Veteran forward Patric Hornqvist announced that he will retire from the NHL after 15 seasons. Hornqvist made the announcement in an article posted by Swedish outlet Sportbladet, saying in part: “I’ve been in this bubble since I started to play as a kid, hockey has been a huge part of my life, so of course it’s a difficult decision to make. It will be a big transition, but it feels good now. I’m looking forward to the rest of my life. It’s the most important thing.”

The 36-year-old Hornqvist played his final game with the Florida Panthers on Dec. 3 at Seattle. He suffered his second concussion in a month at the time, and sat out the remainder of the season. He totaled a goal and two assists last season for the Panthers.

Hornqvist entered the NHL as a seventh-round pick by the Nashville Predators in the 2005 NHL Draft. The Predators traded him to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2014, where he won 2 Stanley Cup titles — first in 2016, and again in 2017, where he scored the Cup-clinching goal in Game 6 against the Predators. Hornqvist was later traded to the Florida Panthers in 2020, where he remained until the 2022-23 season. In total, Hornqvist totaled 106 goals and 110 assists in 363 games in the NHL.

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