Swedish hockey player Carl Hagelin’s career in the NHL is coming to an end after a “severe” eye injury.
After 12 years in the league, the left winger, 35, announced his retirement from the sport in an Instagram post on Aug. 30, after missing the entire 2022-23 season. due to injury, according to multiple reports.
“It’s been an amazing ride, but it ends here. Unfortunately, my eye injury is too severe to continue playing the game I love,” he began in the post, referring to the injury he suffered in March 2022 when he took a hockey stick to his left eye.
Carl Hagelin.
AP Photo/Nick Wass
“I am extremely grateful for all the memories hockey has given me and I have loved every day of it,” Hagelin continued. He went on to say that he will miss “the daily battle with his teammates” and “the ups and downs of the season.”
“Nothing excites me more than standing on the ice in front of 20,000 passionate fans,” he added.
On March 1, 2022, Hagela was hit in the left eye by an errant hockey stick during a routine practice with his Capitals team, and has not played since, according to ESPN.
The injury caused a rupture in his left choroid, which is the part of the eye that sits between the sclera, or sclera, and the retina, the layer of cells that lines the inner wall at the back of the eye, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
In May 2022, after two surgeries to correct the eye, Hagelin remained “optimistic,” telling reporters that his eye was “healing,” according to NHL.com reporter Tom Gulitti.
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“I’m doing everything I can to come back [on the ice] next year,” he told reporters, per Nova Caps Fans , noting that doctors thought they might have had to “remove the eye” initially. “I’ve had two procedures done so far, and the second one was about a month ago. ”
Despite admitting that at the time he had ongoing problems with depth perception and the ability to focus his vision, Hagelin told reporters last year that he remained “optimistic that I’ll be back next year.”
In an Instagram post Wednesday, Hagelin, who has two children with wife Erica Uebel, thanked his “amazing teammates, coaches, doctors and other staff members” he’s met and played with throughout his career.
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Carl Hagelin and his wife Erica Uebel.
Carl Hagelin/ Instagram
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“Finally,” he signed his message, “I want to thank my family, wife and children for all their support. They made it possible for me to live my dream. Thank you❤️.”
After playing professional hockey in Sweden, Hagelin played college hockey at the University of Michigan. The New York Rangers drafted him in 2007, and he made his NHL debut in 2011. During his career in the USA, he also played for the Anaheim Ducks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings and Washington Capitals. With the Penguins, he won the Stanley Cup in 2016 and 2017. At the international level, as a member of the Swedish national team, he won a silver medal at the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014.
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