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Tampa Bay Lightning: Sami Salo Retires From NHL After 15 Seasons

By Tasha St. Pierre |

Former Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Sami Salo has officially hung up his skates for the last time, announcing his retirement after 15 seasons in the NHL.

There is some somber news coming out of the Bolts Nation today. It seems as if one of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s former defensemen, Sami Salo has decided that he has laced up his skates for the final time and has officially retired from the sport of professional hockey after 15 seasons in the National Hockey League.

It has definitely been a long and arduous journey for the veteran defenseman, but this time eventually comes for every athlete in professional sports. Unfortunately for Sami Salo, it definitely could have happened under more favorable circumstances.

According to a Finnish media site by the name of Ilta-Sanomat, the forty year old Finnish defenseman has come to the painful conclusion that he can no longer compete at a professional level like the other defensemen in the National Hockey League.

“Hand is what it is. There are no longer able to play. Not for hockey, and tennis. At least not a professional,” Salo tells Ilta-Sanomat. “But the truth is that I am 40 years old and I have not played in years.”

Sami Salo was originally drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the 9th Round (239th overall) by the Ottawa Senators. After spending four seasons in a Senators jersey, Salo would find himself as a member of the Vancouver Canucks. Salo was traded by Ottawa to Vancouver in exchange for left wing Peter Schaefer.

The Turku, Finland native would spend 9 seasons with the Vancouver Canucks, which would include a total of 7 trips to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. One of the most notable of those appearances came at the end of the 2010-11 season when the Canucks would make their way to the Stanley Cup Finals. Unfortunately, a date with Stanley was not in the cards as they were defeated in seven games by the Boston Bruins.

On July 1, 2012 Salo would officially become a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning. He would sign a two-year contract that would see him through to the conclusion of the 2013-14 season. Unfortunately, a wrist injury would prevent him from playing at all during the 2014-15 season.

In addition to his play in the National Hockey League, Sami Salo also made four trips to one of the biggest international stages of them all, the Winter Olympics. Salo would help his native Finland win the Silver medal in the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino. Salo would also go on to win the Bronze medal with Finland in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

Just in case anyone ever wondered about Sami Salo’s tremendous shot, here is a quick look at one of our favorite Sami Salo moments. This moment came to Lightning fans on March 13, 2014 as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated their in-state rivals, the Florida Panthers, 5-4.

Salo would open the scoring for the Tampa Bay Lightning just over five minutes into the first period of the game. Everything happened so fast that Panthers goaltender Dan Ellis didn’t have a chance to blink before the puck was in the back of the net.

The last time that Salo would lace up his skates with the Tampa Bay Lightning would be on April 18, 2014 in a painful 4-1 loss at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens in Game 2 of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs. It is always sad to see a player who has accomplished as much as Sami Salo has in his career go out on such a low note as this one.

Salo was a solid two-way defenseman who could not only get the job done on the blueline, but could also make his way to the back of the net with a powerful slapshot. In his two seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Salo played in 117 games scoring 6 goals and 28 assists for a total of 34 points.

We here at Bolts By The Bay would like to wish Sami Salo nothing but the best in his post-hockey journey. It is never a good day when you have to say goodbye to one of your own, but at the end of the day Salo had one heck of a career and plenty of memories to look back on.

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