Surprise retirement hits the NHL

He confirmed his retirement from the NHL in an interview with NHL Insider Pierre LeBrun.

Over the course of his career, which began in 2005, the 37-year-old has played 1,145 NHL games.

Stastny played in Colorado for eight seasons and was a key two-way center for the team. The point per game he averaged during his rookie year would keep him in Calder Trophy contention. After all was said and done, he was more of a defensive threat than an offensive threat during his time in Colorado.

The St. Louis Blues signed Stastny in 2014-2015, and he spent the next four seasons with them before being traded to the Winnipeg Jets during the 2018 trade deadline. As well as a stint in Vegas in 2018 and 2020, he also spent time in Winnipeg and Carolina, where he contributed 22 points in 73 games.

While there was some interest in him over the summer, Stastny decided to wait it out and see how things went. In the end, he decided retirement was the best course of action for him. In his opinion, retiring in private was better than retiring publicly.

He is not ruling out the possibility of returning to hockey in the future, but a decision hasn't been made yet.

Stastny retires from hockey after 1,145 career games with 293 goals and 529 assists. In league history, his 822 points rank him 20th among U.S.-born players.

As Seen On: prohockeyrumors.com