Farewell Carl Hagelin
Former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Carl Hagelin has unexpectedly retired at the age of 35. He announced his retirement on his Instagram. The reason for his retirement is due to his eye injury being too severe to return and play hockey.
His last NHL season was the 2021-22 season with the Washington Capitals where he had 14 points in 53 games. He finishes his career with 110 goals and186 assists for a total of 296 points in 713 games played.
Penguins Fan Favorite
Hagelin was acquired by the Penguins in the 2015-16 season with the Penguins from the Anaheim Ducks. He finished that season with 27 points in 37 games. Due to his speed and defensive abilities in the bottom-six and penalty kill, Hagelin instantly became a fan-favorite for the Penguins.
HBK Line
During his time with the Penguins, Hagelin spent most of his tenure a part of one of the best third lines in hockey known as the infamous HBK Line. This line consisted of Hagelin, Nick Bonino, and Phil Kessel. This line was good during the regular season. However, they really were a dominant unit in the playoffs.
During their 2016 Stanley Cup run, Hagelin had 16 points, Bonino with 18, and Kessel with 22. That line was statistically the best line during the Penguins cup run and fans were getting in on the fun as they custom made HBK jerseys.
The infamous and hall-of-fame WWE wrestler Shawn Michaels who is known as HBK was in on the fun as well as he cheered on the Penguins during Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals that season. In 24 games, that line scored 15 goals and made up about one-fifth of the Penguins goals through the playoffs.
Playoff Beast
Between the 2009-10 season to 2018-19, Hagelin has played in an NHL record 128 games. In large part, to playing on some solid New York Rangers and Penguins team as well as the Toronto Maple Leafs. However, he was able to win gold twice with the Penguins as he is a two-time Stanley Cup winner.
Second Stint With The Penguins
He loved his three seasons with the Penguins so much, he ended up a Penguin again. However, his second stint was not as good as he had just three points in 16 games.
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