Dynamo for 2022-23.

The Oilers issued Konovalov a qualifying offer when his ELC expired, but he opted to remain with Dynamo in 2023-24. They still hold his NHL signing rights through July 13 of next year, meaning they could bring him back next offseason without competition. He doesn’t yet have a contract for 2024-25 with Vladivostok, but if he ends up signing a one-year deal, that’ll be something to watch.

In 196 career KHL games, the 2019 KHL Rookie of the Year has a 2.11 GAA, .922 SV%, 20 shutouts, and a 96-66-18 record.

Other updates from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean:

  • One of the longest-tenured players in the professional ranks worldwide has called it a career. Former Kings defenseman Tomas Zizka, who last played in the NHL before the 2004-05 lockout, officially announced his retirement today, per Hokej.cz. Zizka, 44, was a sixth-round pick of the Kings in 1998 and played 25 games with them in the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons, scoring twice and adding six assists for eight points with a -8 rating. He spent the balance of his career in his native Czechia aside from a brief stint in Russia in 2004-05, playing in parts of 22 Czech Extraliga seasons with Brno, Prague and Zlin. He’d spent the last two seasons in the third-tier 2. liga with Hokej Vyskov, where he was named to this year’s All-Star Game while posting 25 points in 44 games.
  • The KHL’s Traktor Chelyabinsk officially announced the signing of free agent defenseman Steven Kampfer today. The club said last month that they’d reached an agreement to bring Kampfer to Russia, but it wasn’t set in stone until now. The 35-year-old is a veteran of 231 NHL games but hasn’t suited up at the game’s highest level since 2020-21. He spent all of last season in the minors, where he captained the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners while under contract with the Coyotes. It’ll be his second KHL season after suiting up for Ak Bars Kazan in 2021-22, when he was one of the league’s best defensemen with 30 points and a +7 rating in 46 games.

Eric Staal Announces Retirement

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It’s been all quiet on the Western Front for Eric Staal for over a year now. The free-agent center reached the Stanley Cup Final with the Panthers in 2023 but didn’t sign or play anywhere last season.

On Tuesday, Staal confirmed he’d played his last NHL game, signing a one-day contract with Carolina to retire as a Hurricane. The Canes will also retire Staal’s No. 12 at a yet-to-be-announced game this season.

“I want to thank my family, former teammates, coaches and staff members who played a role in helping me live my dream, playing in the NHL,” Staal said in a statement released by the team. “I will forever treasure the memories and friendships made during my 18 years in the world’s best league.”

“There was no doubt in my mind that when it became time to hang up my skates, I would want to retire as a Carolina Hurricane,” he continued. “To now also know that the team is retiring my No. 12 is truly humbling and I am extremely grateful and honored.”

Staal, 39, is often overlooked as one of the NHL’s early salary-cap-era stars. But the Thunder Bay, Ontario native was always expected to make an indelible impact on the Canes after being drafted second overall in the famously stacked 2003 draft. While he hasn’t played there in over eight years – his tenure ended with a trade to the Rangers in 2016 – he’s still arguably the most impactful talent in Carolina history since the franchise relocated from Hartford in 1997.

His best came early, erupting as a sophomore in the 2005-06 season to lead the Canes in scoring with 45 goals and 100 points, both career-highs. 21 at the time, Staal was the centerpiece of the Canes’ best season in franchise history to that point, crossing the 50-win and 100-point thresholds for the first time. It ended in glory, adding nine goals and 28 points in 25 playoff games as he led the team in scoring en route to their first and only Stanley Cup.

Over parts of 12 seasons in Raleigh, Staal solidified himself as the Canes’ post-relocation leader in games played (909), goals (322), assists (453), points (775), power-play goals (105), power-play points (252) and hat tricks (13) – hat tip to the team’s Walt Ruff for those stats. He averaged over 20 minutes per game in a Carolina uniform and served as their captain from 2009 to 2016, succeeding franchise pillar Rod Brind’Amour.

Age-related decline came for Staal early, though, and his point totals were steadily decreasing by the time he was traded to the Rangers at age 31. His stay with the Blueshirts didn’t extend past the last few months of the season, and he landed in the State of Hockey with the Wild as a free agent in the summer of 2016. He had a bit of a resurgence in Minnesota, most remembered for a 42-goal, 76-point campaign in 2017-18 that placed him 17th in Hart Trophy voting. But his days of being a dominant top-line threat were behind him.

He played the final few seasons of his career with the Sabres, Canadiens and Panthers, serving as a good veteran depth piece on Montreal and Florida teams that each reached the championship series (2021 and 2023, respectively). But he couldn’t recapture the honor he had nearly two decades ago and was on the losing end of both series.

