Marian Gaborik officially retires after two seasons on the IR

Former Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Los Angeles Kings and Ottawa Senators forward Marian Gaborik has officially retired from professional hockey, two years after his last NHL game.

Gaborik made the announcement himself on social media:

The 39 year old hasn't played since 2017-18 when he managed just 16 games with the Senators. Gaborik was, of course, traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020 as part of a salary cap move but he never suited up for the team and has spent the past two seasons on the injured reserve. In effect, he was never truly part of the Lightning's roster.

The speedy Slovak will be remembered mostly for his time with the Wild, the Rangers and the Kings. In Minnesota Gaborik was the team's first ever draft pick (3rd overall, 2000 NHL Entry Draft) and scored the first regular season goal in franchise history. He is still arguably the most dynamic player the Wild have ever had, though Kirill Kaprizov may have something to say about that in the coming years. Gaborik is still the Wild's all-time leading goal scorer with 219 goals in 502 games with the franchise.

Gaborik's game went to another level with the Rangers though and its there where he managed a career best 42 goals and 86 pointsduring the 2009-10 season. In fact, Gaborik crested the 40 goal plateau twice in his three and a half seasons with the Rangers.

Gaborik won a Stanley Cup championship against his former team in the Rangers with the Kings in 2014. He put up a stellar 14 and 22 points in 26 games during the Kings' 2014 championship run. Alongside now-Kings captain Anze Kopitar, Gaborik absolutely dominated that post-season. From there injuries limited Gaborik's on-ice impact and he never was able to replicate the offensive production that he brought earlier in his career, but he still comprised a superstar leadership core in LA that consisted of himself, Kopitar, defenseman Drew Doughty and goaltender Jonathan Quick.

In 1035 career regular season Gaborik put up 407 goals and 815 points. He's fourth all-time in terms of point production for a Slovakian born player behind Peter Stastny, Marian Hossa and Peter Bonda.