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17-Year NHL Veteran Goalie Calls it a Career at Age 40
Longtime NHL award-winning goaltender Jaroslav Halak has decided to hang up his skates and retire at the age of 40 after spending time with multiple teams.
Jaroslav Halak has officially announced his retirement from pro hockey, as he has not played competitive games for over two years.
The Slovak goalie has also not played in the NHL since the 2022-23 season, for the New York Rangers for 25 games, as Igor Shesterkin's backup.
He then got his hands on a professional tryout contract for the Carolina Hurricanes during the autumn of 2023, but that contract only held up for two weeks.
Jaroslav Halak signed for his hometown club, Slovan Bratislava of the Slovak Extraliga, in February 2024, but never played for them.
Even as recently as two weeks ago, there had been interest from a group out of the Czech Republic, but the 40-year-old Halak has chosen to retire the pads.
Selected as a ninth-round pick by Montreal in 2003, Halak had played 581 NHL games between 2006-2023, and recorded 295 wins.
He also had played 39 postseason outings for eight clubs: Montreal, St. Louis, Buffalo, Washington, the Islanders, Boston, Vancouver, and the Rangers.
Halak was part of the 8th seeded Canadiens team that upset many teams
2010 became his breakout year. Halak took Slovakia to an Olympic fourth place, and subsequently, backstopped the Canadiens to playoff surprises of the Caps and Penguins.
Recording 300 wins previously inspired him to continue, but today, his focus is elsewhere, all on his kids, who already are aspiring goalies themselves.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 18 | 69 ANSWERS 17-Year NHL Veteran Goalie Calls it a Career at Age 40 Were you a fan of Jaroslav Halak? | ||
| Yes | 45 | 65.2 % |
| No | 24 | 34.8 % |
| List of polls | ||