All in all, Staal wraps up his career with 455 goals, 608 assists and 1,063 points in 1,365 NHL games across 18 seasons. The eldest of the four Staal brothers with NHL experience, including Jared Staal, Jordan Staal and Marc Staal, retires at 76th on the league’s all-time scoring list. All of us at PHR congratulate Staal on a championship-caliber career and wish him the best as he enters the next phase of his hockey career.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Joe Pavelski Confirms Retirement

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Forward Joe Pavelski will indeed be retiring, he told Sirius XM’s Scott Laughlin today. He told reporters after the Stars were eliminated from the playoffs in early June that he expected 2023-24 to be his final season. The league has confirmed Pavelski’s retirement.

Pavelski, who turned 40 last week, has spent nearly a decade as one of the league’s most consistent two-way forwards and best net-front tippers while producing well above expected in his later years. After departing his longtime home with the Sharks for the Stars in free agency in 2019, many expected him to enter a decline, but he instead played a top-line role on a club that’s reached three Western Conference Finals in the last five years.

He finally showed signs of slowing down last year, though. His 67 points in 82 games, while still top-six-caliber, was his worst per-game production since his first season in Dallas. By the time the playoffs rolled around, he’d been bumped down to second-line duties alongside Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment, and the normally clutch postseason performer struggled to produce with only a goal and three assists in 19 games. Still, he ended his career on a rather high note, checking in as one of the better UFAs available on this summer’s market. Instead, he’s hanging up his skates.

Pavelski’s rise to stardom was quite unexpected after waiting until the seventh round to hear his name called by San Jose in the now-fabled 2003 draft. After a two-year run at the University of Wisconsin that resulted in him producing well over a point per game and winning a national championship, Pavelski signed his entry-level contract and turned pro during the 2006 offseason.

He started the season in the minors, but after racking up 26 points in 16 games with AHL Worcester, he was off to the big leagues without ever looking back. He hit the ground running with 14 goals and 28 points in 46 games with the Sharks to close the campaign, and he soon was firmly entrenched in a middle-six role on one of the best forward groups of the time. He was a crucial secondary scoring presence through most of his 20s, racking up 150 goals and 336 points in 479 games over his first seven campaigns while receiving outside Selke Trophy consideration annually.

Entering the final season of his contract, the Sharks inked him to a five-year, $30MM extension to keep him from reaching UFA status the following summer. He responded with a career-high 41 goals, totaling 79 points and placing top 10 in both Hart and Selke Trophy voting. Hockey Reference attributed 11.5 standings points to Pavelski’s play that season, finishing fourth among skaters behind Sidney Crosby and future teammates Corey Perry and Tyler Seguin.

Pavelski produced similarly the following two seasons, putting together a multi-year iron-man streak while routinely tossing up over 70 points. His 11 game-winning goals in 2015-16 led the league before embarking on a spectacular playoff run, posting a league-leading 14 goals in 24 playoff games – four of which were GWGs – as San Jose advanced to its first Stanley Cup Final in franchise history. Pavelski and the Sharks were usurped by the Penguins in six games, however, the closest he would come to winning it all.

That was also his first season as Sharks captain, a title he’d hold until departing for Texas. He remained an effective top-six presence in his final years in the Bay, although not quite as dominant as his early-2010s play. He gave the Sharks 89 goals, 109 assists and 198 points in 238 games over his final three seasons before a cap crunch helped usher him out the door in the summer of 2019 when his extension expired, inking a three-year, $21MM deal with Dallas.

In his first season with the Stars, it looked like an ill-advised deal. He looked like he’d lost a step, averaging around two minutes per game fewer than his last year in San Jose, and his 31 points in 67 games was the worst production of his career on a per-game basis. But after the COVID-19 pandemic ended the season early, Pavelski returned with a vengeance in the bubble playoffs, rediscovering his form with 13 goals (a league-leading 10 at even strength) in 27 contests as the Stars upset their way to the Stanley Cup Final. Just like he had with San Jose in 2016, though, Dallas fell to the Lightning in a six-game Final.

It was a precursor of things to come for Pavelski in Dallas. Upgraded to a new-look first line with rookie Jason Robertson and third-year center Roope Hintz for the 2020-21 season, he racked up 25 goals and 51 points in the shortened 56-game campaign. The Stars missed the playoffs, but they’d be back the following year on the heels of a career-best 81 points (27 goals, 54 assists) from “Captain America” as he continued to gel seamlessly with Hintz and Robertson, playing a pivotal role in their development. He continued to hover north of 0.8 points per game, tossing up 77 and 67 points in his final two campaigns as he helped pass the torch to Dallas’ young talent, losing to the Golden Knights and Oilers in back-to-back Conference Finals.

