Happy trails, Jaroslav Halak!
Longtime NHL goaltender Jaroslav Halak officially announced his retirement last week. Halak last played in the NHL with the New York Rangers in the 2022-23 season.
He signed a professional tryout contract with the Carolina Hurricanes in November of 2023 but was released after two weeks. He returned to Slovan Bratislava in the Slovak Extraliga in February 2024 but did not play any games with the team.
Halak played 17 seasons in the NHL with seven different teams. That includes over 100 games in four seasons with the Montreal Canadiens (101 games), St. Louis Blues (159), and New York Islanders (177).
The Blues acquired Halak from the Canadiens in 2010 for Lars Eller and Ian Schultz, and the netminder subsequently signed a four-year contract in St. Louis. He was coming off a run to the 2010 Eastern Conference Final, in which he went 9-9 with a .923 save percentage and 2.55 goals-against average.
Halak had four great seasons with the Blues before being traded to the Sabres at the 2014 trade deadline for Ryan Miller and Steve Ott.
In his four seasons in St. Louis, Halak went 83-47-19 with a .916 SV% and 2.23 GAA. That included the 2011-12 season in which Halak started 46 games, going 26-12-7with a .926 SV and 1.97 GAA. He and Brian Elliott teamed up to win the Jennings Trophy with a team save percentage of .932 overall.
Despite playing just four years in St. Louis, Halak is among some of the goaltending leaders in Blues franchise history. Halak's 83 wins are the eighth-most in Blues history and he is third in shutouts with 20.