June 20. 2014
The Columbus Blue Jackets will be missing a lot of leadership in the locker room come training camp in September. Columbus' leading scorer, Vaclav "Vinny" Prospal decided to call it a career on Thursday after 1224 career NHL games and 846 NHL points. Prospal was drafted 71st overall in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers and played for several teams in the NHL including Philadelphia, Ottawa, Florida, Tampa Bay, Anaheim, the Rangers, and, finally, Columbus. Adrian Aucoin, who battled injuries all season, also decided to hang his skates up for good, after a very respectable career. Aucoin was drafted 117th overall in 1992 by the Vancouver Canucks and played for Vancouver, Tampa Bay, the Islanders, Chicago, Calgary, Phoenix, and, finally, Columbus. The reliable blueliner logged 1212 career NHL games and scored 425 points in his career.
This year's class of retirees likely features a bevy of future NHL Hall of Famers including sure-fire first ballot entrees Jaromir Jagr, Teemu Selanne, and Zdeno Chara. Roman Hamrlik and Tim Thomas also have a chance of entering the hall, both for different reasons. Hamrlik for his longevity and Thomas for his phenomenal play, albeit over a very short NHL career.
Martin Brodeur decided to continue his NHL career after a solid season in Colorado and, despite remaining unsigned all season, Daniel Alfredsson feels that the year off has allowed him to focus on training and recoup his body for another NHL season. It remains to be seen whether or not a team will be willing to sign Alfredsson, but Colorado seems interested in re-signing Brodeur.
PLAYER
|
GAMES PLAYED
|
GOALS/WINS
|
ASSISTS/LOSSES
|
POINTS/SHUTOUTS
Roman Hamrlik|1511|161|533|694
Jaromir Jagr|1500|718|1059|1777
Teemu Selanne|1476|707|798|1505
Ray Whitney|1391|413|713|1126
Jason Arnott|1388|449|582|1031
Ryan Smyth|1313|413|485|898
Sergei Gonchar|1276|226|578|804
Todd Bertuzzi|1254|340|485|825
Jamie Langenbrunner|1242|255|434|689
Vinny Prospal
|
1224
|
289
|
557
|
846
Adrian Aucoin
|
1212
|
128
|
297
|
425
Patrik Elias|1202|402|592|994
Zdeno Chara|1172|149|376|525
Saku Koivu|1167|264|593|857
Tomas Kaberle|1134|101|524|625
Hal Gill|1117|37|150|187
Steve Sullivan|1111|324|502|826
Andrew Brunette|1110|268|465|733
Martin St. Louis|1095|375|613|988
Kimmo Timonen|1066|118|437|555
Wade Redden|1060|111|350|461
Marco Sturm|1052|251|256|507
Mattias Ohlund|1022|96|257|353
Petr Sykora|1019|323|398|721
Pavel Kubina|970|110|276|386
Stephane Robidas|962|57|234|291
Tom Poti|960|74|293|367
Toni Lydman|936|41|223|264
Shawn Horcoff|916|174|307|481
Sami Salo|915|101|244|345
Mike Fisher|892|219|238|457
Jay Pandolfo|881|100|126|226
Michal Rozsival|846|71|216|287
Andrew Ference|841|36|170|206
Willie Mitchell|839|36|142|178
Marty Reasoner|831|109|174|283
Sheldon Souray|823|109|208|317
Mikael Samuelsson|815|187|230|417
Nikolai Khabibulin|808|340|341|48
Per-Johan Axelsson|797|103|184|287
Tomas Vokoun|795|344|344|56
Andy Sutton|750|41|118|159
Mark Eaton|740|30|72|102
Barret Jackman|728|25|141|166
Rostislav Klesla|723|50|117|167
Raffi Torres|721|133|121|254
Evgeni Nabokov|720|370|249|64
Jason Strudwick|674|13|42|55
Keith Ballard|665|43|154|197
Steven Reinprecht|663|140|242|382
Jody Shelley|626|18|36|54
Nick Boynton|605|34|110|144
Kyle Calder|590|114|180|294
Jonathan Cheechoo|542|172|141|313
Shawn Thornton|532|35|48|83
Marcus Nilson|521|67|101|168
Jan Hejda|492|22|97|119
Mike Commodore|484|23|83|106
Tim Thomas|471|236|177|41
Fernando Pisani|462|87|82|169
Johan Hedberg|453|203|182|27
Radoslav Suchy|451|13|58|71
Joel Ward|444|59|83|142
Ladislav Nagy|435|115|196|311
Kent Huskins|421|19|68|87
Mathieu Garon|416|179|176|27