He now retires having played 1,332 regular-season and another 201 playoff games over 18 seasons. Playing on some of the best two-way lines in the league throughout his career, he logged a career +201 rating that’s tied for 42nd all-time among forwards. He tallied 1,068 points (476 goals, 592 assists) while compiling 458 PIMs, 75 game-winning goals, and a remarkable 54.5 CF% while averaging 18:34 per game. His estimated career earnings neared $81MM, per PuckPedia. All of us at PHR salute Pavelski for an exceptional career that’s sure to earn him Hall of Fame consideration.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Brett Sutter Announces Retirement

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After playing in parts of seven NHL seasons, Brett Sutter has officially retired. The forward made the announcement via a statement from the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers, whom he’d captained since 2022-23. He said he’d be staying with the Flames’ affiliate as an assistant coach.

“Following 17 seasons as a player, I’m very proud and excited to leave the game and have the opportunity to step directly into this role with the Flames organization,” Sutter said. “Saying goodbye to playing isn’t easy, the game has treated my family and I so well for so long but the opportunity to stay within the organization that my family loves, makes this transition easier. I’m grateful to the Flames for the opportunity.”

Calgary selected Sutter in the sixth round of the 2005 draft, during which his father, Darryl Sutter, was both the Flames’ general manager and head coach. He made his NHL debut in the 2008-09 campaign and played 18 games in a Flames uniform before being traded to the Hurricanes in November 2010. That kicked off a run of three and half seasons in Carolina that saw the minor-league fixture see the most NHL time of his career, scoring once and adding four assists in 36 games before reaching free agency in 2014. He landed with the Wild, and his six games in Minnesota during the following campaign ended up being the last of his career.

But Sutter was still in the early stages of one of the lengthier careers the AHL has ever seen. After being traded to the Kings in 2015-16, Sutter signed a series of minor-league contracts to stay on with their affiliate, the Ontario Reign. He stayed for parts of seven seasons before landing back where his professional career began in Calgary in 2022. He was the Reign’s captain from 2017-18 until his departure.

Sutter retires with 1,090 AHL games played under his belt in parts of 17 seasons, fourth-most in league history. He was never a truly premier offensive talent at that level, as his 463 career points don’t even rank in the top 100 among AHLers. But his run of captaining three different clubs, including serving as one for seven straight to end his career despite last being under NHL contract eight years ago, is telling of his impact. He was awarded the Fred T. Hunt Award for the player “who best exemplifies the qualities of sportsmanship, determination and dedication to hockey” while with Ontario in 2018-19.

Now nearly 20 years after he was drafted, Sutter will again attempt to work his way up the ladder to NHL ice, this time as a coach. He’ll look to follow in the footsteps of his father, who spent parts of six seasons behind the Calgary bench as a head coach across two separate stints, leading them to the 2004 Stanley Cup Final. Darryl spent another five years with the Flames solely in a GM capacity from 2006 to 2011. All of us at Pro Hockey Rumors congratulate Sutter all the best as he embarks on his coaching career.

Steven Fogarty Announces Retirement

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Longtime minor league fixture Steven Fogarty has retired, he announced on his personal Instagram account on Monday morning.

Fogarty, 31, played parts of six NHL seasons and totaled nine total seasons after turning pro after a collegiate career at Notre Dame in 2016. The Rangers selected him out of Minnesota’s Edina High in the third round of the 2011 draft, but he played an additional season of junior hockey with the BCHL’s Penticton Vees, plus a full four years with the Irish before turning pro and signing his entry-level deal with New York. Serving as a dependable call-up for four years and playing an important role on the farm with AHL Hartford, wearing the “C” there for his last season in the Rangers organization, he went without a point and posted a -2 rating in 18 appearances before becoming a UFA in 2020.

He landed on a one-year, two-way deal with the Sabres for the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season, holding down a similar role to what he’d held in New York. Fogarty was named the captain of AHL Rochester that year but only played in 16 minor league games. He spent other chunks of the season on the taxi squad and briefly on the Sabres’ active roster, where he recorded his first and only three NHL points (one goal, two assists) in nine showings.

Fogarty spent the following three seasons on two-way deals with the Bruins and Wild, adding another four NHL appearances to bring his career total to 31. He’d spent the last two years under contract with Minnesota, where his last NHL action came in a two-game stint in November 2022. Fogarty spent all of 2023-24 on assignment to AHL Iowa, where he served as an alternate captain for the second season in a row and had 37 points (18 goals, 19 assists) in 69 games with a -21 rating.

A UFA for the past week, he now steps away from a lengthy minor-league career that included 106 goals, 162 assists, 268 points, 282 PIMs, and a -80 rating in 464 games in parts of nine AHL seasons, along with his three points in 31 NHL games. PHR congratulates Fogarty on his pro career and wishes him the best in his post-playing endeavors.

Daniel Winnik Announces Retirement

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Versatile forward Daniel Winnik has retired, as he announced on his personal X page this morning. A veteran of 11 NHL seasons, Winnik had a respectable journeyman career, suiting up for eight major league teams after being taken in the ninth round of the 2004 draft by the Coyotes. The 39-year-old last suited up in the NHL in 2018 before heading to Genève-Servette HC of the Swiss National League, where he’s spent the last six seasons.

