Two-time Stanley Cup champion Carl Hagelin has announced his retirement from the NHL at the age of 35. Hagelin revealed that the eye injury he suffered in March 2022 would not allow him to come back for another season.
Hagelin played 11 seasons in the NHL with five different teams, and he won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in back-to-back years in 2016 and 2017. Hagelin posted his retirement announcement on Instagram and thanked everyone who supported him throughout his journey.
"It's been an amazing ride but it ends here," Hagelin wrote. "Unfortunately my eye injury is too severe to keep playing the game I love."
The New York Rangers selected Hagelin with a sixth-round pick in the 2007 NHL Draft, and he became a massive steal at that spot. Hagelin spent four seasons with the Rangers, scoring 58 goals and 130 points in 266 games.
Hagelin then spent less than one full season with the Anaheim Ducks before getting dealt to the Penguins in 2016. Later that year, Hagelin would tally 16 points in 24 playoff games to help the Pens hoist the Stanley Cup. One year later, Hagelin notched a pair of goals in 15 playoff games as Pittsburgh went back-to-back.
Hagelin got traded twice in the 2018-19 season before finally settling in with the Washington Capitals, where spent the final three years of his career. In March 2022, Hagelin suffered a serious eye injury after taking a stick to the eye in practice, and he never returned to the ice after that.
Hagelin finishes his NHL career with 110 goals, 186 assists and 296 points in 713 games. He also notched 22 goals and 50 points in 141 playoff appearances.
