Tampa Bay Lightning: Simon Gagne Retires After 14 Seasons In NHL

Former Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Simon Gagne has officially announced his retirement after spending 14 seasons in the National Hockey League.

The hockey world has seen a lot of great players hang up their skates over the last couple of seasons. Anaheim Ducks right wing Teemu Selanne hung up his skates at the conclusion of the 2013-14 season after 22 years in the National Hockey League. Last season, former Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Evgeni Nabokov and defenseman Sami Salo decided to call it a career, both spending 14+ years in the league.

Now, it seems as if there is another player ready to join their ranks. According to NHL.com, former Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Simon Gagne has officially decided to hang up his skates for the final time and enjoy the benefits of retirement.

As most of you know by now, Simon Gagne played just one season for the Tampa Bay Lightning back in the 2010-11 season. At the same time, this was one of the most successful seasons in recent Tampa Bay Lightning history. In the 2010-11 season, the Tampa Bay Lightning found themselves just one game, one goal to be precise, away from becoming the Eastern Conference Champions and playing for the Stanley Cup.

Gagne’s addition to the Tampa Bay Lightning resulted in a little bit of a shuffle for Lightning fans. Throughout the years, Gagne has worn the number 12 on his jersey. When he came to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the number 12 jersey was already being worn by one Ryan Malone. During Gagne’s one-year stay with the Lightning, Malone would shift his number to 6 to allow Gagne to continue wearing 12.

Gagne did not play a full 82 game season with the Tampa Bay Lightning that year; however, the 63 regular season games he did suit up for were pretty impressive. Gagne scored 17 goals and 23 assists for a total of 40 points. Gagne’s production didn’t end when the buzzer sounded to end the regular season.

The Quebec native played in 15 postseason games with the Tampa Bay Lightning. In that amount of time, Gagne was able to score 5 goals and 7 assists for a total of 12 points to accompany a plus-6 rating. Unfortunately, this would be the last time that we would see Gagne.

At the conclusion of the 2010-11 season, Gagne became an Unrestricted Free Agent. Just as Free Agency opened, Gagne signed a two-year contract with the Los Angeles Kings where he and his teammates would go on to win the Stanley Cup.

In addition to his time in the National Hockey League, he also competed for his native Canada in the Winter Olympic Games on two occasions. He played in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City in 2002 where Canada took home the Gold Medal, and once again at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

While he may not have been a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning for very long, we here in the Bolts Nation always remember our own. We here at Bolts By The Bay would like to wish Simon Gagne the best of luck in all of his future endeavors and hope that he enjoys his retirement to the fullest.

Next: Andrei Vasilevskiy and the Long Road Ahead

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