Halak hangs up the pads at 40

Jaroslav Halak, arguably Slovakia’s greatest goalie since the country achieved independence in 1993, has announced his retirement from hockey.

 

In international play, he represented his country at all five levels of play, and in the NHL he won 295 games over a 17-year career with seven teams. “Looking back on my career, it’s been a good one,” he told a Slovakian newspaper. “It would have been nicer with 300 wins, but I’ll be happy with 295.”

 

Even so, he retires ranked 14th on the all-time list of wins by a European goalie in the NHL and 12th in games played (581).

 

Halak’s rise began at the 2003 IIHF U18 Men’s World Championship when he led the Slovaks to the gold-medal game against Canada. They lost, 3-0, but that silver medal remains their best-ever showing at the U18 and their most recent medal in U18 play as well. In the semi-finals, Halak led Slovakia to a shootout win over the Russians to earn that historic trip to the ultimate game. He was named IIHF Directorate Best Goalie and also earned a spot on the tournament All-Star Team.

 

That summer, he was drafted 271st overall by Montreal, and after one more season at home he moved to Canada with one goal in mind—to make the NHL. He played one season of junior in the Q and then starred with Montreal’s AHL affiliate in Hamiton for much of the next three years. During this time, he also played at two World Junior Championships, in 2004 and 2005, starting all 12 games and posting an impressive 6-1-5 record.

 

Halak made his NHL debut on February 18, 2007, and later that spring played at the World Championship for Slovakia in Moscow and again in 2009 in Switzerland. His strong play in the NHL also led him to being named the starter at the 2010 Olympics, where he again played in every game, including a stunning 2-1 shootout win over Russia in the preliminary round. The Slovaks came within a whisker of upsetting Canada in the semi-finals and then lost to Finland in the bronze-medal game, but their 4th-place finish was their best ever until 2022.

 

In Montreal, Halak was at first the odd-man out behind young starter Carey Price and established backup Cristobal Huet. But in the 2010 playoffs things changed. Halak was named the starting goalie and didn’t disappoint. He helped the Habs overcome a 3-1 series deficit to defeat Washington and advance. In game six, he stopped a team-record 53 shots in a regulation 4-1 win, and in the…