“For the past 19 years, I have lived a dream, from signing my first contract with the Phoenix Coyotes to my last with Geneva Servette,” Winnik wrote in his announcement. “Some experiences I thought would only remain dreams became reality: being coached by Wayne Gretzky, playing for my hometown team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and representing Canada at the Olympic Games.”

As expected for a late-round pick, Winnik took a few years to break into the NHL. But unexpectedly, he wasn’t a depth piece or a fringe player subject to endless recalls and reassignments. Instead, he immediately cemented himself as a full-time piece for Phoenix upon making his debut in 2007-08, making 79 appearances in his rookie season while contributing 11 goals and 26 points in 14:06 of ice time per game, a good portion of which came on the penalty kill. Winnik spent the first three years of his NHL career with the Coyotes, recording 52 points (18 goals, 34 assists) in 202 games before they traded him to the Avalanche for a fourth-round pick in the 2010 offseason.

In 2010-11, Winnik rediscovered his valuable depth-scoring contributions from his rookie season, matching his 11 goals and 26 points in 80 games for the Avs while averaging 16:33 per game, the most he’d played at that point in his career. He was also one of Colorado’s most-used forwards in shorthanded situations that season, averaging 2:44 per game while down a man. Unfortunately, he was slugging it out on an Avs team that finished with only 68 points, earning them the right to select future captain Gabriel Landeskog with the second-overall pick in that summer’s draft.

Winnik was dealt again to the Sharks midway through the 2011-12 season, beginning a run of playing for seven different teams in the final seven seasons of his NHL career, including two separate stints with the Maple Leafs. He would also end up logging action for the Capitals, Ducks, Penguins and Wild, although he only managed to play more than 150 games for one team, the Coyotes. His career-defining season was split between Toronto and Pittsburgh in 2014-15, recording a career-high 34 points (nine goals, 25 assists) in 79 games and a +23 rating, earning him a second- and fifth-place vote in Selke Trophy polling.

However, after completing a one-year, $660K contract with the Wild in 2017-18, which saw him produce six goals and 23 points in 81 games, there wasn’t much interest in his services stateside. That led him to head to Geneva, where he broke out immediately as one of the best two-way threats in the top-flight Swiss league. Over six seasons with the club, he recorded 91 goals and 234 points in 270 games, winning three major trophies – a Spengler Cup in 2020, an NL championship in 2023, and a Champions Hockey League title this season. He also represented Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics, contributing a goal and an assist in five appearances.

Ultimately, Winnik ended his NHL career with 82 goals, 169 assists, 251 points and a +52 rating in 798 games. We all at PHR congratulate Winnik on such a lengthy stint in the pros, especially for a ninth-round pick.

Derick Brassard Announces Retirement

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NHL journeyman forward Derick Brassard has retired from the NHL, he tells Mathias Brunet of Canada’s La Presse. This news will keep Brassard from making a return after suffering a torn ligament in his ankle during a game against the Philadelphia Flyers on March 30th, 2023. It was the same injury that kept Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev out of the start of this season, with Brassard sharing that the two were in touch to discuss recovery. Brassard added that he feels he could have pushed to play in the latter half of this season, though changes in coaching and lineup makeup weren’t worth pushing his health. He told Brunet, “I was starting to find [playing] heavy. I was often on the therapist’s table playing as many matches as possible. It’s frustrating when you’re not 100% for your match. I still scored 13 goals [in 63 games] my final year. I could have pushed, but with the ankle, it was enough. I didn’t want to risk another operation.”

Brassard is calling quits to a very fruitful career in the hockey world, kicking off with his sixth-overall selection in the 2006 NHL Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Brassard played one more year of juniors hockey before turning pro in the 2007-08 season. He’d receive 17 NHL games in his first pro year, though most of his time was spent in the minors, where Brassard scored 64 points in 55 games through the regular season and playoffs. That hot year would go down as the only AHL season of Brassard’s career, as he quickly vindicated a role in Columbus’ middle-six in 2008. That’s where he’d stick for the next five seasons, before being traded to the New York Rangers in 2013 in a deal that sent Marian Gaborik the other way. Brassard would see his best years in New York, scoring a career-high 60 points in the 2014-15 season and totaling 44 points in 59 postseason games across his four years with the club.

Brassard left New York in 2016, kicking off a tour across the NHL. He’d go on to play in seven more seasons, though never spending as long as two years with the same club. His tour involved tenures with the Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins, Colorado Avalanche, and Edmonton Oilers – though Brassard was never able to recreate the personal or team success that he found in New York. His career now ends with 215 goals, 545 points, and 465 penalty minutes across 1,013 games.

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