Carl Hagelin, a member of the Washington Capitals for the last five years, has officially announced his retirement from the NHL after an 11-season career.
The 35-year-old fleet-footed winger cited the scary eye injury that he suffered at the end of a practice on the first day of March in 2022 as the reasoning for hanging up his skates.
Hagelin revealed the news on his Instagram account on Wednesday.
Hagelin wrote:
It’s been an amazing ride but it ends here. Unfortunately my eye injury is too severe to keep playing the game I love.
I’m extremely grateful for all the memories hockey has given me and I’ve loved every single day of it.
I’m gonna miss going to battle w my teammates on a daily basis, I’m gonna miss the ups and downs of a season.
Nothing excites me more than stepping on the ice in front of 20,000 passionate fans.
I want to thank all my amazing teammates, coaches, Doctors and other staff members that I’ve met and played with throughout the years.
Lastly, I want to thank my family, my wife and my kids for all their support. They made it possible for me to live out my dream.
Thank You❤️
Here is his full announcement post.
Hagelin played for five teams during his 713-game NHL career. In his Instagram post announcing his retirement, he shared memories from his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers, and Capitals. One photo was a humorous screenshot from a Capitals-Rangers line-brawl in 2021 where six Caps players were in the penalty box at the same time, including Hags.
One hundred and eighty-seven of Hagelin’s games came as a member of the Caps as did his unfortunate eye injury that kept him out for the entirety of the 2022-23 season, prematurely ending his carer. Hagelin got hurt during what head coach Peter Laviolette called a “pretty intense battle drill” as an errant stick caught him up high.
Hagelin revealed months later that the stick blade ruptured the choroid in the back of his left eye and that his vision will never be the same. In fact, the veteran forward almost lost his eye entirely.
“Right when it happened, it sounded like it might have to almost get in and remove the eye,” Hagelin said then. “First week or so was definitely a frustrating week. It was tough but things have obviously gotten better since then. Now I can see a little bit with the eye. I’m in a better spot now than I was then.
“There’s a scar tissue,” he continued. “There’s a lot of details to it that I’m not going to share everything. Basically there’s scar tissue and there’s damage to the eye that will affect my vision. It’s not going to get 100 percent. We’ll see where it ends up.”
The damage required multiple surgeries to repair. “My pupil is never dilating because it’s stuck,” he added this past April. “Because they had to restitch the pupil.”
Just as it looked like Hagelin was going to make an attempt at a return after skating several times at the Capitals practice facility last season, Hagelin had multiple additional health-related issues that put him back on the shelf. The Swedish forward had to go back under the knife twice last year, undergoing both arthroscopic and resurfacing surgeries on an ailing hip.
The two-time Stanley Cup champion saw his contract with the Caps expire this summer and had become an unrestricted free agent. He wraps up his career having scored 110 NHL goals and recording 296 total points.
Thank you for your contributions to the club and best of luck in retirement, Hags!#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/uQ8hQVcH0T
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) August 30, 2023
Enjoy a healthy and happy retirement, Hags!
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB
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