Veteran Forward Markus Naslund Retires

New York Rangers' left wing Markus Naslund announced his retirement today after playing 15 seasons in the NHL. He is reportedly retiring due to his own dissatisfaction with his game. The Rangers signed Naslund as a free agent to a two-year, $8 million contract last summer. Since Naslund has decided to retire, the remaining year on his contract at $4 million will not count against the team's salary cap space. In 82 games this past season, Naslund scored 24 goals and 22 assists for 46 points. In 1117 career games, he had 395 goals and 474 assists for 869 points with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Vancouver Canucks, and New York Rangers. He won the Lester B. Pearson Award for the 2002-03 season as the league MVP as selected by the NHLPA. After 11 seasons with the Canucks, Naslund left the franchise after the 2007-08 season with numerous team records, including team leader in goals, points, power play goals, and game-winning goals. Naslund was a tremendously gifted forward throughout his NHL career, though his point production had been in decline for the past couple seasons. He was an excellent goal scorer for the Canucks for years with excellent skills on the power play and lots of leadership. It's a shame to see him end his career in dissatisfaction over his numbers, as he gave the Rangers lots of veteran experience on their forward lines. Still, Naslund should be very proud of everything he accomplished during his NHL career, which could possibly earn him induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the future.