Martin Hanzal will retire as a result of his back injury.

There likely is a financial motive for why this announcement has taken so long, but former National Hockey League forward Martin Hazal is now ready to announce his retirement. In a recent Czech language interview the former Arizona Coyotes, Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars forward admitted that he was ending his professional hockey career as a result of the back injuries that effectively ended his career in the NHL as well. 

The news will come as little surprise to those who have followed Hanzal's career trajectory as of late, the 33 year old center did not play for any team in the NHL this season and managed to appear in just 45 games combined over the two seasons prior to that. Hanzal was still technically under contract with the Dallas Stars as part of the 3 year deal he signed back in July of 2017 with that organization, a deal that would have expired by now if not for the stoppage in the NHL's season. I believe, although this is pure speculation on my part, that his contract status is why he is only now prepared to admit that the back injury has ended his career, he was currently earning his salary on the Stars long term injured reserve list. Retirement would have cost him money and would have prevented his team from burying his cap hit on injured reserve. 

Hanzal now has his eyes on a new project in southern Bohemia, the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech lands in the present-day Czech Republic, where he had already set up the "Martin Hanzal Academy" to help educate youth in the area. Hanzal plans to bring a new hockey team to the regional league, one that appears poised to feature prominent Czech players of the past in something of a gimmick to draw fans to the games as well as give these players an opportunity to extended their respectivecareers in front of some of their most loyal fans.

"Franta Mrázek came up with the idea. We took it as a great idea. There are a lot of guys around us, our friends, who no longer play top, but like to prolong their career when they get the opportunity to play at home and avoid long journeys," said Martin Hanzal for the jchokej.cz website.

We wish him nothing but the best moving forward. 

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